This Is Big Audio Dynamite
This Is Big Audio Dynamite is the debut studio album by the English band Big Audio Dynamite, released on 1 November 1985 by Columbia Records. Formed in 1984 by former Clash guitarist and vocalist Mick Jones, along with bassist Leo Williams, drummer Greg Roberts, keyboardist Dan Donovan, and DJ/filmmaker Don Letts, the group blended punk rock, reggae, dub, hip-hop, and electronic elements with extensive sampling from films and other media, creating a groundbreaking post-punk sound.[1][2] The album comprises eight tracks: "Medicine Show", "Sony", "E=MC²", "The Bottom Line", "A Party", "Sudden Impact!", "Stone Thames", and "BAD", produced by Jones and Letts. Three singles—"Medicine Show" (UK No. 29), "The Bottom Line" (UK No. 97), and "E=MC²" (UK No. 11)—were released to support it, all charting in the UK. It peaked at No. 27 on the UK Albums Chart, spending 27 weeks in the Top 100, and reached No. 103 on the US Billboard 200. The record was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales exceeding 100,000 copies in the UK.[1][3][4][5] Critically acclaimed for its innovative fusion of genres and cultural commentary on themes like consumerism, Thatcherism, and the AIDS crisis, This Is Big Audio Dynamite has been retrospectively hailed as a pioneering work that anticipated the rise of sampling and alternative dance-rock, influencing subsequent artists in the indie and electronic scenes.[2][5]Background
Band Formation
Mick Jones, the lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of The Clash, was dismissed from the band on September 1, 1983, shortly after the release of their album Combat Rock, prompting him to channel his energies into new musical endeavors.[6] This departure marked the end of Jones's tenure with The Clash, whose punk ethos and songwriting style continued to inform his subsequent work.[7] In mid-1984, Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite in London, recruiting a lineup that reflected his vision for a post-punk evolution incorporating diverse influences. The core members included Don Letts, a filmmaker and DJ who had collaborated with The Clash on visuals and performances, handling effects and vocals; bassist Leo Williams, formerly of the band Basement 5; drummer Greg Roberts, who had honed his skills in local London sessions and small bands; and keyboardist Dan Donovan, a session musician from the West London scene.[8][6][9] The band held its first rehearsals in London during this period, solidifying their experimental approach. Big Audio Dynamite aimed to fuse punk rock's raw energy with reggae rhythms, emerging hip-hop beats, and dance elements, creating a multimedia-infused sound that built on The Clash's later explorations while pushing boundaries further.[6][8] Early live performances began in 1984, including a notable show at Sheffield's Leadmill on July 10, where they debuted material blending these genres for enthusiastic crowds.[10]Album Concept
Following his departure from The Clash, Mick Jones envisioned This Is Big Audio Dynamite as a bold reinvention, aiming to craft a "cinematic" album that integrated film samples to create an immersive, multimedia experience distinct from traditional rock structures.[11][12] Influenced by his fascination with spaghetti westerns and sci-fi genres, Jones drew on evocative imagery from sources like Clint Eastwood films to infuse the project with narrative depth and atmospheric tension.[12] In collaboration with filmmaker Don Letts, Jones incorporated visual and narrative elements inspired by dub reggae's echoing textures and the burgeoning video culture of the 1980s, positioning the album as a fusion of sound and image that reflected their shared interests in media experimentation.[11] Letts, leveraging his background in directing music videos, contributed to selecting samples that enhanced the storytelling, emphasizing a holistic approach over isolated tracks.[11] Pre-production sketches focused on genre-blending, combining rock with hip-hop rhythms and reggae basslines through the use of drum machines and spoken-word samples to evoke impressionistic narratives rather than overt political messaging.[11][12] This groundwork highlighted tools like the Linn 1 drum machine to layer percussive elements, fostering a sense of cinematic progression.[12] At its core, the album was conceived as a "soundtrack to a non-existent film," with tracks structured around loose, evocative stories that prioritized mood and cultural collage over linear plots or direct commentary.[11][12] This conceptual framework allowed for a departure from rock conventions, embracing sampling as a narrative device to mirror the era's media saturation.[11]Recording and Production
Studio Sessions
The recording sessions for This Is Big Audio Dynamite took place at Sarm West Studios and Redan Recorders, both located in West London. These sessions occurred throughout 1985, building on initial demos the band had recorded in late 1984 and leading up to the release of their debut single "The Bottom Line" in September 1985.[13] Co-produced by Mick Jones and Don Letts, with Jones overseeing the sessions, the group worked to blend live instrumentation with electronic production techniques.[14][12] Including Jones on guitar and vocals, Don Letts on samples and vocals, Leo Williams on bass, Greg Roberts on drums, and Dan Donovan on keyboards, the band experimented with new technologies like samplers, which the band helped pioneer in the UK rock scene.[15] The album was finalized in the weeks leading up to its release on November 1, 1985, by Columbia Records.[16]Innovative Techniques
