Bomb

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Bomb was a San Francisco-based rock band started in 1986 by singer/bassist Michael W. Dean, guitarist Jay Crawford, and drummer Tony Fag (Anthony Paul Short, A.K.A. Blind Tony Fag).

Their first show was July 4, 1986, opening for Flipper .

Bomb's sound was deep, hard rock with melodic guitars, relentless tribal drumming (reviews referred to Fag as "The Human Drum Machine"), strong pop singing, and sometimes-cryptic lyrics. Common subjects of the songs were death, sex, drugs, girls, boys, love, loss, Satan, God, cross-dressing, girls, suicide, hope and girls. Song titles include "I Loved You, Then I Died", "Healthfood and Heroin", "Because Tiffany Feels", "Painglorious", "Love-Fed Hate", "Gigi", "Spoked Feet", "Bigger Than Fun", "Die", "To Elvis In Hell", "Vagrant Vampires" and "Mrs. Happiness." Record covers and posters featured dark, highly stylized art. They were mostly designed by Fag and executed by Richard Carse (RIP—shot by police.) In reviews, Bomb has been described as “a cross between Bauhaus, Boston, and The Bay City Rollers.” They released recordings on the independent record labels Wingnut Records and Boner Records as well as Reprise/Warner Bros. Records. The band also released a German 45 in 1991 which included a hard-rock cover of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus". They were also one of the bands who contributed a recording to the seminal 1990 queercore compilation, J.D.s Top Ten Homocore Hit Parade, put out by J.D.s zine, with their song entitled "B/E/A/F/A/G".

Guitarist Jay Crawford was briefly replaced with Douglas Arthur Hilsinger (also known as Hilsinger) for "Happy All The Time", but Crawford later rejoined and the band, with both guitarists, continued as a four-piece on "Personal Jesus", "Hate-Fed Love" (produced by Bill Laswell), and "Lovesucker".

Bomb toured America six times, and Europe once, and had a strong cult following throughout their career, despite being plagued by both infighting and very public (sometimes on-stage) drug abuse. The band had several dancers, male and female, who would occasionally strip and perform semi-lewd acts on stage, with each other and with members of the band. Bomb also toured with a male go-go dancer, Edgar Ivan "Eddy" Caranza.

Fag quit the band during a show in 1993. Bomb did one last tour that year, with drummer Bruce Ducheneaux. They recorded a three-song session with Ducheneaux, which was never released. The band broke up soon after.

The band reunited with Dean/Crawford/Hilsinger and Fag in 1999 to play three shows in San Francisco and record the EP "Lovesucker". All of Bomb’s records, tapes and CDs are out of print.

Other than coming out of the same musical era and same national scene, Bomb has no connection with the new and current band "The Bomb" (commonly called simply "Bomb"), featuring members of Naked Raygun.

TRIVIA: There is a Bomb poster on Sandra Bullock's character's office wall in the movie Demolition Man. Benjamin Bratt's character points to it twice, once while saying the word "addicted" and once while saying the word "hooked."

Discography

CDs Eps & LPs

• To Elvis In Hell, Boogadigga LP, (1987)
• Hits of Acid, Boner Records LP & Cass, (1988)
• Happy All The Time, Boner Records, LP & Cass (1989)
• Lucy In The Sky With Desi, Boner/Revolver CD & LP, (1990)
• Hate-Fed Love, Reprise/Warner Bros. Records, CD, (1992)
• Lovesucker, Wingnut Records, CD EP, (1999)

7" Single

• Personal Jesus/Nineteen, [Rave Records] German ltd 7" single

Compilation Appearances

JDs Top Ten Homocore Hit Parade Tape (1990) Song : Bomb - B/E/A/F/A/G

Thrasher Explicit Sk8rok Vol 10 CD(1991) Track #19 : Bomb - Nineteen

Trademark of Quality - Warner Bros. Promo CD(1992) Track #11: Bomb - Nineteen

Heck On Wheels - Warner Bros. Promo CD (1992) Track #10 : The Power of Suggestion

CMJ presents Certain Damage Vol 43 (1992) Track #18 Bomb : All My References are Dead ( 4:20)

External links

• HitsOfAcid.com (Official Site)
• Live Bomb videos from 1992 in Houston
• Free album download, "Hate Fed Love"
• Free album download "Hits Of Acid"
• Free music-production loop downloads made from Bomb's records. Also Bomb mash-ups made from these loops.
• Photo of the band
• MySpace page done by a fan
• Article about Bomb's gear: "The Ampeg SVT that would not die"