Bad Brains

Initially formed as a jazz-fusion group called Mind Control in 1975, the band's musicians began listening to more punk rock and by 1977 had morphed into Bad Brains, a hardcore punk group that dabbled in ska reggae. Considered one of the pioneers of the hardcore punk scene in its native Washington D.C., Bad Brains soon became part of the city's unspoken ban on punk, making it difficult for the group to book a show and causing it to relocate to the punk-friendly New York City. While the band has had multiple lineup changes and break-ups, it has always returned to the stage, ever progressing its sound and influencing punk bands that came after it.