“All Right Now” may be Free’s most recognizable hit, but according to drummer Simon Kirke, it also proved detrimental to the group.
During a recent appearance on The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan, Kirke recalled how the tune came together.
“We were at this university in the north of England, and we came off to the stage,” the drummer remembered, “and we get to the dressing room, and we said, ‘Fuck, we need a song that people can dance to.’”
In that moment, bassist Andy Fraser came up with the song’s titular phrase and started piecing together a basic idea. Working together with frontman Paul Rodgers, the whole song would be fleshed out in a matter of weeks.
“So we honed it and played it, and we finally debuted it at a gig in the north of England where we couldn’t fail,” Kirke recalled. “We were very popular, and the place went nuts. It went nuts.”
Simon Kirke Insists ‘All Right Now’ ‘Didn’t Define Free’
Released in early 1970, “All Right Now” went on to become a global hit and the most commercially successful single of the band’s career. It also stifled Free’s progress.
“It became a bit of an albatross around our necks because we couldn’t follow it up,” Kirke noted. “’All Right Now’ filled a void and it ticked a particular box. We got a pop hit… It’s enjoyable and I still enjoy playing it to this day. But it didn’t define Free.”
READ MORE: Why Paul Rodgers Didn’t Perform ‘All Right Now’ for 18 Years
As Kirke explained, fans who only discovered Free from “All Right Now” were sometimes surprised that much of their material sounded different.
“Free was, I guess you could call us a progressive blues rock band. Because the blues was really the foundation of all our music,” he remarked. “So when we couldn’t follow ‘All Right Now,’ we had a song called ‘The Stealer,’ which was great, but it was that loping beat. It didn’t chart.”
Free Nearly Broke Up After ‘All Right Now’
Indeed, follow-up single “The Stealer” failed to match the hype of “All Right Now.” As a result, Free’s members were left questioning what to do.
“We were kids and we were like, ‘Well, fuck that. Then we’ll break up,’” Kirke recalled. “I didn’t say that. Paul Rogers and Andy Fraser said, ‘We’re breaking the band up.’”
Instead of a full-fledged breakup, Free took a brief pause before reconvening in 1971. The group split and reunited a few different times before finally disbanding in 1973. Though they scored two more Top 10 singles in the U.K. after “All Right Now,” none of Free’s songs were able to match the single’s success.
Top 40 Rock Albums of 1970
The year may have marked a new decade, at least on the calendar, but as far as music was concerned, it was still pretty much the ’60s.
Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
