Big Audio Dynamite - more pioneering than the Clash?

The Guardian reassesses Mick Jones' post Clash hip hop/techno/reggae/pop/punk band. I certainly like the Clash more, but recently was listening to some BAD and have to say, the group was way ahead of the curve. Some of the music hold up well today and you certainly can hear strains of it in Gorillaz and other groups of today.

This modernist approach to recycling or reintroducing samples was completely new in the rock/pop format of the mid-80s, and pre-dated key sampling releases from De La Soul, 2 Live Crew, Beastie Boys and MARRS' Pump Up the Volume, the first sample-based 1987 hit single to top the chart. In fact, BAD's 1985 debut album, This Is Big Audio Dynamite, and the Nicholas Roeg-sampling homage and hit single E=MC2, are now widely acknowledged as pioneering works in the emerging format.



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