BAD NEWS... the most influental
Metal band of th
e 80's! The hottest act on
the concert circuit throughout the decade, and every of their
album were platinum sellers!!!
Well, maybe not... but Bad News were certainly a major cult hit!! 2 albums, 2 CD's, some homevideo's, and a few singles is the legacy from the British counterpart to Spinal Tap!
Bad News were:
Vim Fuego (aka Alan Metcalfe) - Lead-vocals,
Lead-guitar
Den Dennis - Rhythm guitar
Colin Grigson - Bass guitar
Spider Web - Drums
The band first appeared in 1983, when
they toured the UK, playing rattraps, and shitholes almost for
free. Hardly anyone attended these shows, but the band still
landed an appearance on Jules Hollands TV-show "The
Tube".
Sadly a fight between band-members broke out, on-camera,
and the band split up right after.
The band reunited in 1987, when they were offered a record contract with the independant label "Frilly Pink", a gay label most renowned for their discoreleases. The band recorded one single for the label, "Warriors of Ghenghis Khan", before they were sold on to EMI (Every Mistake Imaginable), a major label renowned for almost having turned The Beatles down twice. The label released the bands debut album, "Bad News", in 1987.
The band appeared at the Monsters of
Rock festival at Castle Donington that year. Their set was cut
short when the band was attacked by fans (fans of Heavy Metal,
not fans of Bad News) on stage. Apparantly bandleader Vim Fuego
had made some remark about being the reincarnation of Jimi
Hendrix, which incited the riot.
The intire band was hospitalised after the riot, but in
December they were back on the road. They were supporting
Motörhead, on a national tour, in the wake of their first
hitsingle, "Cashing In On Christmas", recorded,
produced, and released by EMI, almost without the bands
involvement.
Then the band split up again....
Their only appearance ever since was on the Comic Relief '89 show, where only Vim, Spider, and Den turned up. Colin couldn't be bothered! The lack of decent Heavy Metal instruments prevented them from performing on the show.
Recorded work:
Warriors of Ghengis Khan (7" single - 1987 (There is no evidence that this single was actually released! It's seen quite a few times during "More Bad News", but if this was a legitimate release I don't know!))
Bad News (Album
- 1987)
Side 1: Hey Hey Bad News/Vim is angry/Warriors of Ghengis
Khan/Excaliber/Bohemian Rhapsody/Dividing up the spoils
Side 2: Introducing the band/Bad News/Hey Mr. Bassman/Hey
Mr. Drummer/Masturbike/Trousers/Drink Till I Die
(The track names are the ones used on the CD release, as
the original album didn't have any!)
Bohemian Rhapsody
(7" and 12" single - 1987)
Side 1 (7"): Bohemian Rhapsody (single mix)
Side 2 (7"): Pretty Woman
Side 1 (12"): Bohemian Rhapsody (single mix)/Pretty
Woman
Side 2 (12"): A.G.M. (edited version)*/Life with
Brian/Bad Dreams*
(tracks marked with an *, is not listed on the cover!)
Cashing In On Christmas
(7" single - 1987)
Side 1: Cashing In On Christmas
Side 2: Cashing In On Christmas (Dub)
Bootleg (Album
- 1988)
Side 1: Bad Dreams/A.G.M./Double Intendre/Locked
In/AIDS/O'Levels/Wedding
Side 2: H. M. Farmer/Masturbike/Cashing In On Christmas
(Dub)
Bad News (CD
- 1989 (U.S. release))
Contains: Bad Dreams/A.G.M./Introducing the band/Bad
News/Hey Mr. Bassman/Hey Mr.
Drummer/Masturbike/Trousers/Drink Till I Die/Vim is
angry/Hey Hey Bad News/Warriors of Ghengis
Khan/Excaliber/Bohemian Rhapsody (album version)/Double
Intendre/Cashing In On Christmas/Dividing up the spoils
The Cash In Compilation
(CD - 1993 (U.K. release))
Contains: Hey Hey Bad News/Bad Dreams/Vim is
angry*/Warriors of Ghengis Khan/A.G.M./Bohemian Rhapsody
(single mix)/Pretty Woman/O'Levels/Dividing up the
spoils*/Life with Brian/Introducing the band*/Bad
News/Hey Mr. Bassman*/Hey Mr. Drummer*/Masturbike/Double
Intendre/Trousers*/Drink Till I Die/Cashing In On
Christmas (Dub)
(tracks marked with an *, is not listed on the cover!)
Filmed work and TV appearances:
Bad News Tour
(Comic Strip - series 1 (1983 - 25 min.))
