Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 2002

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club formed in 1998, taking their name from Marlon Brando's motorcycle gang in the 1953 film The Wild One.
Their first two records were indebted to late-era classic hard rock influenced by Iggy Pop And The Stooges, The Ramones, The Doors, and 1980s British acts like Spacemen 3 and especially The Jesus and Mary Chain. Their style also encompassed slower paced psychedelic rock and space rock similar to Retro metal act Dead Meadow. Recently, with their third record Howl, they developed a more concrete sound and style; encompassing blues, folk, and trad rock, while remaing angst-ridden in theme.
The vocals are shared between Robert Levon Been (Bass) and Peter Hayes (guitar). Been and Hayes met at high school in San Francisco and quickly formed a band, writing music and playing together. Looking for a drummer, they met Nick Jago, who hailed from Devon in England, who had moved to California to be with his parents after spending some time at Winchester School Of Art, where he was studying fine art. Been used the pseudonym 'Robert Turner' on the first two records, in an attempt to not be linked to his famous father (Michael Been of The Call.) He later dropped this identity when promoting Howl.
The band were originally under the name 'The Elements' but after discovering that another band had the same name, they swiftly changed to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Caught up in the hype of the music-press fueled 'New Rock Revolution' which included The Strokes and Kings of Leon in 2001 to 2003, the band quickly separated themselves from the others in both sound and image. Their second album Take Them On, On Your Own has several songs such as "Generation" and "US Government" that make attacks on the United States and in particular George Bush that were echoed by alternative rock band Green Day the next year.