Big Audio Dynamite
(BAD) was a band formed from the slowly drifting ashes of The Clash. The Clash
would last a little longer, but would never be the same. Co-founder Mick Jones
had just been kicked out for wanting to move the punk pioneers in new directions
and into new sounds. Less than a year later, Jones quickly regrouped with BAD.
BAD was confrontational like The Clash, but in a different way—exploring new
directions like melding dance with rock and liberally sampling sounds and movie
clips as part of the band’s palette.
My introduction to
BAD came in the mid-80s one day at a high school lip sync competition one lunch
in the school gym. This was a largely white high school, filled with surfer
boys and new wave girls. Four of the whitest, most popular kids did a lip synch
to BAD, two in full Al Jolsonesque blackface to represent the band’s black
members. This interesting new sound struck some sort of chord with me.
BAD put out several
albums, and went through some line-up, sound, and even name changes. They had
their share of hits, but eventually faded away when hip-hop, dance and rave
sounds started to become more mainstream. Though not many realized it at the
time, bands like the Gorrilaz are the babies of BAD. The same can be said for
bands like Rage Against the Machine, and unfortunately, Limp Bizkit, as well as
the myriad of others blending rock, rap, hip hop, samples, and even DJs. Jones
joined the Gorrilaz recently, and this experience had to have made him wonder
about getting the old BAD back together, with all original members.
These mash up bands
are original enough, but they wouldn’t exist without the influence of BAD.
Aerosmith, Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys get a lot of credit for bringing hip
hop to the white kids and making it safe, but I think many more white kids
besides me heard samples and hip-hop beats blended with rock for the first time
in that sweaty Southern California gym.
To quite a bit of
interest, BAD announced earlier this year that they would re-form with original
members, play a string of UK and US dates, and top it off with an appearance at
Coachella. Coachella is not only one of the biggest music fests in the world,
but pretty much kicks off the now huge US Summer Festival circuit, and is known
for reuniting nostalgic acts from the past and throwing them on a stage across
from today’s hippest bands.
It’s certainly no
mark to have “co-founder of The Clash” on your rock resume. They’re one of the
most influential bands of all time. But Jones was moving in a different
direction than his partner Joe Strummer. The Clash had experimented with many
different musical styles before, ska, reggae, dub, and toasting, but Jones
wanted to keep it going, even on early demos of the “Combat Rock” album, the
one that broke The Clash mainstream in the US. Songs like “(This is) Radio
Clash” started setting the tone for the birth of BAD, arguably.
After the success of
the mini-tours and Coachella shows, BAD announced more US and UK dates this
summer, and a performance at Lollapalooza. They are also working on
comprehensive re-issues of the early BAD albums, fleshed out with unreleased
material. The band is even planning on returning to the studio to record a new
album.
The influence of BAD
is appreciated much more in retrospect than it was at the time. BAD was much
different from The Clash. Strummer and Jones did get back together to work on
the BAD sophomore effort “No. 10 Upping St.” but sadly, never again as The
Clash. They were pioneers least of all in the use of sampling, beating even
many hip-hop artists that would become known for sampling to the punch.
But here’s to the
return of BAD, appreciation of their legacy, and hopefully more kids of all
colors appreciating this band as much more than a mere throwback nostalgia act.
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