Song · Big Audio Dynamite
“Medicine Show” by Big Audio Dynamite
From the album This Is Big Audio Dynamite (1985)
“Medicine Show” by Big Audio Dynamite appears on 15 radio countdowns from 7 stations between 1986 and 2021. It was first released in 1985 on the album This Is Big Audio Dynamite. Its best result is #56 on the 91X Top 91 Songs of 1986. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #136 alternative song of 1986 and #1,741 alternative song of all time.
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Video from YouTube (bigaudiodynamiteVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
Mick Jones and Don Letts dreamed up a fictional medicine show for "Medicine Show", the last single from This Is Big Audio Dynamite, the band's 1985 debut, and it's a riot of a record: dance beats studded with dialogue lifted from four films, three of them spaghetti westerns, Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars among them.
Jones produced it, with Paul Smykle engineering, Leo Williams on bass, Greg Roberts on drums and Dan Donovan on keyboards, and the vocals pile up from Letts, Williams, Roberts and Donovan. Following the success of "E=MC2", it reached 29 in the UK, the band's last top-40 hit there with the original lineup. Letts directed the video and packed it with famous faces: Jones's former Clash bandmates Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon as cops, Neneh Cherry and Andi Oliver of Rip Rig + Panic, and John Lydon.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | 56 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1986 | 90 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 296 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988) | 496 |
| 1988 | 385 | Live 105 | Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988) | 501 |
| 1988 | 176 | WLIR / WDRE | WLIR Top 200 Songs of All-Time (1988) | 200 |
| 1989 | 465 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) | 495 |
| 1989 | 101 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989) | 500 |
| 1991 | 293 (tie) | Live 105 | Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1991) | 302 |
| 1991 | 92 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991) | 500 |
| 1992 | 75 | Live 105 | Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1992) | 299 |
| 1994 | 438 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994) | 497 |
| 1995 | 294 | Live 105 | Live 105 Revolutionary 300 (July 1995) | 300 |
| 1996 | 471 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996) | 500 |
| 2002 | 161 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 102 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2021 | 573 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s | 909 |
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