After Mick Jones was fired from the Clash in 1983, he formed Big Audio Dynamite (B.A.D.) one year later with video artist Don Letts (effects and vocals), Greg Roberts (drums), Dan Donovan (keyboards), and Leo “E-Zee Kill” Williams (bass). B.A.D. debuted on record with the single “The Bottom Line” in September 1985. The group followed the more experimental funk elements of the Clash’s Combat Rock, adding samplers, dance tracks, and found sounds to Jones’ concise pop songwriting.

Jones suffered from a near-fatal bout of pneumonia in 1988, but bounced back with 1989’s Megatop Phoenix. After that record, the band split apart at the end of 1989. Jones added Gary Stonadge (bass/vocals), Chris Kavanagh (drums/vocals), and Nick Hawkins (guitar/vocals) to form Big Audio Dynamite II, while Letts, Williams, and Roberts formed Screaming Target and Donovan joined the Sisters of Mercy. Releasing The Globe, the first full-length album with the new lineup, in 1991, B.A.D. II experienced their greatest success yet with the American Top 40 hit single “Rush.”

For 1991’s The Globe, only Jones remained from the previous assemblage, and the band was now called Big Audio Dynamite II. This new line-up, featuring two guitarists, was more “Clash-like” and, possibly as a result, often played heavier, more alternative rock-influenced music. The Globe produced the band’s most commercially successful single, “Rush” which hit ..1 on the US modern rock charts. B.A.D. II in 1991: Nick Hawkins, Mick Jones, Gary Stonadge, and Chris Kavanagh. The band later recruited keyboardist Andre Shapps (who co-produced all three BAD II albums), and Michael “DJ Zonka” Custance as DJ. Both appeared on the band’s 1994 album Higher Power, which was released under the shortened name Big Audio, which fans often called them. The album wasn’t as well-received as The Globe or previous BAD albums; there was a joke going around amongst fans about the removal of “Dynamite” from the band’s name (they claimed the group had “lost their ka-boom”).

After signing with Gary Kurfirst’s Radioactive Records in 1995, and releasing a less successful album, F-Punk, BAD found its proposed next album Entering a New Ride, in limbo — the record company apparently refused to release it. Coincidentally, the new line-up featured the inclusion of vocalist Rankin’ Roger (The Beat, General Public). In 1998, the band launched a new web site, primarily as a means to distribute songs from the Entering a New Ride album to the group’s fans. As of 2005, Jones is working on a project with Tony James (ex-member of Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik) called Carbon/Silicon.

I am feeling a bit nostalgic this weekend, trawling through my collection and revisiting the 80’s. I think it’s a “recharging my batteries” exercise after going to three gigs in four days. Anyway, after playing Combat Rock this afternoon BAD came into my head. Although the early “E=MC2″, in my mind was their finest hour, they are worthy of a mention if only for this gem!!!!!!

- Mark