When it was announced that arena-rock supergroup Bad Company would be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, fans had many questions.
Who would induct the band at the ceremony? What songs would they play? Would lead singer Paul Rodgers, who experienced 13 strokes between 2016 and 2019 that temporarily rendered him unable to sing or even speak, be able to perform? How did guitarist Mick Ralphs, who died just two months after the Hall’s Class of 2025 announcement, feel about Bad Company’s long-overdue induction? And, speaking of long-overdue, what took the Hall so long to recognize Bad Company — a band that sold 40 million records worldwide, charted four top 10 albums, and had such influence that their new tribute LP features everyone from Slash and Def Leppard to Halestorm, the Pretty Reckless, the Struts, and even country star HARDY?
Speaking from his New York home — just one week after traveling to England for Ralphs’s memorial, and one week before he travels to Los Angeles to rehearse for the Rock Hall ceremony (and, almost as excitingly, dines with all of the Class of 2025 inductees at Spago) – Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke answers all of these questions and more.
Kirke also discusses his disappointment that his previous band with Rodgers, Free, has yet to be inducted; how Bad Company became the first signing to Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song label and how notorious music manager Peter Grant discovered them; his on-and-off, 40-year battle with substance abuse and the near-death experience that finally scared him straight; his forthcoming rock musical about addiction; and what to expect from his acceptance speech and performance at the Rock Hall ceremony, which will take place Nov. 8 at L.A.’s Peacock Theater. If you can’t get enough of great Bad Company stories, this Q&A is a rock ‘n’ roll fantasy come true.
LYNDSANITY: I’m very excited to chat with you, and I think a lot of Bad Company fans are excited about this as well — because if I’m doing the math correctly, Bad Company have been eligible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame since 1998. So, it took a while, but the very first time you were nominated, you got in. And you also were No. 2 in the fan vote as well, which indicates that a lot of people thought this induction was long overdue. Why do you think you didn’t get in until now?
SIMON KIRKE: Honestly, I think… all right, I’ll backtrack a little. Once you’ve been inducted, you become an automatic voting member, and several people I know, like Mick Fleetwood and a Little Stevie Van Zandt from Bruce’s band, they said, “Every year we get ‘round the table, and we say Bad Company or Free has got to get in. It’s been so long.” … But I think it was more political. There’s an arc of about 20 guys who are above the voting members, and without naming names, I think there was a certain anti-Bad Company movement. That’s really all I can say.
Anti-Bad Company specifically, or more anti the genre? Because with some “arena-rock” or “FM radio” artists of the era, like Foreigner and Peter Frampton, it took a very long time for them to get in. So, is it Bad Company-specific, or more just that world?
Well, the fact that we got in on the first nomination… for instance, my old mate, Nicko McBrain from Iron Maiden, they’ve been nominated [twice] and never gotten in. So, I think there was almost like a log jam. And once that jam had been dispersed, we were a slam dunk. I think also, if I was really being honest, Bad Company over the 50-odd years has had a couple of lineups, and I think it kind of maybe diluted our currency a little bit, or devalued it. I don’t really know. But I know once that log jam had been dispelled, we were in, and I’m very, very happy. I’m happy primarily for Mick Ralphs, who passed away a few months ago. He got to know just a couple of months before he passed that we were inducted. So, I was more happy about that than anything.
Did this honor mean a lot to Mick?
I think it was just in a way of recognizing the band. Because every year, and as much as we might sort of pooh-pooh and say, “Oh, it doesn’t really matter,” it does. It does matter to me, and my kids were like, “Hey Dad, when are you going to be in?” And I thought, “Well, look, it’s out of my hands.” But it was always around the corner and you’d go, “S***, another year gone by,” and some R&B/rap group is in. So yeah, I think justice has been done, without sounding too arrogant. But I’m happy, and a lot of my contemporaries have said, “Hey guys, well done.” …. So, I think the balance has been redressed.
Now that Mick has passed, you and Paul Rodgers are the only two surviving members of the original lineup. Are you guys going to perform at the Hall ceremony? I know Paul has had some health issues, so fans are wondering.
