MEMORIES:
Talkingfox remembers...The only memory I have of this group is that I dated a girl who apparently LOVED them but I ... More »
Posted on 06/25/07
“Situation no win
Rush for the change of atmosphere
I can't go on so I give in
Gotta get myself right outta here...” - “Rush”
After battling it out with Joe Strummer on the direction the Clash would take after Combat Rock, Mick Jones left. End of story. Kind of. In 1984, Mick joined up with video and film director Don Letts (who had worked with the Clash on “Sandinista”) on keyboard, Leo Williams on bass, Greg Roberts on drums, Dan Donovan on yet another keyboard – as well as part-time member Adam “Flea” Newman, who was on “dynamite” – to form B.A.D., otherwise known as Big Audio Dynamite.
Mick Jones left the Clash because he wanted a more artistic sound for the group, in opposition to Strummer’s punk-rock leanings. Big Audio Dynamite developed an unusual mix of reggae, beat-box, and rock, blending synthesizers, electronic drumming and tape inserts. It proved to be a winning formula on songs like “Medicine Show” and “E=MC2” from their first release This is Big Audio Dynamite.
Their second album, 1987’s No. 10 Upping Street was co-written and co-produced with Joe Strummer. The album fared well and the dub mix to “Bedrock City” became a dance club hit in the States. The following year, Jones met up with another former Clash member, Paul Simonson, for Tighten Up, Vol. ’88. That same year, Jones nearly died from pneumonia. Despite his illness, Big Audio Dynamite released Megatop Phoenix in 1989, and wrote and recorded the song “Free” for the Dennis Hopper and Kiefer Sutherland flick Flashback. Shortly afterward, the band broke up and went their separate ways, forming their own bands and pursuing solo careers.
A couple of years went by, and the next incarnation of Big Audio Dynamite, the aptly named B.A.D. II, released The Globe in 1991. That album’s first single, “Rush,” was voted the #1 rock single of the year by Billboard Magazine. The title track “The Globe” was also a surprise hit. B.A.D. II's sound was closer to the original Clash, and had more of an alternative-rock edge than the original Big Audio Dynamite. Fans began calling them “Big Audio” and in 1994 they released Higher Power, and then P-Funk in 1995. 1997’s Entering a New Ride can be difficult to find, though fans can purchase their first greatest hits compilation, Superhits, and feel the dynamite once again.
