Black Merda

A bit about Black Rock Bands out of Detroit.

This weekend at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre, I caught a documentary about Death, a 1970s all-black proto-punk band out of Detroit. The documentary, titled “A Band Called Death” chronicled the group’s forming, brush with success, and descent into obscurity. The master tapes of their sole album, recorded under Don Davis’ Groovesville productions languished…

July 1, 2013

ayanacontreras

Arts & Culture, Chicago Cultural History, Film and Television, Music, Reviews, the Freshness

Band Called Death, Black Merda, Blues, Chess Records, Chicago, Death, Detroit, Don Davis, Eddie Hazel, Funkadelic, Morris Jennings, Muddy Waters, Music Box Theatre, New York Times
Black Merda? Black Rock.

The year is 1969 on the South Side of Chicago (21st & Michigan). Marshall Chess (son of Leonard Chess), has taken the helm at Chess Records (the Seminal Chicago Blues/Jazz/Gospel label). A fairly hip young cat, Marshall realizes that the hottest acts in popular music at the time borrowed (or gangstered) heavily from the roster at…

February 24, 2009

ayanacontreras

Local Chicago Music, Music

afro-punk, Black Merda, black rock, Blues, Chess Records, Chicago, Chicago Blues, Chicago Music, Fugi, Marshall Chess