One of the things that stands out about Bad Brains’ 1982 self-titled debut is its emotional blankness. It’s blindingly fast, but rarely feels angry; relentlessly powerful, but never really uplifting or destructive. Bad Brains doesn’t have an obvious social component, nor does it have the sense of humor that made the messaging of early punk and hardcore both accessible and fun. The skeletal reggae tracks that punctuate its incredible feats of speed (“Jah Calling,” “Leaving Babylon,” “I Luv I Jah”) not only provide a breather, they point to a sense of purpose that transcends earthly concern. For Bad Brains, feelings—whether the moral righteousness of a band like Minor Threat, or the passionate negativity of Black Flag—were beside the point. Listen to the way H.R.’s vocals for “Pay to Cum” glide over the band like a stone skipping over water, or a running back threading an impossible line of defense: Bad Brains is pure, cleansing energy. The group had originally formed as a jazz-fusion band called Mind Power before encountering punk, eventually finding the Ramones song that inspired the group’s name. Culturally, the Ramones and Bad Brains couldn’t have been more different: One was minimal, essentializing, and democratic; the other played the kind of music that felt like it needed special training to listen to, let alone play. The connection was in precision and intensity. While the Ramones sounded like a garage band, Bad Brains—and the hardcore they inspired—was almost athletically rigorous. And Bad Brains features songs so concise, every second of music needed to be perfectly calibrated (three of the album’s fastest songs—“Pay to Cum,” “Don’t Need It,” “Attitude”—clock under two minutes). That Bad Brains was the first notable all-Black band in a largely white scene—with members about five years older than a lot of their peers—only accentuated the sense that Bad Brains’ music wasn’t just a social pursuit, but a spiritual one. Not only did the band nurture the hardcore bands in its immediate wake, Bad Brains influenced a whole wave of music that was both aggressive and deeply exploratory, from Fugazi to Faith No More to Refused to Rage Against the Machine. The lightning bolt on the cover was a clue: Bad Brains was sudden and intense—and came from somewhere out of the blue.