(Cronicling the strugling young bands first national
tour)
The Tube
(TV-show - 1983)
(The band appeared, performed, fought, and split up on
this show. While segments of this appeared in "More
Bad News", the whole performance is currently only
available in bootleg form)
More Bad News
(Comic Strip - series 3 (1987 - 50 min.))
(Cronicling the reunion of Bad News, the recording
sessions, and their fateful appearance at the Monsters of
Rock festival at Castle Donington)
Bohemian Rhapsody
Video EP (videorelease (10
min. - 1987))
(Includes the "Bohemian Rhapsody" promoclip,
and additional footage. This release is out of print.)
Cashing In On
Christmas (Promoclip -
1987)
(This promoclip was edited from footage filmed on the
tour supporting Motörhead, and is currently only
available in bootleg form.)
Comic Relief '89 (The short appearance on the fundraising show is currently only available in bootleg form, traded between fans)
"Bad News Tour" was originally released on videocassette, together with another episode from the Comic Strip series called "A Fistful of Travellers Checks", while "More Bad News" was released on videocassette on its own. A later release paired the two Bad News films into a value-for-money single release.
Hiding behind the stage names of Vim
Fuego, Colin Grigson, Den Dennis, and Spider Web, were four of
UK's hottest comedians: Adrian Edmonson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer
(hot of the success of The Young Ones), and Comic Strip writer,
producer and director Peter Richardson. All four had worked
together at the Comic Strip stage shows in the early 80's, and
had by 1983 got a deal to make a series of films for British TV.
Bad News was almost instantaniously a cult hit, both
amongst comedy and metal fans. And in the wake of Rik and Adrians
runaway succes with Bottom in the early 90's, brought out two CD
compilations of the albums and singles, released in 1987-88.
While all material from "Bad
News", and the "Warriors of Ghengis Khan" and
"Cashing In On Christmas"singles are now available in
digital form, there is still a large chunk of material from
"Bootleg", that only available in vinyl form. And those
vinyl releases are getting pretty hard to find. So if you have
got them... hang on to them!
Additional videography:
THE YOUNG ONES (12 episodes - made in 1982 and 1985) starring Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, and Nigel Planer.
THE DANGEROUS BROTHERS (Several short performances for Friday Night Live... a british stand-up show from the 80's - released on video as a compilation) starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmindson as a early incarnation of their Bottom alteregos!
FILTHY RICH AND CATFLAP (6 episodes - filmed in 1986) starring Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmonson and Nigel Planer... another early incanation of Bottom! Rik and Adrian's characters are called Richie Rich and Eddie Catflap.
MR. JOLLY LIVES NEXT DOOR (50 min. episode from the Comic Strip Present series - filmed in 1987). Starring Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmonson, and Peter Richardson, plus comedy veteran Peter Cook and TV showhost Nicholas Parsons. This is certainly very close to being Bottom... and it's a masterpiece! Well worth checking out!!
THE NEW STATESMAN (3 series of 7 episodes each, all in all 21 episodes! - filmed in 1989, 90, and 93). Starring Rik Mayall... Rik's character, Alan B'Stard, got shot in the final episode of series 2. A 50 minute long special was broadcasted before the third series, called Who Shot Alan B'Stard.
BOTTOM (3 series of 6 episodes each, in all 18 episodes so far! - filmed in 1991, 92, and 95). Starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmonson. Possibly the greatest comedy-series ever made... it is certainly the sickest, that's for sure!! Also worth checking out, are the 3 live-performance videos (Bottom Live!, Bottom Live 2, and Bottom Live 3: Hooligan's Island), and the outtake tape Bottom Fluff!
IF YOU SEE GOD, TELL HIM... (5 episodes - filmed in 1994) Starring Adrian Edmonson. Very dark comedy series... as far as I know, not currently available on video.
FOUR MEN IN A CAR (45 min. Comic Strip Presents special) Reuniting all four members of the Bad News team, together with Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders (Adrians wife, by the way). 4 salesmen in one car on the highway to hell... great!!
Additional discography
Comic Strip Live! (Album released in the early 80's, with recordings of the Comic Strip stage show! As far as I can hear, the recording was made from the audience, so is it a bootleg??)
Neil's Heavy Conceptial Album (Album recorded and released in 1985, by Nigel Planer, after the second series of The Young Ones. The album features several remakes of old psychedelic classics, and a cover spoofing The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper cover artwork)
Comic Relief Live... (livealbum recorded at the 1986 Comic Relief benefit shows. Rik, Adrian, and Nigel appears as The Young Ones performing Living Doll together with Cliff Richard! There is also a video available of the show, but the Cliff Richard segment is missing. Instead The Young Ones performes the song with Bob Geldorf, and it sucks!!