{"id":255103,"date":"2025-11-10T15:39:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T15:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/255103\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T15:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T15:39:12","slug":"this-business-can-really-get-tough-sometimes-and-you-have-to-dig-deep-inside-you-paul-looked-for-something-else-to-lean-on-and-the-thing-he-leaned-on-had-no-future-in-it-how-a-gi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/255103\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThis business can really get tough sometimes, and you have to dig deep inside you. Paul looked for something else to lean on, and the thing he leaned on had no future in it\u201d: How a gifted guitarist\u2019s descent led to the rise of \u201970s supergroup Bad Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Bad Company\u2019s debut album topped the US chart in September 1974, its success seemed preordained. In this band there was so much talent \u2013 and behind them, so much muscle \u2013 that failure was never an option.<\/p>\n

Since the late \u201960s, established stars had come together in rock supergroups such as Cream<\/a>, Blind Faith and Derek And The Dominos \u2013 all featuring Eric Clapton<\/a> \u2013 and in Humble Pie, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So it was with Bad Company. Singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke had starred in Free, guitarist Mick Ralphs in Mott The Hoople, bassist Boz Burrell in King Crimson.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

In addition, they had Peter Grant as their manager, the man who had steered Led Zeppelin<\/a> to mega-stardom. And the first Bad Co. album was also the flagship release for Zeppelin\u2019s vanity label Swan Song.<\/p>\n

For Rodgers and Kirke it was a new beginning after the messy demise of Free in 1973 \u2013 hastened by guitarist Paul Kossoff\u2019s descent into heroin addiction.<\/p>\n

Free – Be My Friend (Live at Isle of Wight Festival, 1970) UHD 4K 60 fps – YouTube
\n\"Free<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

As Rodgers said, many years after Kossoff\u2019s drug-related death in 1976: \u201cThis business can really get tough sometimes, and you have to dig deep inside you. Paul looked for something else to lean on, and the thing he leaned on had no future in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Rodgers found in Mick Ralphs was a great guitar player without Kossoff\u2019s self-destructive streak. Between them, Rodgers and Ralphs wrote all of the songs for the Bad Company album. And in its making, there was no messing about.<\/p>\n

Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here. <\/p>\n

In November 1973, when a Zeppelin recording session at Headley Grange in Hampshire was delayed, Peter Grant put Bad Company in there to record a couple of tracks. Instead, they were so tight that they had the whole album done by the time Zeppelin showed up.<\/p>\n

Inevitably, there were echoes of Free in Bad Company\u2019s swinging, soulful hard rock \u2013 in the way Kirke held down the groove, and in Rodgers\u2019 unmistakable, richly expressive voice. Ralphs also dug into his past by resurrecting his song Ready For Love from Mott The Hoople\u2019s landmark 1972 album All The Young Dudes.<\/p>\n

But at the heart of Bad Co. \u2013 in the dynamic between Rodgers and Ralphs \u2013 was something fresh and distinct, powerfully illustrated in the tough-guy strut in Can\u2019t Get Enough, in the simple beauty of the acoustic number Seagull, and most of all in the signature song Bad Company, a moody outlaw blues.<\/p>\n

Bad Company – Can’t Get Enough (1974) (Stereo) – YouTube
\n\"Bad<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

The band had a long run at the top, with more classic albums \u2013 notably 1975\u2019s Straight Shooter and 1976\u2019s Run With The Pack \u2013 until diminishing returns led to their break-up in 1982.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Paul Rodgers ended up in more supergroups than Clapton did: in The Firm, with Zeppelin\u2019s Jimmy Page<\/a>, in The Law, with former Small Faces and The Who<\/a> drummer Kenney Jones, and in one of the more bizarre alliances in rock history, Queen<\/a> + Paul Rodgers.<\/p>\n

But never again did he find what he had in Bad Company. For this great singer, who had lost so much in Free, it was the right band at the right time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Bad Company\u2019s debut album topped the US chart in September 1974, its success seemed preordained. In this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-255103","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}