The band that recorded
9 consisted of
John Lydon, bassist Allan Dias, guitarist
John McGeoch and drummer
Bruce Smith. Former guitarist
Lu Edmonds left the band by the time the album was recorded due to problems with
tinnitus. However, Edmonds received a writing co-credit on all tracks, although he does not play on the album. Ted Chau, who replaced Edmonds in the band, does not perform on
9. The album was produced by
Stephen Hague, Eric "ET" Thorngren, and the band.
Bill Laswell, who had produced
Album three years earlier, had originally been lined up to produce
9. However, tension between Laswell and Lydon after the recording of that album, coupled with Laswell's desire to once again use his own cast of
session musicians on
9 and his dissatisfaction with Public Image's new line-up, led to the agreement being cancelled. The first album track to be released was "Warrior", which showed up on the soundtrack album to the movie
Slaves of New York, released on 20 March 1989. The track "Sand Castles in the Snow" was originally titled "Spit", and was so listed in various Virgin pre-release information. ==Track listing==