Given the current musical climate, it’s not hard to believe that so few know who Bad Brains is. And given the fact that there have been so few other great punk bands in music history, I sometimes feel ashamed for forgetting they even exist. But to re-establish the band’s significance for both of us, let me give you a quote (from what is probably to many another outdated act) by Adam Yauch, aka MCA from the Beastie Boys, who called Bad Brains’ self-titled debut “The greatest punk/hardcore album of all time.” Like many other admirers, Yauch saw the unique side of a band forging a unique punk rawness with what were often these sort of reggaeton-style, laid-back vocals. While there’s no doubt the Brains have come a long way from their humble beginnings in D.C. (read: living in poverty which forced a small getup act to dole out demo tape after demo tape so that they could move from a tiny label which would only press a limited number of cassettes to a bigger one like PVC which was only marginally better, combined with constant lineup changes and the usual band strife whew), it’s hard to say how much good it’s done them. But acts like Minor Threat and these guys helped solidify the punk sound of D.C., which I didn’t even really know until a friend passed me the equivalent of a “Punk 101″ cassette tape in high school and familiarized me with everything I was missing. Then they released “Build a Nation” a couple years ago, and it all fell back into place. If you’re remotely into punk, you’ll want to take a gander at what is essential genre history here. Catch a retrospective sell-out with the BB boys on Red Bull Music Academy Radio.