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Band · British blues-rock supergroup

Bad Company

3.7 / 5 from 29 ratings across 4 albums
Albums
92
Members
12
Active
1973–2023
Origin
United Kingdom
Biography

Formed in 1973, the British hard rock outfit Bad Company was a supergroup comprised of ex-King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell, former Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs, and singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke, both previous members of Free. Powered by Rodgers' muscular vocals and Ralphs' blues-based guitar work, Bad Company was the first group signed to Led Zeppelin's Swan Song vanity label. Bad Company's eponymous 1974 debut was an international hit, topping the U.S. album charts and scoring with the number one single "Can't Get Enough of Your Love. " Straight Shooter, issued the following year, was another major success, notching the hit "Feel Like Makin' Love, " while 1976's Run With the Pack was Bad Company's third consecutive million-selling record.

After 1977's Burnin' Sky, Bad Company recorded 1979's Desolation Angels, which embellished the group's sound with synthesizers and strings; a three-year hiatus followed before the release of Rough Diamonds, the group's final LP in its original incarnation. In 1986, Ralphs and Kirke resurrected the Bad Company name, enlisting former Ted Nugent vocalist Brian Howe to replace Rodgers. The reconfigured unit's debut, Fame & Fortune, was a commercial failure, but 1988's Dangerous Age became a minor hit. Released in 1990, Holy Water fared even better, as the power ballad "If You Needed Somebody" became a Top 20 success.

Here Comes Trouble, issued in 1992, achieved platinum status, and earned another Top 40 hit with "How About That. " On their 20th anniversary, Bad Company expanded into a quintet with the addition of bassist Rick Wills and rhythm guitarist Dave Colwell, and released the live retrospective The Best of Bad Company Live...What You Hear Is What You Get. Two more LPs -- 1995's The Company of Strangers and the next year's Stories Told and Untold -- followed, and in 1998 the original lineup of Rodgers, Ralphs, Kirke, and Burrell reunited to record a handful of new tracks that surfaced alongside past material early the following year on The Original Bad Company Anthology. A reunion tour followed that spring.

The Groove
Groove by decade

The Groove is music.nw’s own measure of renown — not an opinion, a fact computed from the record. It weighs reach (how many people engaged) against acclaim (how highly they rated it), balanced so a handful of votes can’t outshout a lasting favourite.

Computed the NeuraWeb way, across the whole record. The same yardstick for everyone — which is why the little-known can out-Groove the famous in their own corner.

The trajectory

How Bad Company moved

Genre belongs to the record, not to the artist. Every album’s Groove is shared out across the genres it actually is — by how the raters tagged it — so nobody is 100% one thing. Stack that by decade and a career draws itself.

Discography

Live at Wembley
Bad Company · 2011
Live In The UK - Birmingham NIA 01-04-2010
Bad Company · 2011
40th Anniversary Documentary
Bad Company · 2014
Original Album Series
Bad Company · 2014
Album cover
Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy the Very Best of Bad Company
Bad Company · 2015
Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy The Very Best Of Bad Company
Bad Company · 2015
Live 1977
Bad Company · 2016
Live 1977
Bad Company · 2016
Live 1977 & 1979
Bad Company · 2016
Album cover
Live 1977 & 1979
Bad Company · 2016
Playlist: The Very Best of Bad Company
Bad Company · 2016
Playlist: The Very Best Of Bad Company
Bad Company · 2016
Live At Red Rocks
Bad Company · 2017
An Introduction to Bad Co
Bad Company · 2018
An Introduction To Bad Company
Bad Company · 2018
Live at Red Rocks
Bad Company · 2018
The Swan Song Years: 1974–1982
Bad Company · 2019
Still Running - Maryland Broadcast 1979
Bad Company · 2020
Still Running - Maryland Broadcast 1979
Bad Company · 2020
The Northern Lights
Bad Company · 2020
Unplugged At The Hall Of Fame
Bad Company · 2020
Live 1979
Bad Company · 2022
Album cover
1974-03-08: City Hall, Newcastle, UK
Bad Company · 2023
1974‐08‐02: Robertson Gym, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Bad Company · —
1975-06-20: Shooting Star: L.A. Forum, Inglewood, CA, USA
Bad Company · —
1979-06-29: Capital Centre, Landover, MD, USA
Bad Company · —
1991-12-15: Ready for Love: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Bad Company · —
A Rockwork Orange
Bad Company · —
If You Needed Somebody / Holy Water
Bad Company · —
Live 1975 March
Bad Company · —
Ready For Love
Bad Company · —
Album cover
(Superstars Best Collection)
Bad Company · —

Credits

Ranked #1,302 of 14,615 producers — 924.65 career Groove across 6 records.