Right, or Rawn? The "worship" of Rodney "Rawn Beauty" Barger

The legacy of Cold as Life is rather storied, as many know.  Tales of Jeff Gunnells, Roy Bates, and CYTC are a part of Detroit hardcore folklore, to an extent.  The band is undoubtedly one of the most well-known punk bands to emerge from the city, and that is because of their skills and their stories.  The skills are a completely separate story, best reserved for an album review.  Multiple demos, two full-lengths, and a compilation CD are displays of beyond-par hardcore straight from the inner city of Detroit; Detroit, however, is and always has been (since the 1960s, at least) an irregular mishmash of wasteland, developing neighborhoods, yuppy-fied sections, and fully developed neighborhoods.  Cold as Life lived somewhere between the two former sections.  One story places an early version of the band at a home next door to a crack house, back when they were known as the Mattress Rats.  At this point, the band found its focal point of their sound and stage presence:  The ferocity/ intensity of embattled frontman Rodney Barger, who went by the name Rawn Beauty.  Even some 23 years after the formation of the Mattress Rats, which became known as Cold as Life, the band is still best remembered by most as a mythological, somewhat hyped band.  This hype doesn’t necessarily entail untruth, but a basis of reputation upon anecdotes, hearsay, and “you had to be there” moments.  When Detroit was at its worst reputation (amidst former mayor Coleman Young’s final reigning years), Rawn Beauty was, no doubt, a central figure in the Detroit hardcore/ punk scene at that time.  Two decades later, he’s still revered as an impossibly great hardcore frontman, whose life was tragically taken by a roommate (who is on the lam to this day).  But, is that the whole story?  Not at all.

That’s not the whole story; a simple inquisition of “Why?” to the reason Rawn was murdered opens a floodgate of factual ambiguities and a plethora of lunatic apologists and arguments.  Why was he killed indeed?  It’s exceptionally rare, even for man, to kill without cause.

Who has positive things to say about the embattled frontman?  Surely those who knew him best must know the man at both ends of his emotional spectrum.  There are those who did not see a legacy of a band tainted by the personal life of the frontman.  One such witness to the band’s rise said that “[Cold As Life] were, back in their day, worth going to see,” specifically referring to the era when the band “played, AND filled, the Magic Stick.”  Some decent-sized praise, especially from the source, a respected, though reserved frontman himself.  Notable CTYC crew member known as “Beast”, though somewhat biased by his affiliation with the crew, had valid praise for the man too, though it did come with a couple of barbs (he noted that Rawn was “full of piss and vinegar”).  Having been party to his company personally, “Beast” has witnessed Rawn’s dogged defense of his friends and crew, putting his dukes up, so to speak, in defense of them.  Another member of the scene, Jeff Uberti, has remarked that Rawn was “an energetic, commanding frontman”, noting that he had a reputation for more than just his folk hero/ enemy figure.

What of the negative parties?  Who had something to counter the positivity of Rawn’s musical endeavors as the frontman for Cold as Life?  There are, no doubt, critics of his character, almost all of which relate directly to his personal life and not his tenure in the band.  Numerous are the stories of Rawn’s temper, anger, and drunken antics that often included some kind of beating; a critic remarked that despite the band’s great, well-deserved reputation, he “liked to get drunk and beat the hell out of people all the time.”  Everyone’s had their bad moments, their drunken moments, and their bad, drunken moments; however, when these moments are frequent and incorporate isolated, aggravated violence against others, it begs the question as to what kind of person does this without just cause.  His fists of drunken fury were not limited to rules and showgoers; yet another source quoted two anecdotes of misogynistic violence- one with a significant other of Beauty’s, and one against the sister of this significant other.  This was not one knee-jerk reaction punch, quickly regretted and reprimanded; this was an externally visible, full-fledged attack.  How much longer until the boys in blue take this assault-addicted musclehead away for his personal violations?

The history of violence with regard to Rawn is a story best exemplified in a neutral eyewitness account from mid-1993, as told by Jason McGregor, then-vocalist of local peace punk band Social Outcast, who saw this outburst of Rawn-rage at a show at the 404 Willis (paraphrased from a third person point of view):

Rawn arrived at the show, and Jason asked a mutual friend of his and Rawn’s if there would be any trouble, knowing Rawn’s historical temperament.  The friend replied that there wouldn’t be any problems, as he wasn’t in the mood for any of his usual antics, he was just there for the show.  The two bands (Chaos UK was scheduled to play, but cancelled), Public Nuisance and Social Outcast, played with no problems and the show went off without a hitch.  Perhaps things would finally return to a level of normality in the Detroit scene…

Nope.  Upon discovering the identity of the now-calm Rawn Beauty, one of the local hippies who helped to run the 404 Willis began verbally abusing him in true condescending, pacifistic hippy manner.  As she continued, Rawn would repeatedly ask others, “Can someone please get this girl out of my face?” or requesting to the girl directly to do so.  Eventually, it came to an ultimatum, where he stated that he was going to clock her unless she ceased her verbal abuse.  Needless to say, she persisted, and was swiftly knocked out by just one of Rawn’s fierce punches (he should’ve gotten into boxing).
With this, it seemed that it was time to “get Rawn” (he had accumulated a number of enemies over time, and this was towards the end of his reign), and all hell broke loose.  Not one, not two, but FOUR punks pulled out baseball bats and closed in on Rawn.  One at a time, he knocked each one back, and as more of his enemies descended on him, some of his boys joined in on the fight- it looked like one of those old-school beat ‘em up games from the 1990s, like Final Fight or Double Dragon, where one or two people are fighting against ten.  One of his adversaries, a bigger, more muscle-y man, approached him, ready to “bring it”.  In one punch, Rawn reached back, swung his fist and the man’s jaw, and broke it.  The man reeled back, blood gushing from his face, his jaw indeed broken in one blow.  This fight eventually dissipated, a strong highlight of the violence lived by Rawn Beauty on a frequent basis.  To end Rawn’s story, he was shot three times in cold blood by roommate Richard Werstine as he slept on August 15^th, 1993.  Though the killer was apprehended, he skipped bail and has been on the lamb ever since.

This is not an article meant to dismiss Rawn as a heartless, soulless monster who was deservedly put down by someone who was supposed to be his friend, nor is it meant to be a glorification of a frontman who happened to have his demons with which he struggled valiantly.  The Cliff Notes of his life include that he was an eternally loyal friend with a substance abuse problem that caused him to harm others, and despite his fantastic presence as a frontman, his antics caught up with him, and his legacy still lives.  However, do ponder this as one comes to a conclusion regarding value judgment:  If the column had been started with only the description (not the name) of Rodney:  a drunken, meat-headed ogre of a hardcore singer, who assaulted his girlfriend and his friends, most would be up in arms condemning the sociopathy of this man.  Why should that change if the man’s name was Rawn Beauty?

-Aunty Social