Rock Band Living Colour Still Playing Hard, Wows at NPR Tiny Desk

Wrapping Black Music Month, National Public Radio (NPR) dropped a hard-driving Living Colour performance, featuring guitarist Vernon Reid, lead vocalist Corey Glover, bassist Doug Wimbish, and drummer Will Calhoun, on June 25. 

Their NPR session opened with their award-winning hit “Cult of Personality,” rocking the NPR “Tiny Desk” offices like the band does for a major stadium setting, with the group just as popular as when they began in 1984.

“Because of the times that we’re in now, it reminds us there’s still a lot of work to be done,” said Reid in an interview after the NPR session.

This Tiny Desk concert also commemorates the 35th anniversary of Living Colour’s second album, “Time’s Up,” which won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. Reid said a significant influence on the band’s second album was the D.C.-based band Bad Brains. 

When introducing the song “Love Rears Its Ugly Head” from that album, Reid explained that their second was to show they were not just a political band, but they sang about other stuff like love and the environment. 

“The title song, “Times Up,” is a hardcore song about the environment,” said Reid. “What was happening, then, is what is happening now. Again, that’s part of the reason why our music has stayed somewhat relevant around the world.”

Afrofuturism Through Living Colour

Many categorize Living Colour as a Black hard rock band, but that may be too easy. The group also fits in with the cultural influence of Afrofuturism. 

In music, it is African diaspora culture, interpreted by merging music genres down into staging performances, album covers and clothing. This music opened a door for a generation to understand the 1980s protest era. 

Comedian and culture commentator W. Kamau Bell, a surprise guest at this Tiny Desk session, framed the significance of Living Colour while introducing the band to the audience. 

“If you don’t know who Living Colour is, they are important,” said Bell. “I understood my Blackness because of them. I didn’t understand how to categorize myself until I came to these guys. Oh, so I can be Black like this? This is Black, too.”