Time Zone (band)

The first Time Zone single was the 1983 electro song "The Wildstyle" which featured music from a German project called Wunderwerke (Dieter Kolb and Franz Aumüller) based in Wächtersbach in Germany. Rusty Egan of Visage came to see them in their studio. Co-founder of Do It Records, Ian Tregonning was interested in the Wunderwerke track "Sex Appeal" (1982 Virgin records);[1] Bambaataa was introduced to their music by Rusty Egan. The music was recorded in one evening as witnessed by Tregonning and was their first known use of a sampler. Samples of 'Trans-Europe Express' by Kraftwerk and Chic's 'Good Times' were cut into a drum (DMX) and bassline created by Egan. The song became popular among breakdancers at the time.

In December 1984, Time Zone released their most well-known single, "World Destruction".[2] 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."[2]

Bernie Worrell (synthesizers), Nicky Skopelitis (guitar), and Aïyb Dieng (african percussion) also played on the single, which was released by Celluloid Records on December 1, 1984.[3] The track peaked at #44 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1985.[4]

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.

Although the song was critically acclaimed, Bambaataa put the Time Zone project on hold while he worked on other projects. In 1992, Bambaataa revived the project with the single "Zulu War Chant". Time Zone released a handful of singles in the early-1990s which were compiled in the 1992 album Thy Will B Funk. In 1995, the band released another album titled Warlocks and Witches, Computer Chips, Microchips and You. The album featured contributions from George Clinton and his P-Funk Horns. But neither album sold well, and Bambaataa retired Time Zone.

"World Destruction" was also featured in the first episode of the fourth season of The Sopranos, "For All Debts Public and Private". The song played at the beginning of the episode as Tony gets his newspaper and again during the closing credits.

In 2005, Bambaataa again revived the Time Zone moniker for an album of breakbeats titled Everyday People: The Breakbeat Party Album.

In 2015, "World Destruction" was featured in the opening credit sequence in the season one finale of the USA Network original series Mr. Robot.

In 2020, "World Destruction" was used as the theme song for the podcast "Blowback," about the Iraq War.

• Time Zone at AllMusic
• Music video for "World Destruction"