Babylon A.D. is the debut album by Babylon A.D. Released in 1989. It contains the metal hits “Bang Go The Bells”, “Hammer Swings Down” and “The Kid Goes Wild” which was also featured in the film RoboCop 2.
Let me tell you about this really interesting band from the late ’80s hair metal scene – Babylon A.D.!
Picture this: It’s 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area, and these guys start out calling themselves The Persuaders. After hustling for a while, they change their name to Babylon, and then something pretty cool happens – they catch the eye of Clive Davis (yeah, the legendary Arista Records founder!) with their killer live shows. When they signed with Arista in 1988, they had to add the “A.D.” because, funny enough, another band already had dibs on just “Babylon.”
Babylon A.D.(Album)
The band had some serious firepower – Dan De La Rosa and Don Freschi made this awesome guitar duo, creating these massive walls of sound. And their lead singer, Derek Davis? Not only did he have this powerful voice, but he was also quite the looker (hey, it was the hair metal era – image mattered!).
Their 1989 debut album came out when pop metal was absolutely huge. They brought in Simon Hanhart to produce – this was the guy who’d worked with big names like Asia and Saxon, so you know they meant business! They even got some help writing songs from pros like Jack Ponti, which was totally cool for bands back then.
Here’s where it gets interesting – they had some solid tracks like “Hammer Swings Down” and “Bang Go the Bells” that mixed AC/DC and Aerosmith vibes.
They even got this amazing break when their song “The Kid Goes Wild” made it into RoboCop 2! MTV was playing their videos pretty regularly too.
Not So Glam
their music was really good. Even better more than some famous bands!
They were missing that certain “pop” factor that made other bands huge. Even their power ballad “Desperate” (which was usually the ticket to success for hair bands) didn’t quite catch on like they hoped.
The funny part is, Arista Records was pushing them super hard, but they were kind of new to the whole metal scene. They tried to break into the market with bands like Babylon A.D., Every Mother’s Nightmare, and Enuff Z’nuff, but none of them quite hit the jackpot.
The album clocks in at about 45 minutes with 10 tracks, and honestly, it’s a solid piece of hard rock history. It’s kind of like finding this hidden gem that got a bit lost in the shuffle when every other band was wearing spandex and hairspray!
Babylon A.D. (Album)
Band members
- Derek Davis – vocals, acoustic guitar
- Dan De La Rosa – guitars
- Ron Freschi – guitars, backing vocals
- Robb Reid – bass, backing vocals
- Jamey Pacheco – drums
Additional musicians
- John Matthews – guitars
- Jimmy Wood – harmonica
- Sam Kinison – vocals on “The Kid Goes Wild”
Production
- Simon Hanhart – producer, engineer, mixing
- Clark Germain, Eric Rudd, Julie Last, Scott Ralston, Guy Snider, Thom Roberts, Micajah Ryan, Chris Fuhrman – assistant engineers
- Chris Bellman – mastering
- Hugh Syme – art direction
- John Scarpati – photography
Arista – 1989
Track listing
- “Bang go the Bells” (4:15)
- “Hammer Swings Down” (3:27)
- “Caught in the Crossfire” (3:33)
- “Desperate” (5:23)
- “The Kid Goes Wild” (4:52)
- “Shot O’ Love” (5:47)
- “Maryanne” (3:41)
- “Back in Babylon” (4:10)
- “Sweet Temptation” (3:40)
- “Sally Danced” (5:53)
