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A Band Called Death

    Documentary
    Music
71%tmdb logo
•
Jun 27, 2013
Rated NR

Before Bad Brains, the Sex Pistols or even the Ramones, there was Death. Formed in the early '70s by three teenage brothers from Detroit, Death is credited as being the first black punk band, and the Hackney brothers, David, Bobby, and Dannis, are now considered pioneers in their field. But it wasn’t until recently — when a dusty 1974 demo tape made its way out of Bobby’s attic nearly 30 years after Death’s heyday — that anyone outside a small group of punk enthusiasts had even heard of them.

Details

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    • Cast

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    Dannis Hackney
    Self
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    Bobby Hackney
    Self
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    David Hackney
    Self (archive footage)
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    Henry Rollins
    Self
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    Elijah Wood
    Self
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    Kid Rock
    Self
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    Alice Cooper
    Self
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    Mick Collins
    Self
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    Mickey Leigh
    Self
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    Robbie Duncan
    Self
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    Questlove
    Self
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    Vernon Reid
    Self
    Background image 13
    Wayne Kramer
    Self

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    Reviews

    (1)
    kineticandroid
    There's an undercurrent of disappointment throughout the story of a band called Death. Misunderstood and marginalized in their time, they endured a lot of rejection and settled into lives that turned out differently than for what they had hoped. Then, after their music is rediscovered and shared, they reunite, but with a heavy heart knowing their visionary leader did not live to see the rebirth. And yet, through that malaise, the band's story is one of joy, familial devotion, and believing in something so strongly, it can't help but come true. It shows that powerful art can create double lives. It shows the unknown pleasures of digging into the past for the untold stories. And the songs? Dang man, these songs slay.