Death is a garage rock and protopunk demo band formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1971 by brothers Bobby (bass, vocals), David (guitar), and Dannis (drums) Hackney. The African Americantrio started out as an R&B band but switched to rock after seeing The Who play. Seeing Alice Cooper play was also an inspiration. Music critic Peter Margasak retrospectively wrote that David "pushed the group in a hard-rock direction that presaged punk, and while this certainly didn’t help them find a following in the mid-70s, today it makes them look like visionaries." The band broke up by 1977 but reformed in 2009 when the Drag City label released their 70s demos for the first time.