I've always been curious about the Morse code embedded in the intro to the Bad Brains' song, "Big Takeover" on their debut cassette. In some write-ups about the song it's referred to as "Morse code-like tapping on the guitar", but it actually IS Morse code. And very good Morse code at that; whoever performed it knew what they were doing, they didn't just tap it out while reading from a code chart in a book. The code message reads, "DESTROY BABYLON UNITE ISRAEL". In the production credits for the original cassette on ROIR, someone named Dave Id gets credit for "Other (Morse Code)". Dave Id was Dave Hahn, former drummer for New York bands The Mad, Cro-Mags, Artless, and backing vocalist for the Beastie Boys and Bad Brains, as well as one-time manager of the Bad Brains.
My guess is that Hahn was either a ham radio operator or a radio op for the Navy, but I've never been able to confirm either. In fact, there's very little to be found about him on the Internet other than mentions of his connection to the aforementioned bands and that he died sometime after 1988.
At any rate, here's to Dave Hahn. Nice fist, old man.
Dave was indeed a ham radio operator as a preteen before joining the punk vanguard. He was my "cousin"--our mothers were best friends--but I lived in LA. When punk broke we'd trade West Coast and East Coast insider info and visit each other. I was doing a fanzine called "Rag in Chains" under the nom de plume Shredder and he was drumming with The Mad and being a man about town. Thanks for keeping his memories alive...one of the coolest cats there ever was.
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Dave was indeed a ham radio operator as a preteen before joining the punk vanguard. He was my "cousin"--our mothers were best friends--but I lived in LA. When punk broke we'd trade West Coast and East Coast insider info and visit each other. I was doing a fanzine called "Rag in Chains" under the nom de plume Shredder and he was drumming with The Mad and being a man about town. Thanks for keeping his memories alive...one of the coolest cats there ever was.
What the hell happened to him???
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