Back in November 1985 Big Audio Dynamite released their debut album, This Is Big Audio Dynamite. It's a superb album, pioneering, progressive and modernist, Mick Jones and his new gang (Don Letts, Greg Dread, Leo Williams and Dan Donovan) embracing sampling and drum machines, synths and FX, Mick moving on from The Clash at the crest of a wave. It's only eight songs and the big three singles overshadow the rest a little- E=MC2, Medicine Show and The Bottom Line. Recently I've been playing this song a lot, the album's second song, something about it striking a chord in early 2026...
Ultra- modern, orchestral synth sounds and whooshes, keyboard stabs and clattering drum machine- it's very mid- 80s. Samples are dropped in and out- there are screeching sounds, horses whinnying, a snatch of opera, 808 percussion breakdowns and Mick's rapid fire lines and West London accent...
Sony is a celebration of Japan in the 80s, its culture and manufactured goods- 'Hi- tech sex and wireless sets...microchip and solid state'- and also Japan's relationship with the west- 'The West don't learn from history/ Doomed to repeat it endlessly/ We put the past onto Fuji/ And we erase it totally'. The part early on when Mick sings, 'Western girls at Lexington Queen/ Prettiest girls I've ever seen', refers to a Tokyo nightclub near the Ropponghi crossing, a hangout for Tokyo's rich, famous and glamorous citiznes, pop stars, models and aspiring celebrities.
Sony is a rush, B.A.D. totally on it, enjoying making music, free from pressure and in love with technology and possibility. They were also in love with remixes, extended mixes, versions and dubs...
4 comments:
It's been many many years since I listened to the album in full - B.A.D. being one of those bands whose stuff tends to be restricted to coming up via random shuffles while out on my travels - and I'd totally forgotten about 'Sony'.
It's one of those songs that back in the day kind of washed over me....far too busy pining for The Clash at their punkiest....but playing it again today, even through just the tinny speakers that come with the laptop, has put a smile on my face and taken me back to an all-night party in Edinburgh where this was put on by someone and declared as 'the music of the future'.
A tad of an exaggeration, but there's no denying it still sounds good 40 years later. Great piece of writing, as per usual. Cheers!!!!!!!!!!
Those first four albums by the original line-up are just great. It would've been nice to have seen a 40th anniversary reissue of 'This is...' in 2025. (40 years.....shit!)
I've loved BAD since E=MC2 but its great to still be reminded of tracks that don't always get my full attention- such as Sony. And your friend at that party might be partially right JC- they were a future of music if not the future. BAD was exactly what Mick Jones should have done after The Clash.
Swede- me too, I'm amazed there wasn't a 40th anniversary edition. And yes, each of those 4 albums are great, each one in their own way.
Like you I've love B.A.D. since E=MC2, there whole sound fitted me like a jigsaw piece I didn't know was missing.Those first four albums big favourites and I still think Megatop Phoenix is criminally underrated.
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