and “I.” The big-budget sheen afforded by Ocasek was somewhat double-edged. While it removed an element of grit and grime from the furiously unbridled sound that longtime fans relished, it made the group more accessible to wider audiences, a by-product that Jenifer applauded. “Some people say that’s when the Brains started becoming not so much about what the Brains stood for in the earlier days. But that didn’t have anything to do with the grander picture. If you’re talking about what the Great Spirit has in store for us, [ Rock for Light ] was just one more step to universal appeal!” The group’s third album, 1986’s I Against I , managed to take the band in an increasingly commercial direction, sacrificing minimal punk points with fans, still sore from the previous Ocasek effort. “We are progressive-minded people,” explains Jenifer. “We’re always thinking and trying to make something different. It’s all about cre- ative expansion. People called it metal, but I was trying to make some funky kind of rock.” Despite being released by West Coast hardcore powerhouse SST Records, the sound captured herein was indeed more progressive, H.R.’s lyrics more introspective, rendering a musi- cal ore that abandoned the rapid-fire punk motifs of albums past. “When we made I Against I ,” Jenifer says, “it’s our progressive fusion background coming out with a punk-rock edge, because we weren’t exactly virtuoso jazz musicians. That’s cats trying to play Al Di Meola so bad that it’s punk Al Di Meola. After we made the riffs, H.R. would come in as the singer, integrate the lyrics, and we’d build from there.” As the band prepared for Quickness , the reggae wedge further divided the band, with brothers H.R. and Earl favoring island vi-
English. “They taught punk musicians that, just like Dischord [Re- cords], you go out, you make your own records. That was all from Jamaican music; they are the godfathers of all of that.” 6 Despite its unorthodox speed-meets-weed compositions, the self-titled cassette was essentially a sonic pamphlet for the group’s increasingly extensive PMA philosophy. “We’re the thinking man’s punk,” declares Jenifer. “So we know our message is that of peace and love and Positive Mental Attitude. That’s what we really stood and stand for. In music, we have a background of progression. When I imagine a riff, it’s like a big wall falling down. If I pick up my guitar and I say to myself, ‘You sellout,’ then I say, ‘All right, watch this— this is a song about sellouts.’ And from there, my imagination will let me create, from my musical experiences, what a sellout introduc- tion riff is going to be. I guess that’s a blessing that I have, and me and Doc and Earl and all of us together, that we’re able to do this. The next key is keeping at it. That’s when you advance. That’s when you progress in anything.” Marking their progression was 1983’s Rock for Light , the band’s second album, produced by Cars front man Rick Ocasek. “He used to listen to the ROIR cassette on tour to hype himself up to go out and play,” muses Jenifer. “You would never think that this cat would listen to the ROIR cassette to get energy going so he could go out and play some pop!” Nevertheless, Ocasek took a shine to the group, buying them gear, giving them amps, and taking them into the studio to record the follow-up to their explosive debut. The polished product, Rock for Light , featured new material and revis- ited renditions of earlier songs, including “Attitude,” “Sailin’ On,”
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