Bad Company Songs: 10 Essential Tracks You Need to Know

Our top 10 best Bad Company songs list explores the music of one of England’s greatest hard rock supergroups of all time. Bad Company released countless hits during their career as a band, many of which fill us with nostalgia as we reminisce about the golden days of rock ‘n’ roll.

Top 10 Best Bad Company Songs

10. Electricland

This track was taken from their 1982 album Rough Diamonds. The single achieved modest success, peaking at No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track garnered favoritism from the AOR and reached the 2nd spot on the Mainstream Rock (chart). Simon Kirke’s drumming skills and the vocals of Paul Rodgers were praised by the senior editor of Rolling Stone, David Fricke.

9. Burnin’ Sky

“Burnin’ Sky” was released in 1977 from their album of the same name. It was the last single from the album. Like many Bad Company songs, the lyrics were written by Rodgers. The track didn’t break records but achieved decent success, reaching No. 78 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. The track also reached No. 73 on the Canadian Singles Charts.

8. Silver, Blue & Gold

Despite being one of the band’s most adored compositions, this Bad Company song was not released as a single, only a track on their 1976 album Run with the Pack. Regardless of the song being an official single or not, it didn’t fail to impress the listeners. The track follows the plot of a love story gone wrong between two lovers.

7. Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy

This popular track was featured on their 1979 album Desolation Angels. It peaked at the No. 13 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Although the track didn’t reach the heights as some of their other singles, it ended up becoming one of the highest-selling Bad company songs of all time.

The single achieved Gold certification under RIAA. The meaning of the song was rooted around the fame and fortune surrounding the life of a rockstar.

6. Seagull

“Seagull” was featured on their 1974 debut self-titled album Bad Company. This track made our list of the best Bad Company songs because of the mood and atmosphere it evokes when listened to.

Although the track failed to make an impact as a single, it became a favorite among fans who loved the acoustic feel of the song. Rodgers recalls the inspiration of the song was a day at the beach, where he felt the calm and peaceful atmosphere that the coast brings.

5. Ready for Love

This track was also featured in their self-titled debut album Bad Company in 1974. Not an original Bad Company song, the track was first recorded by Mott the Hoople. The song features vocals from Rodgers filled with the sass and swag that never fails to captivate his listeners.

The cover has a little more moodiness in tone in comparison to the original. The meaning of the song follows an individual who has been denied the things he wanted for so long.

4. Can’t Get Enough

Another track from their self-titled debut album Bad Company. To date, the song is their biggest hit and also the track that put them on the map worldwide. The song reached the No. 5 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. The track also secured the top spot on the Cashbox Magazine Charts.

The song, written by Mick Ralphs, is a story of a man deep in love with a girl and how the feeling is unparalleled and unprecedented. He can’t get enough of what the girl has to offer him.

3. Feel Like Makin’ Love

One of the most popular Bad Company songs, “Feel Like Makin’ Love” was featured on their second album titled Straight Shooter in 1975. The single is a beautiful power ballad and exhibits the potential of blending genres such as blues-rock and soul.

The song peaked at the No. 10 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 20 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was also named as the 78th best song of all time by VH1 under the genre of hard rock.

2. Shooting Star

“Shooting Star” was also featured from their second album Straight Shooter in 1975. The song gained a fair share of recognition among listeners, despite never being released as a single. The song portrays a message on how fame and status brought down the lives of young musicians through drug addictions and other vices.

1. Bad Company

Sitting at the top of our Bad Company songs list is “Bad Company,” from their 1974 debut self-titled album. The song didn’t chart as high as their other tracks but helped the band in making a name for themselves in the rock ‘n’ roll world.

The song is precious to the band and is something Rodgers fought for to gain authenticity as a band. It’s their signature song and portrays the relationship between them and their fans.

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Bad Company – History

Bad Company is an English rock band originating from Westminster, London. The band came onto the music scene in 1973. The rock band specialized in musical genres such as hard and blues-rock. The members of the original group were Paul Rodgers as the lead vocalist, Mick Ralphs on the guitar, Boz Burrell tackling the bass, and Simon Kirke on drums.

The band was under the management of Peter Grant, who was also widely known for managing the legendary world-famous rock band Led Zeppelin. Grant managed Bad Company till 1982. The band has been signed to record labels such as Island, Swan Song, Atlantic, and Atco.

The band evolved so much over the years and there have been several replacements of members. A few of them include Larry Oakes and Gregg Dechert. Past members like Steve Price along with other members also made quite the mark.

There are speculations made about the band’s name gathering inspiration after Jeff Bridges popular flick Bad Company. But Paul Rodgers cleared the claims made and said that they named the group after finding art and meaning rooted within a Victorian Book of Morals. The book depicted an innocent child looking up at an unpleasant character inclining towards a lamp post, where the initials read as “Beware of Bad Company.”

Era I (1973-1982)

At first, the band consisted of four members, where two members were ex-members of the band Free. This era consisted of Paul Rodgers as the lead vocalist, Simon Kirke as the drummer, Mick Ralphs (Mott the Hoople) as the guitarist, and Boz Burrell, who was the former bassist of King Crimson.

