Bad Company

Bad Company TShirTS, PosTerS & Prints 

Bad Company were an English hard rock supergroup founded in 1973, consisting of band members from Free (Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke), Mott the Hoople (Mick Ralphs) and King Crimson (Boz Burrell). Bad Company was managed by Peter Grant, who had also guided Led Zeppelin to massive success, the band enjoyed great success throughout the 1970s.

The 1974 debut album Bad Company was an international hit, with the group considered one of the 1970s' first supergroups. Bad Company consisted of four seasoned musicians: two former members of Free, singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke; former Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs; and King Crimson's bassist Boz Burrell. The group was managed by Peter Grant who also managed Led Zeppelin at the time and would manage Bad Company until 1982. The album peaked at #1 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart (North America) and included two singles that reached the top 20 charts, "Can't Get Enough" at #9 in 1974 and "Movin' On" at #14 in early 1975. In 1975, Straight Shooter gave the group another #1 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. The album also spawned three hit singles, "Good Lovin' Gone Bad" at #30, the slower "Feel Like Makin' Love" at #10 and Shooting Star.

Run With the Pack was Bad Company's first Platinum certified album. The third consecutive million-selling record, reaching #5 on the Billboard chart and featured the hit "Young Blood" that peaked at #29 on the Pop charts. In the 1970s Bad Company never released an official live album, even though they recorded some of the concerts, and are famous for their live shows packing largest stadiums for almost a decade. Bootlegs were the only way to find live songs from the shows, sound quality was for the most part poor. The most famous are, Boblingen Live: (1974), Live in Japan: (1975), Shooting Star Live at the L.A. Forum: (1975). Not until the release of Live in Albuquerque 1976 in 2006 thirty years after it was recorded did the band release an official live album of 1970's recordings. The recordings were made by Mick Ralphs, who regularly taped the group's shows, utilizing them as a tool to finely tune their set and performances. Not only is the sound quality excellent but almost all the hit songs from the band's first three albums appear on the live CD.

By the end of the 1970s the band were increasingly disenchanted with playing large stadiums. In addition, Peter Grant lost interest in the group, and in management generally, after Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham died in 1980. In the words of Simon Kirke, "Peter was definitely the glue which held us all together and in his absence we came apart". (Reportedly, Paul Rodgers—who has a black belt in martial arts—was involved in a rather one-sided physical altercation with Boz Burrell and Mick Ralphs.) After the release of Rough Diamonds they disbanded. Mick Ralphs said, "Paul wanted a break and truthfully we all needed to stop. Bad Company had become bigger than us all and to continue would have destroyed someone or something. From a business standpoint, it was the wrong thing to do, but Paul's instinct was absolutely right".

from Wikipedia licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.