The production of This Is Big Audio Dynamite marked an early foray into sampling within rock music, where band co-founder Mick Jones integrated film dialogue and sound effects to create layered sonic collages that blended post-punk roots with hip-hop and reggae influences.[17] Samples were woven into tracks using one-shot samplers and eight-track recording setups, allowing for spontaneous experimentation that captured snippets from movies and other media to punctuate rhythms and narratives.[12] This approach, overseen by Jones, pushed the boundaries of traditional rock production by treating samples as integral compositional elements rather than mere embellishments.[18] A key innovation lay in the hybrid rhythm section, achieved by layering the crisp, programmed beats of the LinnDrum machine—provided by Jones—with live drumming from Greg Roberts. This technique produced a dynamic, dual-layered percussion sound that combined the precision of electronic pulses with organic swing, evoking a "dual-drummer" feel without additional players.[12] Roberts noted that the LinnDrum's punchy tones locked seamlessly with bassist Leo Williams's grooves, fostering a rhythmic foundation that bridged mechanical reliability and human improvisation.[12] Echo effects, drawn from dub reggae traditions, further enhanced the album's spatial depth, with engineer Paul "Groucho" Smykle applying reverb and delay during mixing to create echoing vocals and instrumental tails that evoked vast, atmospheric landscapes. Smykle's dub-oriented remixes, included on later reissues, amplified these techniques, transforming tracks into immersive soundscapes reminiscent of reggae production pioneers.[19] Jones's hands-on role in the mixing process balanced these digital elements against analog guitar tones, crafting a deliberate "collage" aesthetic where disparate sounds coalesced into cohesive songs.[17] This method highlighted Jones's vision of fusing live instrumentation with emerging technologies, setting a template for genre-blending in mid-1980s rock.[18]Musical Style
Genre Fusion
Big Audio Dynamite's debut album This Is Big Audio Dynamite exemplifies a pioneering genre fusion by integrating the raw energy of punk rock with reggae rhythms, hip-hop scratching, and electronic textures, creating a multifaceted sound that defied mid-1980s rock conventions. Mick Jones, formerly of The Clash, contributed driving guitar riffs that retained punk's aggressive edge, while Don Letts incorporated hip-hop elements through turntable scratching and reggae-infused basslines, blending these into a unified groove that emphasized danceable propulsion over traditional rock aggression.[15][2][20] This approach marked a significant departure from The Clash's raw punk ethos, evolving toward a more polished and rhythmic aesthetic that incorporated synthesizers for atmospheric depth and electronic percussion for percussive flair, resulting in tracks that pulsed with urban, multicultural energy.[21][2] The album drew from diverse influences, including Ennio Morricone's cinematic film scores to build sweeping, narrative-driven atmospheres, and early hip-hop pioneers like Grandmaster Flash for its insistent rhythmic drive and sampling ethos.[15][2] A distinctive feature of this fusion lies in the album's structural hybridity, where conventional verse-chorus frameworks alternate with free-form spoken interludes, often layered with samples to evoke a collage-like, improvisational feel that mirrors the band's cross-cultural ethos. Sampling techniques, such as those deploying film dialogue and urban soundscapes, further facilitated this seamless integration of disparate genres.[21][2]Sampling and Effects
The album This Is Big Audio Dynamite prominently features over 20 samples drawn from films, television, and music, weaving a "found sound" narrative that integrates disparate elements into cohesive tracks.[22] For instance, the opening track "Medicine Show" incorporates spaghetti western whistles from Ennio Morricone's score for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly to build tension, alongside dialogue snippets like "Known as the Rat" from the same film and "Get three coffins ready" from A Fistful of Dollars, creating a layered, storytelling backdrop.[23][24][25] Similarly, "E=MC²" draws from the 1970 film Performance, sampling dialogue such as the court scene intimidation and Chas's escape plans to punctuate its rhythmic shifts.[26][27] These samples, often from classic cinema, function as "characters" within the songs, enhancing the album's cinematic quality while complementing live instrumentation like guitar riffs and beatbox drums without dominating them.[18][28] Audio effects further amplify this experimental approach, with reverb applied to vocals and guitars to evoke echo chambers and spacious atmospheres, as heard in the reverberant guitar tones on tracks like "The Bottom Line." Pitch-shifting devices enable surreal transitions between song sections, adding disorienting, otherworldly shifts that blend rock elements with electronic textures. Delay effects contribute to echoing vocal overlays and rhythmic pulses, heightening the album's danceable, immersive soundscape.[29] In terms of stylistic impact, these samples and effects elevate sampling beyond a production gimmick, treating it as a core compositional tool to fuse genres like rock, hip-hop, and reggae into melodic narratives—a pioneering move in mid-1980s rock that prefigured sample-heavy productions in later decades.[7][17] This innovative integration, exemplified in the narrative-driven "Medicine Show," influenced subsequent genre-blending works by emphasizing samples' role in storytelling and texture.[18][30]Composition
Track Listing
The original release of This Is Big Audio Dynamite features eight tracks, divided across two sides on vinyl, with a total runtime of 43:31.[31][32]| No. | Title | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Medicine Show | 6:30 |
| 2 | Sony | 4:30 |
| 3 | E=MC² | 5:56 |
| 4 | The Bottom Line | 4:35 |
| 5 | A Party | 6:35 |
| 6 | Sudden Impact! | 5:00 |
| 7 | Stone Thames | 4:00 |
| 8 | BAD | 6:25 |