THIS IS BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE

MEDICINE SHOW

medicine show = a staple of the Old West, where travelling charlatans would ply bogus cure-alls and "snake-oil". A statement about the British health care system?

"Get three coffins ready..." Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars (1964).

Santa Fe = capital of the state of New Mexico, USA and in the Old West, a likely stop for a medicine show

Timbuktu = a town in Mali, West Africa, and a general term for any out-of-the-way place

flares = bellbottom trousers

"You makin' some kinda joke?!" and "I don't think it's nice, you laughin'..."

>From A Fistful of Dollars (1964).

"Who the hell is that?! One bastard goes in and another comes out...I'm innocent of everything!"

Eli Wallach as Tuco in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (1966).

"Duck, you sucker!"

Spoken by James Coburn, from the film Once Upon A Time In A Revoultion (aka Duck You Sucker or, more appropriately, A Fistful of Dynamite).

"Wanted in fourteen counties of this state...Tuco Benedito Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez...known as the Rat..." Judge addressing Tuco in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (1966).

"We don't have to show you no steenkin' badges!"

>From the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

The laughing at the end of the song is also sampled from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Features a brief sample from the theme to "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" by Ennio Morricone.

SONY

Various references to Japanese culture:

Ginza Strip = district of Tokyo famous for its nightlife - clubs, brothels, etc.

chainsmoking = popular Japanese past time!

"Western girls on Lexington Queen" = reference to the non-Asian women who find work as "hostesses" in Japan

singalong bar = karaoke bar

rice wine = commonly known as sake

sukiyaki = Japanese meal of meat, bean curd and vegetables often cooked at the table

hari kari = ritual suicide/martyrdom

kamikaze = name given to Japanese "suicide flyers" in World War II

massage cab = popular among Japanese businessmen!

Godzilla = popular Japanese movie monster

bullet train = high-speed Japanese commuter train

"Papa jumped the gun back in '41..." = this verse refers to Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

"Following the flag of the Rising Sun..." = reference to the imperial Japanese flag

E=MC 2

A song written about the films of director Nicolas Roeg. Each verse alludes to a Roeg film:

First verse: reference to Walkabout (1971)

aborigine = Native Australian

Second verse: Performance (1970)

"Pop star dyed his hair" = Mick Jagger as Turner (or Bowie as the Man Who Fell To Earth?)

Third verse: Don't Look Now (1973) (dwarf dressed as little red riding hood, etc.)

Fourth verse: The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) and Insignificance (1985)

"Space Guy fell from sky" = David Bowie as The Man Who Fell To Earth

"Scientist eats bubblegum" = Albert Einstein (Insignificance)

"Hall of Fame baseball" = Joe DiMaggio (Insignificance)

"Senator's a hoodlum" = Joseph McCarthy (Insignificance)

Fifth verse: first half: Bad Timing (1980); second half: Eureka (1982)

Sixth verse: Insignificance (1985)

"King of Brains - Queen of the Sack" = Albert Einstein and Marilyn Monroe respectively (Insignificance)

"I don't like music..."

Mick Jagger as Turner in Performance (1970).

"He's an ignorant boy, an out of date boy..." Johnny Shannon as Harry Flowers in Performance (1970).

"Bye!"

Heard on the 12" remix and seen/heard in the video, this is Theresa Russell as Marilyn Monroe from Insignificance.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Melodic elements appropriated from "White Lines" by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five.

"Give us this our daily bread..." = Biblical reference, St. Matthew 9 and Luke 11:2.

"perchance to dream..." = reference to William Shakespeare's Hamlet: "To sleep: perchance to dream: ay there's the rub"

"Romeo" = reference to the character Romeo (Montague) from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

"I'm gonna take you to part two..." = A teaser at the end; the extended remix of this song, which features additional verses

The Bottom Line is also a New York City nightclub.

SUDDEN IMPACT!

Sudden Impact is the title of a Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry" film.

References to the ills of heavy metal music, glorification of Satanism, drugs, etc.

STONE THAMES

A song about AIDS, the title is a pun on Rock Hudson, who was an AIDS-afflicted actor.

The Hudson River flanks the western side of Manhattan; The Thames River flows through London.

BAD

"Jerry Lee Lewis had a child bride..." = reference to Lewis' marriage to his 13-year-old cousin

"Clint Eastwood starred in 'Rawhide'..." = an American Western TV show from the 50s/60s.

"Hawaii 5-0" = US TV cop show set in Hawaii

"Reagan won in a landslide / Which brings us back to 'Rawhide'" = reference to Ronald Reagan's 1984 landslide re-election in 1984, and his past career as an actor (including cowboy roles) in the 1950s

"...this is so fucking bad..." Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983)

THIS IS B.A.D. (B-SIDE TO MEDICINE SHOW)

"Do you like music?" "Yes." "Why don't you put a record on...Mozart." Michael Caine and Julie Walters from Educating Rita.

"The ayatollah of rock 'n' roll-a!" >From Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1984)