Gonzo’s Gems: “The ‘Original’ Bad Company”
By Sam “Gonzo” Gonzales
It was the mid-seventies, I was hanging out with my neighborhood friends and shooting hoops in a carport when a suped-up white Dodge Charger whipped around the corner, raced up the street towards us and pulled in to the driveway next door. The driver, a guy in his late teens, jumped out and looked in our direction, acknowledged us with a cool head nod and disappeared into the house. I gave the Charger a closer look as my buddies continued on their quest for the ever elusive “mystical hook-shot”.
Right off, I knew this car was different. It had personalized license plates with “Bad Company” on it and there was a cool looking logo of a guy with wings, which in later years I came to recognize as the Led Zeppelin Swan Song logo, the label which Bad Company was also signed to. The guy reappeared minutes later, jumped in and started up his Charger’s formidable engine, cranked up his eight-track player, pausing for our benefit and then, “One, two… one, two, three…“ A killer power chord riff blasted out of the car speakers and a male singer sang, “Well I take whatever I want… and baby, I want you… you give me something I need… now tell me I’ve got something for you…” The guy gunned his engine and raced off in the direction he had come from. “Cool car, cool guy, cool song!” My first Bad Company song, “Can’t Get Enough” had just been unveiled to me.
Considered one of the 70s first super-groups, Bad Company was formed in 1973 with ex-Free members, singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke, ex-Mott The Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and ex-King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. The band had one of the finest voices in all of rock in Paul Rodgers and with the masterful backing of riffmeister Mick Ralphs, the rock solid rhythm section of Boz Burrell and drummer Simon Kirke and managed by the legendary Peter Grant the band threw themselves into recording their first album at Headley Grange while the mighty Led Zeppelin took a break from recording “Physical Graffiti. Bad Company went on to become one of the architects of stadium rock.
Bad Company‘s self-titled debut, released in 1974, got it right straight out of the gate. The album is chock full of great songs and was recently voted by Classic Rock Magazine as one of the 150 Greatest Debut Albums Of All Time. Their first hit and the first track on the album is the classic, “Can’t Get Enough”. The song is counted off and then we’re immediately immersed in a Mick Ralphs riff that is as catchy as a riff can be and sets the tone for the entire song. Paul Rodgers then joins in with his strong and soulful voice. “Ready For Love” is a slow, moody love song sung by a man declaring that he is truly ready for love. “Bad Company” is piano driven song with an underlying moodiness that rivals any rock song out there dealing with a western theme. And finally, you’ve got the fine rocker “Movin’ On”. The song will have your toes tapping and your head bobbing to its rhythm. Nice start fellas!
Released the same year as their debut album, “Straight Shooter” didn’t skip a beat and picked up right where their debut album had left off with a hard rockin‘ “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad”. Talk about attitude. But then again, why not? “Cause I’m man, I got my pride, I don’t need a woman to hurt me inside, I need a love like any other, yeah, so go on and leave me, leave me for another…” Now comes the rock ballad, “Feel Like Makin’ Love” to calm everybody down. It’s a beautiful song and can be found on countless rock ballad compilations. Next, “Deal With The Preacher” rocks out and sounds like “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad‘s“ little brother. The Gem and my all time favorite Bad Company song is “Shooting Star”. Such a favorite, that years later when I picked up the guitar, I learned to play “Shooting Star”. I love the opening lyrics, “Johnny was a schoolboy, when he heard his first Beatles song… Love Me Do I think it was, and from there it didn’t take him long…” It’s a rags to riches rock ‘n’ roll song that ends in the sad demise of “Johnny Rockstar“.
Bad Company continued its streak of hit albums with “Run With The Pack”. Released in 1975, we go on living for the music with the mid-temp rocker, “Live For The Music”. The “ZZ Top” sounding “Honey Child“ rolls in and rocks us for 3 minutes and 17 seconds. “Run With The Pack” chugs along nicely with heavy piano, a smoldering solo by Mick and the added orchestration at the end of the song is a nice touch. Also included on the album is a decent cover of The Coaster‘s 1957 hit, “Young Blood”, written by the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The Gem on this album is the gorgeous and sweeping ballad, “Silver, Blue & Gold”. A song of a love lost, Paul sings, “In the beginning, I believed every word that you said… now that you’re gone my world is in shreds…”
Burnin’ Sky, released in 1976, didn‘t fare as well as its predecessors, but the album does have its moments, like “Heartbeat” and “Man Needs Woman”. “Heartbeat” and “Man Needs Woman” were both delivered with the usual Bad Company flair. It had Paul’s impassioned vocals, Mick’s great riffage and fretwork and Boz’s and Simon’s dead-on backbeat. The band was beginning to show signs of wear and tear at this stage of the game.
In early 1981, my brother Gilbert, discovered Bad Company. Firmly entrenched in his wild and carefree days, he heard Paul sing “I can hear ‘em say… bad company and I won‘t deny… bad company til the day I die…” The song was “Bad Company” from their debut album and on the spot, my brother declared, “That’s me, they’re singing about me.” Needless to say, it made quite the impression on him. And when our cousin Alfred, another Bad Company fan, introduced Gilbert to the album, “Run With The Pack” and its title song my brother declared that that song was also written for him and his drinking buddies, his “wild bunch“, his “pack”. Gilbert was now a huge fan of the band‘s and he decided to purchase his first Bad Company album, the band’s most recent release, “Desolation Angels”.
