Johnny Too Bad

UB40 recorded Johnny Too Bad in 1983, but its sound did not reach the ears of the mass public at that time. The song appeared on Labour of Love, an album that the British band put together with covers of other artists, yet it ended up being much more than a simple cover album. The track, with its roots in reggae and dub, slipped into the group's hits without drawing much attention at first, as if it held a rhythm only the most attentive could follow.

The album was recorded in Birmingham, where the band had been playing in pubs and clubs for years, until in 1979 an invitation to open for The Pretenders gave them a boost. By 1983, with Howard Gray as the engineer and Ray “Pablo” Falconer leading production alongside the band, they recorded Labour of Love in three weeks using borrowed equipment. The dub and reggae blend in Johnny Too Bad sounds as if time had stood still: Earl Falconer's bass and Michael Virtue's keyboards intertwine with Ali Campbell's vocals, which carry the melody with the calm that was already the quintet's trademark. It lasted exactly five minutes, just long enough for the song to breathe without haste, as if every note was meant to sound during a sunset in Cross.