"The Bottom Line" | ||||
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Single by Big Audio Dynamite | ||||
from the album This Is Big Audio Dynamite | ||||
B-side | "BAD" | |||
Released | October 1985 [1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:35 | |||
Label | CBS | |||
Songwriter(s) | Mick Jones | |||
Producer(s) | Mick Jones | |||
Big Audio Dynamite singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"The Bottom Line" on YouTube |
"The Bottom Line" is a song by English alternative dance band Big Audio Dynamite, released as both a 7" and 12" single from their debut studio album, This Is Big Audio Dynamite (1985). It was written, and produced by Mick Jones, his debut single with a band singing lead vocals since being fired from the Clash in 1983. Whilst not a hit in their home country, peaking at No. 97 on the UK Singles Chart, it was a Top 40 hit in Australasia, peaking at No. 34 on Australia's ARIA Singles Chart, and No. 38 on New Zealand's Recorded Music NZ chart.
The 12" version of the song at the full length of 8:40 is considered the definitive version, featuring parts one and two. Part one is a slightly longer than the album version, and part two is the extended "rap" alluded to on the album version when it fades with "I'm gonna take you to part two." [2]
In 1990, "The Bottom Line" was remixed and used as the title track for the adventure comedy film, Flashback , starring Dennis Hopper and Kiefer Sutherland. However, this track was not included on the film's official soundtrack.
The single's cover depicts most of the band dressed in cowboy clothing as a four piece band, minus keyboardist Dan Donovan who took and designed the photo.
Chris Salewicz of Spin called it, "stirring and anthem-like, loaded with references to other musical forms, but with Jones's unerring sense of melody as its lifeblood. Like all the best things, it is very simple, belying the immense diligence that has gone into its making." [3]
Chart | Position |
---|---|
Australia ARIA Singles Chart [4] | 34 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [5] | 38 |
UK Singles Chart [6] | 97 |
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart | 33 [A] |
Big Audio Dynamite were an English band, formed in London in 1984 by Mick Jones, former lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the Clash. The band mixed various musical styles, incorporating elements of punk rock, dance music, hip hop, reggae, and funk. After releasing a number of well-received studio albums and touring extensively throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Big Audio Dynamite broke up in 1997. In 2011, the band embarked on a reunion tour.
Simply Red are an English soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. Band leader, singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, was the only original member left by the time Simply Red initially disbanded in 2010. They have released thirteen studio albums, from Picture Book (1985) through Time (2023), all of which have peaked within the top ten on the UK Albums Chart; with the albums A New Flame (1989), Stars (1991), Life (1995) and Blue (1998), along with their Greatest Hits (1996) album, reaching number one. Their 1991 album Stars is one of the best-selling albums in the United Kingdom.
Dead or Alive were an English pop band who released seven studio albums from 1984 to 2000. The band formed in 1980 in Liverpool and found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK Top 40 and three albums in the UK Top 30. At the peak of their success, the line-up consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Steve Coy (drums), Mike Percy (bass), and Tim Lever (keyboards), with the core pair of Burns and Coy writing and producing for the remainder of the band's career due to Percy and Lever exiting the group in 1989. Burns died in 2016; with the death of Coy in 2018, the band ended.
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"The Globe" is a 1991 song by British electronic group Big Audio Dynamite II. It was released as a single in the United States and is taken from their album The Globe. It samples the 1981 song "Should I Stay or Should I Go" and Lionel Richie's 1983 single, "All Night Long ".
Cut the Crap is the sixth and final studio album by the English punk band the Clash, released on 4 November 1985 by CBS Records. It was recorded in early 1985 at Weryton Studios, Munich, following a turbulent period: co-founder, lead guitarist and co-principal songwriter Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon had been dismissed by lead vocalist Joe Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon. Jones and Headon were replaced by three unknowns: guitarists Vince White and Nick Sheppard and drummer Pete Howard. During the tense recording sessions, Clash manager Bernie Rhodes and Strummer fought each other for control over the band's songwriting and musical direction.
Michael Geoffrey Jones is a British musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer best known as the co-founder of the Clash, and as that group's guitarist until 1983. In 1984, he formed Big Audio Dynamite with Don Letts. Jones has played with the band Carbon/Silicon along with Tony James since 2002 and was part of the Gorillaz live band for a world tour in 2010–2011. In late 2011, Jones collaborated with Pete Wylie and members of the Farm to form the Justice Tonight Band.
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This Is Big Audio Dynamite is the debut studio album by the English band Big Audio Dynamite, led by Mick Jones, the former lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the Clash. It was released on 1 November 1985 by Columbia Records. The album peaked at No. 27 on the UK Albums Chart and at No. 103 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Three singles were released from the album, all of which charted in the UK. "The Bottom Line" released a month before the album, barely made the Top 100, peaking at No. 97, becoming their lowest charting single, whereas its follow-up single "E=MC²" released in 1986, became their only Top 20 hit, peaking at No. 11, and becoming their best-selling single. The final single from the album, "Medicine Show" also released in 1986, became their last single to chart within the Top 40 under the original line-up, peaking at No. 29. The music video for "Medicine Show", directed by Don Letts, featured two other former members of the Clash, Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon as police officers as well as John Lydon of the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd.
"Love Is the Drug" is a song by the English rock band Roxy Music, from their fifth studio album, Siren (1975), released as a single in September 1975. Co-written by Bryan Ferry and Andy Mackay, the song originated as a slower, dreamier track until the band transformed its arrangement to become more dance-friendly and uptempo. Ferry's lyrics recount a man going out looking for action.
"E=MC2" is a 1986 single by the English band Big Audio Dynamite, released as the second single from their debut studio album, This Is Big Audio Dynamite (1985). The song was the band's first Top 40 hit on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 11. Additionally, it peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in the United States. The song features prominent dialogue samples from the crime drama film Performance (1970). The song is also played during the opening titles of the French movie Forces spéciales (2011).
The discography of Dead or Alive, a British dance-pop group, consists of six studio albums, seven compilation albums, twenty-eight singles, and two video albums. Formed by frontman Pete Burns in 1980 in Liverpool, the band were first signed to the independent Rough Trade label in 1982, though moved to Epic Records the following year. Their debut album, Sophisticated Boom Boom, was released in 1984, producing a series of minor hits in the UK, most notably their version of "That's the Way " which gave them their first UK Top 40 hit.
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Big Audio Dynamite are a British musical group formed in 1984 by the ex-guitarist and singer of the Clash, Mick Jones. The group is noted for its effective mixture of varied musical styles, incorporating elements of punk rock, dance music, hip hop, reggae, and funk. BAD's one constant throughout frequent shifts in membership and musical direction is the vocals provided by Mick Jones. After releasing a number of well-received albums and touring extensively throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Big Audio Dynamite disbanded in 1997. In 2011, the band embarked on a reunion tour.
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"C'mon Every Beatbox" is a song by the English alternative dance band Big Audio Dynamite, released as both a 7" and 12" single from their second studio album, No. 10, Upping St. (1986). Written by Mick Jones and Don Letts, "C'mon Every Beatbox" was released as the lead single from the album, peaking at No. 51 on the UK Singles Chart, and No. 19 on Billboard's Dance Club Songs. The single features the non-album track, "Badrock City" as its B-side, which was later included as a bonus track on the US CD of the No. 10, Upping St. album.
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