It's been quite a bit of time since I first talked about Bad News. They just don't make comedy albums like they used to, and it's a shame, really. Gone are the days of skit acts like Cheech and Chong, Bob and Doug McKenzie, and to an extent Monty Python. It's a lost artform. One where the comedy had to paint a verbal picture since there were no visuals beyond your imagination.
Bad News made their first appearance in 1983's British series, The Comic Strip Presents... It's one to behold unto itself, watching the bumbling faux band being followed for a rockumentary by an equally inept documentary film crew. The band consisted of Vim Fuego (played by Ade Edmondson) on vocals and lead guitar; Den Dennis (Nigel Planer) on rhythm guitar; Colin Grigson (Rik Mayall) on bass; and Spider "Eight-Legs" Webb (Peter Richardson) on drums.
A hiatus period occurred while the majority of the members focused on the popular, but controversial series, The Young Ones. However, things would take a turn when they were invited to perform at Donington's Monsters Of Rock in 1986. This would lead to them recording and releasing their 1987 self title debut, produced by Queen's Brian May. The "band" returned to The Comic Strip Presents... for More Bad News. This time, the rockumentary centered around their appearance at Donington.
Bootleg contains some funny moments, but for the most part feels like a bunch of mish mash impromptu skits. This is probably the case considering the manner in which it came together. To match its title, it also has a very poor production value, hissing mics and echoing studio walls. If that weren't enough to add to the poor quality, there is also a lot of mumbling and laughing during several "skits", as if they were just amusing themselves, and this somehow ended up as the final result.
That's not to say it terrible. I mean, it's not good as a whole. Locked In, and O Levels are the only standout tracks for me, along with the comedy song, Cashing In On Christmas. With that said, I can only take them in few and far between doses. Even as I listened through it for today's post, it felt like it was too soon since I last heard it, which was years ago.
Bad News would go on to re-release an expanded version of their debut in 1989, and then again in 2004. In between that, they released 1992's The Cash In Compilation. In 2012, the 30 Years Of Comic Strip documentary was filmed, wherein some members gave retrospective (and fake) accounts of what had happened to the band since, as well as the fate of some of the members. In 2019, (Almost Rare) was released. However, because Bad News is a relatively niche audience experience, I don't know that many people noticed. As a whole, the "band" doesn't pop up very often. Sadly, Mayall also passed away in 2014.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS August 15, 1981 |
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS August 15, 1987 |
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