Black punks

The four-piece lived with the New York Dolls and played with Sid Vicious, but they’ve been largely written out of cultural history

The four-piece lived with the New York Dolls and played with Sid Vicious, but they’ve been largely written out of cultural history

In 1983, the Seattle band Bam Bam, fronted by a talented, elegant Black woman named Tina Bell, created a sound and lyrical foundation for a genre white men with knit hats and plaid shirts would later make famous as "grunge." Bell was backed by husband Tommy Martin and lifelong friend Scott Ledgerwood (“Scotty Buttocks”). Jen B. Larson digs deep into the archives to give Tina Bell, who died in 2012, her props as the uncrowned "Queen of Grunge."

Free Music Archive artist page of Pure Hell