Bad Brains: Quickness

Bad Brains: Quickness

1989

Caroline Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing:  1. Soul Craft  2. Voyage Into Infinity  3. The Messengers  4. With the Quickness  5. Gene Machine/Don't Bother Me  6. Don't Blow Bubbles  7. Sheba  8. Yout' Juice  9. No Conditions  10. Silent Tears  11. The Prophet's Eye  12. Endtro

This album is best known  for featuring the incredibly homophobic track "Don't Blow Bubbles."  This album is the  follow-up to the much-loved "I Against I" and follows that album's blueprint to a tee, but seems to be completely ignored by everyone.

I'm going to do my best to avoid the whole "Don't Blow Bubbles" controversy, since Darryl Jennifer (the band's bassist and co-writer of the track) has already put out the following apology for the track:

"And do you know this homophobic bit that they keep saying about us? In short, years ago when we were first discovering Rastafari, I tried to explain to people that you grow. You're growing. In Rastafari and even in Christianity, they disagree with homosexuality. That's a known fact. So the point being here, when we first were discovering Rastafari - like any young men or any young women getting into anything - you're overzealous... Now I'm 46 years old and I've learned that that's ignorant. I've learned through the years that we're all God's children, regardless of your race, creed, color, sexuality, any of that...That's wisdom. You have to grow to be wise."

That's good enough for me. People's opinion's change, they learn things, I'm not going to hate on them for some dumb song they wrote in 1988 and have since disavowed... I don't think I've ever met anyone in my life that hasn't said something completely ignorant at least once...I sure know I have...Hell, keep reading and I'm sure I'll say some more...

Anyway, this was the follow-up to "I Against I and while I don't quite think it's up to that album's high standard, I don't think it's all bad either...I have a few favorites here... "Yout' Juice" is a catchy track that would have fit in fine on the previous album, opener "Soul Craft" is a monster Punk/Metal jam... They even turned that cool  intro track from "I Against I" into a full song on "Voyage Into Infinity." Man, if I made this album, I would've put this track first to fool people into thinking they just accidentally bought "I Against I" again... They also make a return to reggae with "The Prophet's Eye."

Let's take a look back at the year 1989, the same year the Bad Brains released "Quickness..."

Bat-Mania is unleashed upon the world, eventually totaling $411.35 million in box office receipts and selling $750 million in merchandise....I think I talked about my love of Bat-Man '89 in a previous post but I think I forgot to show you the picture I took back in '89 of my ALF doll dressed in Bat-man paraphernalia...

 Man,I challenge you to find a picture more 1989 than that...

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers 3 Million dollars to anyone who can bring him the head of Salman Rushdie after he is offended by Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses."

 Jamin 80 offers 3 dollars to anyone who can bring him the heads of the New Kids on the Block after being subjected to "You Got It (the Right Stuff)" for the 10 billionth time... Awww...C'mon! That's 60 cents a head!

Okay, enough of the funny business, let's listen to "Yout' Juice" by the Bad Brains...