From the acrimonious breakup of The Clash - though Joe Strummer later colllaborated with Big Audio Dynamite - came several bands with varying sound from Mick Jones. The group has been known as Big Audio Dynmaite, Big Audio Dynamite II and Big Audio due to the changes in band personnel and approaches to music.

With elements of the sound he refined as guitarist/vocalist in "The Only Band That Matters," Jones delivers lyrics that are sometimes comparable with the snapshot mosaics of John Dos Passos in his classic USA Trilogy and the spoken performances by Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg. Many of the earlier songs intertwine lyrics with cuts from TV shows, movies and music.

Jones especially shows his brilliance in the still politically timely The Bottom Line, guitar-powered E=MC2 and C'mon Every Beat Box. In Sightsee M.C.! and I Turned Out A Punk, Jones pounds away at issues like mindless hate & how many let a musical movement narrow their thinking to extreme levels of nothingness.

The band somewhat devolved from a post-punk dance/rock to a heavier sound comparable with The Clash, and then - with the addition of the legendary Ranking Roger - began to explore the ingredients that made ska essential and timeless.

Planet BAD is a great sampler and shows that a greatest hits package is only as good as the band whose name appears on the cover.