FEATURE: Pure Hell: Punk’s first, finest & forgotten
This article is part of a series about historically iconic Black artists and creatives. This series was started with the intention of shedding light on the importance of Black artists in all aspects of the creative sphere, but, especially, to note that many of them spearheaded some of the most influential trends and art forms of our time with little recognition. Stay tuned for more additions as they are published!
By Carly Tagen-Dye
When you think of punk, a set image probably comes to mind. It’s CBGB in the late ‘70s. The gritty club on New York City’s Lower East Side (now a John Varvatos boutique) was once home to a legendary lineup of artists who we’ve deemed pioneers of the genre. It’s hard to hear pulse-hammering guitars and hard-hitting drums without thinking of the city, club, and scene that birthed the Ramones, Television, and Blondie. These bands, among others, have inspired countless generations to pick up their own instruments
When you think of punk, you think of these names and all they’ve left behind. You don’t think of those whose legacy has been overlooked, even though they’ve been here from the very beginning.
One of those groups is Philadelphia’s Pure Hell: America’s first (and largely forgotten) Black punk band.
Pure Hell performing at Max’s Kansas City
Pure Hell is lead vocalist Kenny “Stinker” Gordon, guitarist Preston “Chip Wreck” Morris, bassist Lenny “Steel” Boles, and late drummer Michael “Spider” Sanders. Once notorious for walking around their West Philadelphia neighborhood in drag and wigs, the quartet were brought together in the early ‘70s by a mutual love of music. After forming their own group and playing shows in their hometown, the band moved to New York in 1975.
Pure Hell soon parked at the infamous Chelsea Hotel and met another iconic act, the New York Dolls, whose apartment they eventually moved into. Soon, Pure Hell was landing gigs at venues around Manhattan, including Max’s Kansas City. Their shows were more than the typical punk rodeo, the band brandishing their own secret weapons. Gordon, for example, was a former gymnast, and used that to his advantage, often bending backward in an Exorcist-esque pose, screeching into his microphone.
Pure Hell
With the rise of bands like the Clash and the Sex Pistols, the UK was crafting its own corner of punkdom at the time Pure Hell was moving up. It was in England that they made another large impact, namely due to their first and only single, a pulsing cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walking.” The track, recorded during a European tour in 1978, landed on the UK alternative charts, and was about the only commercial success that the band would ever see.
Despite their growing popularity, Pure Hell faced many obstacles while on the come-up. Punk is notorious for being a controversial genre (ex: wearing Nazi memorabilia for shock value), as well as a predominately white one, and Pure Hell bore the brunt of the scene’s racial tensions as they rose to fame. Part of the the band’s manager Curtis Knight’s marketing strategy involved dubbing Pure Hell as “The World’s Only Black Punk Band” overseas, and their race became the main focus of their persona, much to their disapproval.
Pure Hell was also pressured by the music industry to change their look and sound to fit the world’s image of what a Black band was. At the time, that meant catering to genres like Motown or funk, and, ultimately, “danceable” music—something no punk wants to do. The band was denied record deals for refusing to follow these guidelines and remained unsigned for the entire duration of their career.
Pure Hell fell into oblivion as the original flame of punk fizzled out. Following an ill-fated London show in 1979, the band and Knight broke off their partnership, with the former losing the rights to their music. Later, Pure Hell had a brief stint in Los Angeles, where they shared bills with the Cramps and the Germs, but, eventually, the members went their separate ways. The band’s first and only album, Noise Addiction, was released in 2006, followed by two more songs, “Wild One” and “Courageous Cat,” in 2016. The music was released by Henry Rollins, former-frontman-of-Black Flag-turned music producer, on his independent label 2.13.61.
Pure Hell has endured many of the milestones that most bands strive for, such as iconic shows and world tours, and yet they’ve remained behind a curtain for years. Often, the title of the world’s first Black punk band goes to Death, who formed in 1971. However, Death focused more on proto-punk and independent performances, while Pure Hell were immersed in the original scene from the very beginning. The band has also been cited by DC’s Bad Brains as a major influence.
In the end, Pure Hell played an iconic and irreplaceable part in punk history. As of recently, the band has participated in a 2008 reunion show for the first wave of New York hardcore, as well as a benefit concert for Spider Sanders in 2002, showing that their legacy still lingering in the modern age. As Gordon relayed in Dazed Magazine, “I don’t want to be remembered just because we were black. I want to be remembered for being a part of the first tier of punk in the ‘70s.”
Check out a video of Pure Hell performing at the 2008 reunion show below!