"Bad Company" is a song by the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

band

Bad Company Bad Company are an English rock supergroup that was formed in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs, drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell. Bad Company ''AllMusic'' Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, a ...

. It was released as the third single from their debut album ''

'' in 1974, although it did not chart (in America). Co-written by the group's lead singer

Paul Rodgers Paul Rodgers (born 17 December 1949) is a British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead vocalist of numerous bands, including Free, Bad Company, The Firm, and The Law. He has also performed as a solo artist, and co ...

and drummer Simon Kirke, the song's meaning comes from a book on Victorian morals.

In popular culture

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

performed the song at a number of concerts in 1994 and 1996. Bill Champlin did a cover of the song that was featured in season two, episode nine of '' The Young Riders'' (1990). The title of the episode is "Bad Company". In the beginning of '' The Dark Tower'',

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

quotes the lines "I was born 6-gun in my hand, Behind a gun I'll make my final stand".

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...

covers the song on his box set '' Blame It All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences''. The South African trio of Mark Haze, Dozi and Ghapi (from '' Idols South Africa VII'') recorded a cover version on their album ''Rocking Buddies'' in 2013. In the fourth part of the ''

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly ''seinen'' manga ...

'' manga, Keicho Nijimura's stand, Bad Company is named after the band.

Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author. Over the course of a career that spans five decades, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, and jazz. A two ...

covered the song on he
2019 Kicks
album.

Five Finger Death Punch Five Finger Death Punch, also abbreviated as 5FDP or FFDP, is an American heavy metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2005. The band originally consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Ivan Moody, rhythm guitarist Zoltan Bathory, lead g ...

released a cover of the song. The song was featured in '' Billions'', Season 5 - Episode 1, as Axe and Waggs ride motorcycles away from their spiritual retreat. Later repeated as Axe walked in to the photoshoot.

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Mick Ralphs Michael Geoffrey Ralphs (born 31 March 1944, Herefordshire) is an English musician, vocalist and songwriter, who was a founding member of rock bands Mott the Hoople and Bad Company. Career Ralphs began his career as a teenager, playing with b ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the fe ...

* Simon Kirke –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

* Boz Burrell –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Five Finger Death Punch cover

frequently performs a cover of this song live, and recorded the song for their second album '' War Is the Answer''. The song has a significantly heavier tone to it, along with several lyrical edits ("I was born ''a shotgun'' in my hands", "the ''death punch'' sound is our claim to fame"). The song has been used as entrance music by pitchers Drew Storen, Jake Arrieta and Madison Bumgarner.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Band members

Zoltan Bathory Zoltan Bathory (born in 1978) is a Hungarian-American musician and martial artist. He is the founder and rhythm guitarist of Las Vegas-based heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch. In 2010, he was named Golden God's "Best Shredder" by ''Meta ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

s * Jason Hook – guitars * Ivan Moody –

*Matt Snell –

* Jeremy Spencer –

References

External links

Lyrics
of live cover by

Queen + Paul Rodgers Queen + Paul Rodgers (sometimes referred to as Q+PR or QPR) was a collaboration between Queen ( Brian May and Roger Taylor) and Paul Rodgers; formerly of Bad Company, Free, The Firm and The Law. Guitarist May had previously performed with ...

from '' Live in Ukraine'', from Queen official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Bad Company (Song) 1970s ballads 1974 singles 2010 singles Bad Company songs Five Finger Death Punch songs Hard rock ballads Songs written by Paul Rodgers 1974 songs Swan Song Records singles Island Records singles Song recordings produced by Kevin Churko