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April 10, 2026
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"Bad Brains and Dr. Know hold impressive credentials. Not only have they blended and bended several genres throughout their career, but they were vital to the development of hardcore punk and thrash metal subgenres. He can do reggae, funk, punk, metal, and hip hop. Dr. Know is probably your favorite punk guitarist's favorite guitarist. Both of those subgenres would flourish in the years after Dr. Know unleashed his guitar skills on the world. And we're all better for it."
"As hardcore inflicted grievous bodily harm upon land speed records and societal norms, early harDCore heroes Bad Brains stood out. They were not only the earliest of thrash outfits, but they were likely the best musicians to tackle the form. Guitarist Dr. Know is especially adept, spewing volleys of 16th notes like some people yawn. This American Rasta was like one of the earliest metal guitarists working within a punk format. Then, like the rest of his brethren, he could stop on a dime and downshift into the slowest, deepest dub reggae. It’s truly astonishing."
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.