BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1984

Inauguration Day

“World Destruction” is a single by electro band Time Zone headed by Afrika Bambaataa.

In December 1984, Time Zone released their most well-known single, “World Destruction”. A collaboration between Bambaataa, ex-Sex Pistol/Public Image Ltd. leader John Lydon, and producer/bassist Bill Laswell. The “World Destruction” single was arranged by Laswell after Lydon and Bambaataa had acknowledged respect for each other’s work:

Afrika Bambaataa: “I was talking to Bill Laswell saying I need somebody who’s really crazy, man, and he thought of John Lydon. I knew he was perfect because I’d seen this movie that he’d made (Copkiller), I knew about all the Sex Pistols and Public Image stuff, so we got together and we did a smashing crazy version, and a version where he cussed the Queen something terrible, which was never released.”

John Lydon: “We went in, put a drum beat down on the machine and did the whole thing in about four-and-a-half hours. It was very, very quick.”

Bernie Worrell, Nicky Skopelitis, and Aïyb Dieng also played on the single, which was released by Celluloid Records on December 1, 1984. The track peaked at #44 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1985.

Although this single did predate Run-DMC and Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”, it is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the first rap-rock record. This is not true as Run-DMC had incorporated hard rock guitar into songs, most notably “Rock Box”, in April 1984.

There are no mix titles given on sleeve or labels for each mix.

SIDE A:
World Destruction 5:32

SIDE B:
World Destruction 6:27

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Celluloid ‎– 12AP 3018, CBS/Sony ‎– 12AP 3018
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: Japan
Released: 05 Mar 1985
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop, Rock
Style: Electro

CREDITS:
Bass, Drum Machine [Dmx] – Bill Laswell
Guitar – Nicky Skopelitis
Management [Administration For Material] –Roger Trilling
Mastered By – Robert Musso
Mixed By – Robert Musso
Mixed By [Assistant] – Mark Procopio
Percussion – Aiyb Dieng
Photography, Design – Thi-Linh Le
Producer – Afrika Bambaataa, Bill Laswell, Bill Laswell, Material
Recorded By – Rob Stevens
Recorded By [Assistant] – Hanh Rowe*
Synthesizer – Bernie Worrell
Vocals – Afrika Bambaataa, John Lydon
Written-By – A. Bambaataa*, B. Laswell*

NOTES:
Mixed by at RPM Studio
Recorded by at Evergreen Studio
Mastered at Masterdisk

Afrika Bambaataa is an exclusive artist of Tommy Boy and appears with their permission
Afrika Bambaataa courtesy of Tommy Boy Records
John Lydon courtesy of Elektra/Asylum Records

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon 2M Bronze
Isolation: Auralex Acoustics ISO-Tone Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck 
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Tung-Sol 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi