In some ways, in an era of supergroups, Bad Company was the preeminent gathering of rock ‘n’ roll royalty.
Formed by singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke, both from British blues-based rockers Free, Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and bassist Boz Burrell, previously in King Crimson.
From their formation in 1973, they immediately attracted the attention of notorious Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant. The connection led to their signing with the band’s Swan Song Records. Their self-titled debut album, released in 1974, was the second release from the label, following the Pretty Things’ album Silk Torpedo, though Bad Company was Swan Song’s first U.S. release.
READ MORE: Top 35 Hard Rock Albums of the ’70s
Bad Company’s founding lineup made six albums, four of which made the Top 10, as you will see in the list below of Bad Company Albums Ranked. After 1982’s disappointing Rough Diamonds, Rodgers and Burrell left the band, leaving Ralphs and Kirke to continue with a pair of other singers for another half-dozen albums through the mid-’90s.
The original quartet reunited to record four new songs for a Bad Company retrospective in the late ’90s and then went on tour. Their reunion was short-lived, however. (Burrell died in 2006.) Over the next decade and a half, Rodgers, Ralphs and Kirke, in varying configurations, got together for occasional tours and performances to play their old songs. In 2025, less than five months after Ralphs’ death, they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Bad Company Albums Ranked
Signed to Led Zeppelin’s label, the supergroup faced member changes and later experienced public indifference on its path to induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
