One of the few D.C.-area hardcore bands with no ties to the Dischord label, Black Market Baby nonetheless came to be looked upon as an influence on many of the local bands who followed. Enamored of the populist shout-along anthems of Sham 69 (unlike most of their peers, save for Iron Cross), the group also drew from British (the Damned, the Ruts) and American punk (Stooges, Dead Boys, Ramones) alike, with a bit of AC/DC-esque heavy metal thrown in for good measure. Black Market Baby grew out of a previous band called the Snitch, which featured lead vocalist Boyd Farrell and bassist Paul Cleary. Adding guitarist Keith Campbell and drummer Tommy Carr, Black Market Baby played its first live show in the summer of 1980, and issued a split 7" with Bad Brains the following year. Their proper debut single, the classic "Potential Suicide" b/w "Youth Crimes," arrived on Limp Records in 1982, the same year that founding member Cleary departed in favor of Mike Dolfi.
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