The BusBoys first album “Minimum Wage Rock and Roll” was released by Arista in 1980. The album features a diverse variety of styles, with touches of bar-band and new wave, but mainly it was straight rock and roll. What you didn’t hear was contemporary R&B, which is what most listeners would have expected from a black American group.They worked the contradictions of those expectations into some of the lyrics, usually with humor, as in “There Goes The Neighborhood” (“I ain’t movin’ out for no Carol and Bob, the inner city is too close to my job”). There’s a touch of a novelty act about some of the humor, but it also spoke to the challenge of being a black rock band.
This live show from 1981 runs through 10 out of the 11 songs from “Minimum Wage Rock And Roll.” Several songs that are unreleased, including a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar.”
The BusBoys are still in business and have a website where you can purchase the studio versions of these songs for download.
I’ve included 300 dpi scans of the cue sheet and a record label. I declicked it manually to preserve the sound as best as possible.
Agora, Cleveland, Ohio
BBC Rock Hour #209, Version A
London Wavelength's Broadcast Week of March 1, 1981
Digitized July 2012 from a copy of the syndicated radio show disc.
01. BBC Rock Hour #209 Intro
02. Stop Guessing *
03. KKK
04. Dr. Doctor
05. Minimum Wage
06. Commercials: Dannon Yogurt / Chewels Gum
07. We Stand United
08. Anggie
09. Tell The Coach
10. Commercial: Scotch Cassette Tape
11. There Goes The Neighborhood
12. Extraordinary Girl
13. Johnny Soul'd Out
14. Brown Sugar *
15. Do It Again *
16. Did You See Me?
17. Commercials: Dannon Yogurt / Chewels Gum
18. D Day
19. Monkey Mash *
20. BBC Rock Hour #209 Outro
* unreleased
