bad thing: stop!

Bad Thing: Stop! b/w West Texas

Sonic Mind Candy 7”
Fuel / Big Money Inc. Records (1990)
BMI/F/ 004

Michael – Vocals & Guitar
Scotty – Bass, Acoustic Gtr., B. Vocals
Jack - Drums

Art Direction: Cash Carson
Clear red vinyl

I think I had a Bad Thing t-shirt before I even heard the band. I bought it at some non-Wax Trax store in Denver, possibly Twist & Shout. I still wear it every now and again, and while it’s now one of those old faded comfortable t-shirts that you can’t really wear outside of the house but can’t really bring yourself to throw away, there was a time when I would get positive and curious comments from random people every time I wore it. I like to think that Bad Thing made at least a couple of sales thanks to my t-shirt wearing habits. It’s basically the cover of the 7” on a white tshirt, with a big huge Big Money Inc. logo on the back. I think it confused a lot of people, but that was part of its charm.

For some reason, I always find myself confusing the previously written about Head Candy 7” with this 7”. I think it’s possibly because of the connection my mind makes between “head candy” and “sonic mind candy”. It could be pretty much the same thing, at least taste-wise. Also, this single has Minneapolis printed right under the Big Money Inc. logo, so perhaps I get that crossed with the Head Candy Replacements vibe. Who knows. What I do know, is that I still loves me my Bad Thing t-shirt.

I must have picked this up not too long after getting the t-shirt in Denver. Thankfully, the music made me as happy as the clothing did. There is a whole lot of nothing on this band, though – there was a 12” released in 1989 on Fuel Records titled “Candy From A Stranger”, so there was definitely some candy talking going on. Also, on a pretty much unrelated note, Arcwelder had originally decided on the name Tilt-a-Whirl, and released their first album on Big Money Inc., but that tells me really nothing about Bad Thing. I don’t even have last names to go on here, except for the art director…

There’s a lot less room for attaching memories to 7” singles as opposed to full length albums, I’ve found, with some exceptions. Sometimes it’s that one song that holds the most memories, and here, listening to “Stop!” again, I keep getting hit with a vision of living in Denver, in a little loft with T. above the mail-order voodoo store. T. had his darkroom set up in the bathroom, so when he had his red light on, you would just have to hold it until the developing was finished. I was working part-time for our downstairs neighbors, packaging lucky money incense and love power bath oils to mail out to voodoo believers across the nation. Most of the orders, interestingly enough, were from places like Louisiana. I would’ve thought that there would be closer outlets to get your bad ju-ju removal spray, but maybe the Denver stuff had more power. It never worked for me though. So we had our fave songs to play, while developing photos and stuffing bags with powdered incense, and while bands like Swell. Mary My Hope, and Opal were among our most played, I definitely blasted this song more than a few times. We would take breaks, drink some beer, and then do some empty beer bottle bowling, and rock out to the blast of Sonic Mind Candy.

The A-side is a noisy psychedelic grunge heavy crash of noise and melody, and sort of brings to mind thee Hypnotics, and also makes me really wish I had more music by this band. There is also this strange feeling of something like sonic deja vu that hits when i listen to "Stop!" It kind of feels like this band was moving along a BRMC mood, 10 years before BRMC. I know that doesn't really make sense, but sometimes it's hard to explain what's going on in my head in terms of music... though I try. They thank both the Screaming Trees and the Honeymoon Killers on this 7”, which makes sense. The B-side is a little mellower, with a little guitar riff that hits a little Treat Her Right, but other than that, the song moves in a little more distorted Brian Jonestown Massacre direction. I did manage to find a listing for this single on eBay Italy, but still, no real info, other than it’s going for about 3 bucks US, which means it’s not really up there in the eyes of collectors. Kind of a shame, because it’s definitely still a very enjoyable single. It’s going for 6.99 on regular USA eBay, which is a little better. I found more info on the Nicotine Spyral Surfers (a 7" coming soon to a blog page near you...) than I have for this band, and to me, that’s pretty strange. Pretty lame, too. Perhaps it’s time for a plea for help…
“Help?”