Living Colour celebrates the 25th Anniversary of Vivid tomorrow at 9:30 Club

While “Cult of Personality” has become a pop culture reference since it first became a rock radio staple, it might be hard for some younger folks to realize just how many barriers Living Colour faced when it released that song. This was the late ’80s, a time when the music industry was as segregated as it has ever been. In these pre-Internet days, large record companies still dictated the terms with well-oiled marketing machines, targeting specific demographics that were rigidly defined along racial and generational lines. Along comes this highly skilled quartet that arose from the Black Rock Coalition, a collective that served as a platform for African American musicians wanting to play rock n’ roll. Nobody could have guessed that in the summer of ’88, their first single would rule MTV.

Living Colour is now on tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Vivid, the debut album that featured “Cult of Personality”, and will be performing it in its entirety on Friday at 9:30 Club. Unlike some of the band’s fashion decisions from those early days, which are nothing short of cringe-worthy, the music still holds up.

“We’ve been playing the songs off there for the past 25 years. For the songs we haven’t played, it comes as quite a surprise that people actually remember them,” said lead singer Corey Glover during a recent interview with DCist. “It just stands to reason that people were actually listening to the record.”

While there were times of strife among the bandmembers — they replaced their original bassist in 1992 and didn’t put out any material between 1993 and 2003 — they have achieved a level of balance in the past decade. All four musicians work in a number of projects, for example Glover tours with Galactic and guitarist Vernon Reid recently led a fusion supergroup, but they still return to Living Colour periodically.

“We’re family. We can’t escape that,” Glover said. “It’s like working with your brother and you’re always going to be around for that.”

Unfortunately, there are many people who see Living Colour as little more than a one-hit wonder without appreciating just how groundbreaking they were. Not only did they overcome significant cultural barriers, but these guys can really play. In addition to the talents of Glover and Reid, bassist Doug Wimbish is an accomplished session musician who got his start playing in the house band at Sugar Hill Records, and has since worked with the likes of Madonna, Lauryn Hill and Depeche Mode. Drummer Will Calhoun has carved out an impressive career at the intersection of jazz, world and electronic music, leading his own bands and playing with greats like Wayne Shorter and Marcus Miller. Also, while I never saw this band live at their peak popularity, I have seen them twice in the past several years, and it’s a powerful experience. In a way, Living Colour was ahead of its time in that its combination of thundering riffs and head-bobbing grooves would later make millions for rap-rock and nu-metal acts like Rage Against the Machine and Korn.

“We, as a band, are still just as intense and in-your-face as we were 25 years ago. In that sense, nothing has changed,” Glover said.

In addition to the 25th anniversary of Vivid, Living Colour is also celebrating the 20th anniversary of its 1993 album, Stain. That recording was not as commercially successful is its predecessor, but many highlights of the band’s live shows come from its darker and heavier sounds. Friday’s set will also draw from Stain, but interestingly, the group won’t be playing anything from the new millennium. This leads to asking whether Living Colour is going down the path of simply reliving past glory.

“We’re still writing new material. We’re not doing this as just a nostalgia sort of trip,” Glover declared emphatically. “We want to mark the occasion of a band that’s been doing something for a very long time. You can count on maybe one hand the amount of bands that are still around from when we started.”

Living Colour will perform on Friday, April 19, 2013 at 9:30 Club. Early show, 6 p.m. doors. $25 + fees.