Some punk historians may argue that Death from Detroit formed in 1971 predates Pure Hell from Philadelphia established in 1974 by a couple of years with the title of the first black punk band, but Death was originally a funk band who later transformed into proto-punk. Albeit for the sake of argument I think it is fair to cite and consider Pure Hell as one of the first black punk bands since both bands pioneered acts ahead of the curve. Pure Hell members lived with The New York Dolls after getting kicked out of the Chelsea Hotel and knew and played with Sid Vicious but they’ve been largely written out of the cultural history. Cited as an early influence on Bad Brains, they are an overlooked band who deserves way more recognition as legends. Often compared to The Sex Pistols And Dead Boys living and performing in NYC around the same time Patti Smith and Television were doing their two month residencies at CBGB. They integrated into the predominantly white early punk rock subculture and being a black punk band, their contribution is all the more significant. “We were the first black punk band in the world” says Lenny “Steel” Boles. “We were the ones who paid the dues for it, we broke the doors down. We were genuinely the first. And we still get no credit for it.” As outcasts being friends of Johnny Thunders they got gigs at places like Max’s Kansas City and were featured in Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine with the article “Marking their ‘place’ in a scene of cultural influencers”. Having had some success with their European tour, they however had little commercial success and released only one single covering Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walking” and an LP “Noise Addiction” released 28 years later due to confiscated masters by the manager Curtis Knight. They simply did not want to sell out and be molded as “racial stereotypes” and pressured to compromise their integrity and sound by what other industry offers they were getting. “I don’t want to be remembered just because we were black,” says Kenny Gordon. “I want to be remembered for being a part of the first tier of punk in the 70s.” 🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️ #PureHell #PureHellBand 🖤 #PunkRock #ProtoPunk (at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBOndydBGmf/?igshid=50uc1jkl0xfa
