A Band Called Death (2012) on Netflix
NR20121h 36mBiographyDocumentaryMusic
In 1970s Detroit, brothers David, Bobby and Dannis Hackney play rock and funk as teenagers and become Death, a punk band. David refuses to change the name, so radio turns them away.
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- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.5/104,181 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes94%
Trailer
Plot summary
David, Bobby and Dannis Hackney are three brothers raised in 1950s Detroit, where their father is a Baptist preacher. As teenagers they form a rock and funk band, drawing on Motown and Parliament, and it grows into Death, credited as the first black punk band. David, the eldest brother and guitarist, steers the group's decisions, including its name. The brothers seek radio airplay and a record deal, and those attempts fail. David will not change the name Death.
Cast
- Dannis Hackneyas Self
- Bobby Hackneyas Self
- David Hackneyas Self (archive footage)
- Mick Collinsas Self
- Mickey Leighas Self
- Robbie Duncanas Self
Show all 13 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about A Band Called Death (2012)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Jeff Howlett met Bobby Hackney Sr. and Dannis Hackney in the 1990s at a music festival where his band shared a bill with their band Lambsbread; after seeing Bobby Hackney Jr.'s tribute band Rough Francis, Howlett and the Hackneys began work on the documentary.
- Jeff Howlett asked Mark Covino to work on A Band Called Death, but Covino was hesitant because he was busy finishing his own documentary; he changed his mind after reading a New York Times article on Death and hearing two songs from the band's "Politicians in my Eyes" single.
- Covino spent months scanning family photos from Vermont, Ohio and Detroit for the documentary, but very little video footage of the group's guitarist David Hackney surfaced during the pair's research.