The debut album of the band was self-titled, i.e. Bad Company. The album was recorded in Ronnie Lane’s Mobile Studio, situated in Headley Grange, Hampshire. The debut album led to their success and recognition around the world. It peaked at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums Chart.

The album also did fairly well in the United Kingdom, peaking at the third spot on the UK Albums Chart, where it spent a whopping 25 weeks. It went on to achieve five times platinum certification in the United States and went down in history as one of the best-selling albums of the 1970s.

The album spawned some of the greatest Bad Company songs such as “Can’t Get Enough” as well as “Movin’ On,” which reached the 5th and 19th spots on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.

The group released their second album Straight Shooter in 1975, which peaked at the 3rd spot both in the United States and the United Kingdom. The album attained platinum certification in the US. The album featured singles such as “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad,” which peaked at the 36th spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” which peaked at the 10th spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

The group released their third album called Run with the Pack in 1976. The album peaked at the 4th spot in the UK and acquired the 5th spot in the US. The band decided to collaborate with Paul Kossoff and the band Back Street Crawler to promote and support the project. Sadly, there were delays in the tour because of the passing of Paul Kossoff.

Their 1977 album Burnin’ Sky reached the 15th and 17th spots in the US and UK. However, their album Desolation Angels did better, peaking at the 3rd and 10th spots in the US and UK respectively. The album also featured singles such as “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy,” which peaked at the 13th spot and “Gone Gone Gone,” which charted on the 56th spot.

By the late 1970s, the band grew tired of playing large stadiums. Peter Grant also lost all interest in managing the group after John Bonham, drummer of Led Zeppelin died. With Peter gone, their glue and head figure, the group disbanded.

The group reunited after a period of three years and came back into the music scene with their album Rough Diamonds in 1982. The album was the worst-selling of all. They always delivered excellent records, and to produce something like this was quite the letdown. The band decided to disband for good again.

Era II (1986-1994)

In 1985, Simon Kirke and Mick Ralphs decided to come up with a new project. But on the command of their record label, they decided to stick with the original name of the band. They added new members to the group in replacement of Paul Rodgers with Bud Prager, Phil Carson, Ted Nugent, and Brian Howe.

Mick Jones from the band Foreigner, introduced Brian to them, who ended up as the new lead vocalist. They appointed Steve Price for playing the bass and hired Gregg Dechert to play the keyboards.

Bad Company released their new album called Fame and Fortune in 1986. The album was a reflection of the popular style of music of the 1980s. This involved keyboards and other instruments. The album performed averagely in the charts. The album featured the single “This Love,” which peaked at the 85th spot, but overall the album and single didn’t do as well as they expected.

For their next project, Dechert was dropped as they decided to remove keyboards. They also toured with Deep Purple during that time before they started their upcoming project. The group released their next album titled Dangerous Age, where the team decided to replace Keith Olsen with Terry Thomas, who was the producer.

They experimented with different sounds and the album did better than its predecessor. The album featured popular hit singles such as “Shake it Up,” “No Smoke Without a Fire,” and “One Night.” The album earned Gold certification and entered the Top 60.

Their next album titled Holy Water, which was released in 1990 became a massive success. The album earned Platinum certification and sold over a million copies. The album featured singles such as “If You Needed Somebody,” which peaked at the 16th spot, “Holy Water,” which peaked at the 89th spot, and “Walk Through Fire,” which peaked at the 28th spot.

The last studio album the band put out during this era was called Here Comes Trouble in 1992, also earning Gold certification. The album featured singles such as “How About That,” which peaked at the 48th spot, and “This Could Be the One,” which peaked at the 87th spot. The group had toured with several musicians, including artists like Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The group also recorded a live album during their Here Comes Trouble Tour. The album was titled What You Hear is What You Get: The Best of Bad Company and released in 1993. The album was a revisitation of their past works as well as their new ones.

Era III (1994-1998)

After Brian Howe left the group, they were left without a lead vocalist. The group hired Robert Hart, who was the former vocalist from Distance. Hart had vocal similarities to Paul Rodgers but couldn’t sing as high as Brian Howe. The band released their new album titled Company of Strangers in 1995.

The album performed averagely, peaking at the 159th spot on the charts. However, the album featured a single called “Down and Dirty,” which reached the 17th spot on the AOR charts. During this era, the group went on a promotional tour with Bon Jovi for quite some time.

The group released another album titled Stories Told & Untold in 1996. The album was also a revalidation to their previous recordings. They re-recorded their hits of the past on this new album with a few new tracks as well. The album’s title was a wordplay to divide the old songs as well as the new songs. Artists like Vince Gill featured in it.

Era IV (1998-2002)

During this era, Paul Rodgers made a triumphant return with the band after a long hiatus. Rodgers collaborated with the original group members of Bad Company and decided to release a new album. The album was decided to be a compilation of their previous works as well as the addition of pictures with their fans and, most importantly, their biography. It also had the addition of four new songs together with the older songs.

The album only reached the 189th spot and was viewed poorly in the eyes of their fans. One positive was the inclusion of a few rare Bad Company songs. The band went on several tours before they disbanded again after Rodgers resumed his solo career.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our top 10 best Bad Company songs list and a brief history of this legendary band.

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