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.
Paul Gustave Simonon is an English musician and artist best known as the bassist for the Clash. More recent work includes his involvement in the supergroup the Good, the Bad & the Queen and playing on the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach in 2010, which saw Simonon reunite with The Clash guitarist Mick Jones and Blur frontman Damon Albarn – and which also led to Simonon becoming the live band's touring bassist for Gorillaz's Escape to Plastic Beach Tour. Simonon is also an established visual artist.
"Rush" is a song by English band Big Audio Dynamite II from their fifth album, The Globe (1991). A longer version of "Rush", entitled "Change of Atmosphere", had previously appeared on the group's 1990 album Kool-Aid.
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.
Super Black Market Clash is a 1993 compilation album released by the English punk rock band The Clash. It contains B-sides and rare tracks not available on the group's regular studio albums. The album is an expanded repackaging of the 1980 release Black Market Clash, a 10-inch EP containing nine songs. The man in the foreground of the front cover art on both releases is Don Letts, who worked with The Clash on several projects and later was a founding member of Big Audio Dynamite.
Machine Gun Etiquette is the third studio album by English punk rock band the Damned, released on 2 November 1979 by Chiswick Records.
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.
The Globe is the sixth album by alternative dance group Big Audio Dynamite II, their second album credited under that name instead of Big Audio Dynamite. It was released on 16 July 1991 in the United States, and in August elsewhere else, just after their limited UK-only album Kool-Aid and includes reworked versions of some of its songs. The Globe was certified Gold by the RIAA. Some CD versions came with the live album Ally Pally Paradiso as an additional disc.
Clash on Broadway is a box set compilation album by the English punk rock band the Clash, released on Legacy Records in 1991. It comprises 64 tracks on three compact discs, spanning the time period from their 1977 debut single, "White Riot", through the Combat Rock album of 1982. It does not include material from the band's final sessions led by Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon, resulting in the final album Cut the Crap (1985). It was initially released in longbox form.
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.
No. 10, Upping St. is the second studio album by the English band Big Audio Dynamite, led by Mick Jones, the former lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the Clash. The album's title is a pun on 10 Downing Street, the headquarters of the Government of the United Kingdom. The album reunited Jones for one album with former Clash bandmate Joe Strummer, who was a co-producer of the album and co-writer of 5 of its 9 songs.
Daniel Donovan is an English keyboardist, composer, photographer and remixer. He was a founding member of Big Audio Dynamite and of Dreadzone.
Entering a New Ride is the ninth and final album by Big Audio Dynamite, recorded in 1999. Radioactive Records declined to release the album, so in 2001 the band decided to post the tracks on its website. In this way, the album is one of the earliest internet-distributed albums. To support this self-release by the band many fans and media creators became involved centered upon a discussion board on the BAD website. Among these was filmmaker and interactive media producer Krishna Stott, who created the interactive film NTR, a noir-ish story written by Tim Birch, starring actor Wayne Simmonds, and featuring three of the albums tracks. This guerrilla film was distributed using the then new technology of CD-ROM.
Higher Power is the seventh album by Big Audio Dynamite, released in 1994. First released in the US on 8 November, it was then released in the UK the following week on 14 November 1994. "Looking for a Song" was released as a single; it peaked at No. 24 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. The band supported the album with a North American tour.
F-Punk is the eighth studio album by Mick Jones' post-Clash band Big Audio Dynamite, released in 1995. It was the first album to be released under the name of Big Audio Dynamite since 1989's Megatop Phoenix. The title is a pun on the funk group P-Funk, and is supposed to imply "Fuck punk." The album cover lettering takes influence from London Calling, one of Mick Jones' albums with The Clash, which in turn was a copy of Elvis Presley's debut album.
Megatop Phoenix is the fourth and final studio album by the original line-up of English band Big Audio Dynamite, released on 4 September 1989 by CBS Records. Mick Jones and Bill Price produced the album. It was recorded at the Kinks' Konk Studios in Hornsey, London, who were considered an inspiration in the album's liner notes.
Leo Williams, also known as E-Zee Kill, is an English-Jamaican bassist residing in the United Kingdom.
Big Ship is the second extended play (EP) by the English band Cardiacs, released in January 1987 by the Alphabet Business Concern. It is an album-sized vinyl record played at the speed of a single (45rpm) and was issued with a lyric insert. It was the first Cardiacs release to exclusively feature the so-called classic 1980s line-up of the band.
Greg Roberts is an English drummer. He was a member of Big Audio Dynamite from 1984 to 1990, a band led by Mick Jones, former lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the Clash. He went on to form Screaming Target in 1991 with ex-Big Audio Dynamite members Don Letts and Leo "E-Zee Kill" Williams, then started Dreadzone with Tim Bran, Williams and Dan Donovan, another former Big Audio Dynamite member. Dreadzone had a No. 20 hit in the UK Singles Chart with "Little Britain" in 1996.
"Garageland" is a song by English punk rock band The Clash featured as the final track for their 1977 debut album The Clash.