“Desolation Angels”, released in 1979, saw the use of synthesizer and strings. It was nice to see the band showing a resurgence of energy. The album kicks off with their huge hit and the now classic rock anthem, “Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy”. “Here come the jesters, one, two, three… it’s all part of my fantasy… I love the music, and I love to see the crowd dancing in the aisles and singing out loud…“.
“Gone Gone Gone” was the other standout track on the album. A pretty decent and successful album all around, but cracks were beginning to show.
It was 1982 and I drove off the Navy base and headed to my friend’s place in town. He had just purchased Bad Company’s new release, “Electric Diamonds”, that day and he seemed pretty excited by it. He put it on and we listened to it. I do remember “Untie The Knot“ being the standout cut for me. The song sounded pretty polished, but it was Paul’s vocals that sealed the deal with me. He was and continues to be the personification of the true rock voice. Now to deal with things at hand. I was not bowled over by “Rough Diamonds” like my friend was. The album seemed a little forced and it was missing the energy of previous albums. In all actuality, the band was going through some pretty tough times and would soon disband after the albums release.
Paul Rodgers went on to solo career, while Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke continued recording under the Bad Company moniker. They went through two other incarnations of Bad Company. First they recruited ex-Ted Nugent lead singer, Brian Howe, who now brought a pop-rock sound to their music. They released four albums between 1986 to 1994 and racked up some nice hits before letting Howe go and shape-shifting into the third incarnation of Bad Company. Now Robert Hart was up at bat. Hart was a singer who sounded remarkably like Paul Rodgers and some considered him just a Paul Rodgers imitator. They released two albums between 1995 to 1997 with Hart before letting him go. Good things were in the horizon now as the original line-up were considering a reunion.
The original Bad Company line-up reunited in 1998 and recorded four new cuts for inclusion on the “The “Original” Bad Company Anthology” which was released in 1999. Included were five rare and unreleased cuts which served as a nice little trip back in time. The five songs had the classic sound and feel of early Bad Company, but my favorites tracks, requiring extensive listening, were the four newly recorded cuts, especially the two hits, “Hammer Of Love” and “Hey Hey”.
The reunion proved to be short-lived, but I was lucky enough to catch the “Original Bad Company” in concert on June 24, 1999. With a marine friend and his wife in tow, we headed to the MCI Center in Washington, DC. My friend’s wife, I learned was truly a big rock ’n’ roll fan. I was impressed. He who has a rock ‘n’ roll wife is lucky, lucky fella. It turned out to be a great concert with all the original members playing all their hits with heartfelt enthusiasm.
The following year, Ralphs announced his retirement from live performing and Burrell exited the band. Now it was Rodgers’ and Kirke’s turn to continue on with the band. New members were added on lead guitar and bass and they went on to record “Merchants Of Cool” soon thereafter. I lucked out and got yet another chance to see Bad Company in action on May 24, 2001 at JuneFest 9 in my hometown of Las Vegas. On the bill with Bad Company were classic rock bands Journey, Molly Hatchet, Night Ranger, Styx and Billy Squier. The new version of Bad Company played well and had the crowd in good spirits, but they were not the original line up. The following year, Paul Rodgers returned to his solo career. He did team up with Queen in 2005 to form Queen + Paul Rogers and they recorded and released “Return Of The Champions”.
Sadly, original bassist and founding member, Boz Burrell died of a heart attack on September 21, 2006, at the age of 60. When the remaining original line-up reunited for a one-off gig at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida on August 8, 2008, they dedicated “Gone Gone Gone” to Boz. “We’d like to dedicate this song to our wonderful bass player, Mr. Boz Burrell, and his gorgeous wife Cathy. This is a song that he wrote. And it does indeed go something like this…” With that they jumped into a first rate rendition of “Gone Gone Gone”. A nice tribute to their brother Boz. After Bad Company’s successful 2010 tour, Paul returned to the UK as a solo artist to play ten shows across the country with very special guests Joe Elliot’s Down ‘N’ Outz.
Currently working on solo projects, Paul Rodgers has said, “We aren’t saying never, we never want to say never. We aren’t putting Bad Company to bed, as they say, but the band definitely is something that will be placed onto the back burner.” The Original Bad Company, with Paul Rodgers’ powerful, passionate and bluesy vocals, Mick Ralphs’ blues-based rock guitar with riffs aplenty and Boz Burrell’s and Simon Kirke‘s steady, locked on rhythm section created powerful and beautiful rock ’n’ roll music. I am a fan for forever and a day. “Bad Company I can’t deny… Bad company til the day I die…”
(DVD) “Bad Company – Hard Rock Live”
(CDs) “Bad Company” (1974) and “Straight Shooter” (1974)
(Songs) Can’t Get Enough, Ready For Love, Bad Company, Movin’ On, Good Lovin’ Gone Bad, Feel Like Makin’ Love, Deal With The Preacher, Shooting Star, Live For The Music, Honey Child, Silver, Blue & Gold, Run With The Pack, Heartbeat, Man Needs Woman, Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy, Gone Gone Gone, Untie The Knot, Hammer Of Love, and Hey Hey
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