Bad Medicine

Blue-eyed funk combo Bad Medicine formed in Syracuse, New York on Halloween, 1968. Guitarist/keyboardist Tom Corradino, guitarist Harry Rado, bassist Greg Johnson, and drummer Richard Clarke comprised the original lineup, with saxophonist David Morton signing on soon after. (Various singers, percussionists, and additional players briefly passed through the ranks in the years to follow, among them vocalist Michelle Sobers, whom Bad Medicine backed on several singles for Arthur Lane's Enyx Records label, among them "When the Battle Is Over.") With a dynamic live set that comprised original material, covers of contemporary R&B hits by the likes of James Brown and the Ohio Players, and blues classics popularized by Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf, Bad Medicine built up a devout fan following across the central New York region, opening for everyone from Muddy Waters to Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels. In 1970, the band released its debut single, "She's Taken All My Money," on the local Orbit label, and after signing to Enyx in 1974, Bad Medicine recorded the Lane-penned "Trespasser" -- a modern-day cult classic thanks to its inclusion on the Stones Throw label's influential Funky 16 Corners compilation; this sinister instrumental was a minor local hit but failed to catch on nationally. Bad Medicine essentially dissolved the following year after Corradino was seriously injured in an automobile accident. Over a decade later, he reunited with Rado and Clarke in the Washington, D.C.-based zydeco outfit Little Red & the Renegades. ~ Jason Ankeny