Death, be proud.

• Author: Fisher, Anthony L.
• Position: Briefly Noted - Movie review - Brief article

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Three musically inclined black brothers in early '70s Detroit, tired of the ubiquitous Motown sound and inspired by the raw energy and theatrics of The Who and Alice Cooper, started playing loud, three-chord "white boy" rock'n' roll and calling themselves Death.

In the new documentary A Band Called Death, the proto-punk group is shown drawing early interest from major record labels, but their shocking-for-its-time moniker and the perhaps even more shocking image of a black hard rock band confounded record executives, who saw no way to market the group, so Death disbanded.

Death was rediscovered in the...