Bad BrainsBest Bad Brains Albums Ranked

I Against I

pitchfork

9.3

“Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today, we revisit the hard-fought third album by the D.C. hardcore icons who played faster and better than everyone else.”

Build a Nation

pitchfork

6.9

“The seminal hardcore band issues its first comeback under its true name since 1995's forgettable God of Love. Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch produces.”

Live at CBGB 1982 (The Audio Recordings)

pitchfork

6.5

“Audio complement to the recently released DVD of the same name captures the legenday hardcore/reggae band at the peak of its power.”

Into the Future

rollingstone

6.0

“Poets only want love if it’s torture. And when the poet is Taylor Swift, you always have to figure love and torture are never more than a few verses apart. Taylor became a legend as the poet laureate of teen romance. But that was kid stuff compared to the adult heartbreak of her stunning new album, The Tortured Poets Department. A year after getting out of a six-year relationship, Taylor’s got bad”

Build a Nation

rollingstone

6.0

“Bad Brains were black D.C.-area punks with Rasta leanings who energized Eighties hardcore kids with a series of beautifully messy albums. This reunion disc, with fan Adam Yauch producing, explodes and skanks like their classic records, setting pulverizing near-metal like the fifty-six-second "Pure Love" alongside thoroughly stoned reggae like "Natty Dreadlocks ’Pon the Mountain Top." […]”

God of Love

rollingstone

6.0

“Through two volatile decades, Bad Brains have survived. These dreadlocked rockers from Washington, D.C., influenced everyone from Living Colour to the Beastie Boys. In many ways, Bad Brains anticipated the cut-and-paste genre splicing of ’90s hitmakers by burning through the walls that separated punk and reggae, metal and funk, black music and white audiences. And […]”