Bad Brains -- "I Against I"
I'm not generally a fan of hardcore, but then again Bad Brains was a lot more than hardcore. This song exists at an intersection of so many genres that it defies easy categorization. The historical moment in question here -- 1986 -- was one at which several creative strains of popular music were about to ossify into oppressively heavy and increasingly sterile genres -- hair metal, arena rock -- and many strains of "alternative" music were on the verge of taking themselves entirely too seriously. Bad Brains, with an already storied career by this point, was still making vital music here at the edge of oblivion. It's a challenge to catalog all of the things that Bad Brains vocalist H.R. is against, but the song is a battering rant staring down the void that pop music is always on the verge of slipping into.
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