Although they might be unknown to people who weren’t around at the time – reflecting how greatly music has changed since their heyday – Bad Company were one of the most successful rock acts of the 1970s. In addition to this, they’re also one of the quintessential supergroups, bringing together former Free members, Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke, as well as Mott the Hoople’s Mick Ralphs and Boz Burrell of King Crimson.
Demonstrating just how culturally potent the quartet were, their first three albums, 1974’s Bad Company, 1975’s Straight Shooter and 1976’s Run with the Pack, all broke into the top five on the album charts in both their native UK and the US. Furthermore, they produced a string of classic hits, including ‘Bad Company’, ‘Shooting Star’, and the hard rock staple, ‘Feel Like Making Love’.
It’s strange that Bad Company aren’t as esteemed today as they once were, particularly given that they were managed by Peter Grant, who also looked after the most successful rock group of the 1970s, Led Zeppelin, and they were even signed to the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ band’s iconic Swan Song label. While the quality of their output paled in comparison to the widely influential Zeppelin, there’s no doubting that their blues-laden hard rock was some of the finest of its era.
Furthermore, Led Zeppelin guitarist and creative mastermind, Jimmy Page, knew from the outset that Bad Company was to be a tremendous success, as he had full belief in ex-Free frontman Rodgers’ “phenomenal” power.
Speaking retrospectively about Swan Song to Uncut in 2017, Page revealed how he always knew Rodgers was “phenomenal”: “Bad Company was more Peter Grant’s (Led Zeppelin’s manager) thing, Peter had the Bad Company thing and put that together. That was really a great band to have on there because of Paul Rodgers. He’s phenomenal. He was then and still is.”
While Page backing Bad Company from their inception was one of the reasons they were able to become so prominent in their day, it also forged the relationship that would see Page and Rodgers link up to found another supergroup, The Firm, after Led Zeppelin had called it a day, following the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980.
“Jimmy was at a bit of a loose end,” Rodgers later recalled. “He’d come round and check out my home studio and we ended up writing songs, but without any definite plans. Jimmy was very keen to get on the road, so we put a band together…
