Death Invents Punk Rock

In 1964 David, Bobby and Dannis Hackney sat down with their father to watch The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan show. They were in love with the music and the next day David found a guitar that would be the spark to the brothers forming a band.

It’s a funk band called The Rock Fire Funk Express, or at least they started that way. But after some Alice Cooper and The Who, the style changed. In 1974 they changed the name of the band to “Death.” The music was rock music for sure, but at the time nobody really had a description for what it was. Today, we would call it punk rock. Bobby and Dannis also claimed David was behind the concept wanting to change the idea of death from a negative to a positive. Putting a focus on mysticism and spirituality.  

They sold 500 copies, then tried two gospel albums under the name “The 4th Movement,” before finally breaking up. David died of lung cancer in 2000. But someone dug up their old music. The band reunited with Bobbie Duncan taking David’s role on guitar. Since then, they’ve released 3 albums recorded when David was alive and a new album to way better than 500 copies sold.  They also had a really good documentary.