So this one is kind of long but has a very interesting backstory.
Back in the early seventies, there were these three brothers in Detroit -- Bobby, Davd, and Dannis Hackney -- who formed an R&B band. Then one day they went to an Alice Cooper concert and started playing rock. Being from Detroit n the early 70s, that meant they started playing things that sounded like Alice Cooper, but also things that sounded like the MC5 and the Stooges. They got pretty good and in 1975, they wound up recording a 7-song demo, possibly at the behest of record producer Clive Davis.
In any event, Davis found out about the band one way or another and was ready to sign them. There was only one catch: the band's name was "Death," and that just wouldn't sell in the mid-70s.
So Davis ased the Hackneys to change the name of their band, but they refused. They were young and cocky and figured that if Davis wouldn't sign them as "Death," someone else would. Unfortunately, that never happened. They wound up pressing 500 copies of a single -- "Politicians In My Eyes" -- and were more or less never heard from again. The single becomes a cult collector's item among hard-core punk collectors, but most people -- even most punk fans -- never hear about the band.
But what an amazing single. It's the song I've got below; when you listen to it, keep in mind that this was recorded in 1975. At the point at which this was recorded, punk was not around yet. The Ramones hadn't released their first album; there was no such thing as the Sex Pistols or the Clash or the Buzzcocks or any of the other great punk bands that burst onto the scene in the second half of the decade. Rocket From the Tombs was around, but outside of Cleveland, who the hell had ever heard of them at that point?
And yet, these three black kids from Detroit came up with a sound that really presaged what punk would do over the next few years. You listen to this, and you hear hints of Husker Du and Bad Brains and Minor Threat, and it really makes you wonder where they would have gone if they had been signed.
In any event, they weren't. The brothers moved to Vermont and wound up playng gospel and reggae, and while it seems they did well enough to pay the bills, they never became superstars.
So now it's almost 35 years later and Bobby's son Julian is at a party in San Francisco one day and somehow, "Politicians In My Eyes" -- this obscure, self-publlished single from Detroit -- gets played. And Julian thinks "Wow, that sounds a lot like my Dad." So when he gets home, he and his brother (Bobby Jr.) talk to their Dad and do some digging, and lo and behold -- somewhere in storage, they find the master tapes that their Dad and their uncles recorded way back in 1975. Word got out that the tapes had been found, and an Indie label out of Chicago wound up releasing the 7 tracks as an album called "... For the Whole World To See." Whch means you can now buy the album at your favorite record store or online retailer. And if you're at all into punk, proto-punk, or garage rock, I highly recommend that you do so, because this stuff is good.
The number one biggest game
T's where they gain the most fame
It's like a race to the top
Because they want to be boss
They don't care who they step on
As long as they get along
Politicians in my eyes
They could care less about you
They could care less abot me
As long as they are put in
The place that they want to be
They're always wearing false smile
I guess it goes with their style
Policitians in my eyes
Always trying to be slick
When they tell us their lies
They're responsible for
Sending young men to die
We have wated so long
For someone to come along
And correct our country's wrong
But the wait has been too long
It's really something to see
The way they are on TV
Each one claims that he can be
A better man, then you'll see
But when decision time comes
That's when they have all their fun
Politicians in my eyes
Theyre always trying to convince
Just like we don't have good sense
The live just like kings and queens
But they do real stupid things
They'll tell you to trust in them
Because you're their biggest friends
Politicians in my eyes
Reachng out shaking hands
Making friends and other plans
Some will rise, some will fall
Some won't even answer calls
Look ahead, see them fly
See the twinkle in their eye
Politicans tell me why
Can't you hear the people cry?
Posted by Jason Fliegel at June 21, 2009 1:31 PM