I think the secret is out that we will perform. I don’t know, I might get into trouble, but as far I saw some Google News that “Bad Company will perform at the Hall of Fame”. So, I will cautiously say yes. I’m not at liberty to say which songs. I mean, quite honestly, I don’t give a s***. We’re going to play, and whatever Paul chooses is fine by me! Just to play with him again is going to be a real thrill for me. I missed him. I missed playing with the band. I miss playing particularly with Paul. He’s such a wonderful singer.
How long has it been since the two of you performed together?
We did our last show over five years ago, in Las Vegas of all places, when Bad Company and Lynyrd Skynyrd were flip-flopping [on a co-headlining tour]. And it was one of the best gigs we ever played. So, thank God we finished on a good gig and not a s***ty one!
How is Paul’s voice these days?
I haven’t heard him sing since then, quite honestly. I know he has sung, and we are going to do a couple of rehearsals for the cameras and so on and so forth. But when you have a voice that naturally good, it’s going to take a hell of a lot for it to fray or devalue. So, I think he’s going to be fine for the two songs that we’ve chosen.
Only two songs?
Honestly, all artists are allowed seven minutes.
I think I could probably guess what you’ll play. I would think “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and of course, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy.”
Well, you’ve got one of them right.
I imagine it will a bittersweet night, because some band members are now gone. I do believe that you were in England last week for a Mick Ralphs celebration.
Yeah, we had a farewell memorial bash for Mick at his favorite pub, just outside Henley in England. It’s called the Crooked Billet; God knows what that means. It’s about the size of your living room. There were about 70 or 80 friends, old road crew, wives, ex-wives, Boz Burrell’s widow, just a whole bunch of friends. And we had a dinner and I played seven or eight Bad Company songs, and then Zak Starkey played drums on a bunch of Mott the Hoople songs. It was a lovely night. I’m so glad I went over.
Joe Elliott, who is on the new Bad Company tribute album, has been on a campaign to get Mott the Hoople in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for a very long time.
Yeah, I think Mott should be in. I also think Free should be in. We wanted to get maybe a two-for-one and get Bad Company and Free inducted, but we’ll just take what we can right now. But I honestly would rest 100 percent happy knowing that Free were inducted. It’s strange, I’ve been looking at old clips of Free on YouTube, and it’s like, “Wow, we really were good!” And I am not blowing my own trumpet. It’s something that everyone I’m close to — particularly in New York, where I know a lot of musicians roughly my age, fifties and sixties — they say Free was just special. But there we go. We will see.
Obviously you’re British, but the Rock Hall tends to be a bit American-centric. Free didn’t have as many big hits in the U.S. as Bad Company did, so that might be why they’re not in too.
[Free had] two [U.S. chart hits], honestly. We had the huge hit “All Right Now,” which propelled us into the stratosphere., and then after that we had “Wishing Well,” which I believe went into the top 40, so it wasn’t a monster hit. But Free were always sort of hampered by canceled tours. Paul Kossoff, our guitarist, suffered from addiction and was rendered useless on a couple of tours, so we had to come home. That kind of really screwed up our ascent, if you will, into American culture. So, a lot of people know “All Right Now,” but very few people actually saw Free play. And then Bad Company sort of changed all that.
When Bad Company came together, it was a supergroup in every sense of the word. It was members of Free, Mott the Hoople, King Crimson. And I think it’s safe to say that Bad Company became bigger than any of the members’ respective previous groups, at least in the U.S. I bet more casual music fans still don’t even know that Bad Company are British, because you had this big American arena sound. In general, why do you think the sum of the parts became so huge here?
That’s a very good question. A lot of people did think and maybe still do think that we are American, because particularly with me and Paul Rodgers, our influences are pretty much — the Beatles and the Stones aside — all Black music. The blues and R&B and James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin. So, we gave you Benny Hill, and you gave us the blues. [laughs]
Seems like an even trade!
I’m being facetious, of course. OK, I think the underlying No. 1, main reason was our affiliation with Led Zeppelin and Peter Grant. It was a perfect storm. We came from three very well-known and well-liked bands in England. That didn’t really mean much in America; that’s true. But Led Zeppelin in 1973 were the biggest goddamn band in history, and they were a superb band. They launched their own record label. We were the first band on that label. They had two enormous galas in L.A. and in New York where we were flown out, introduced to the public, and we had a smash-hit first album. It was perfect. And that kind of launched us. But although it was laid out for us, we had to do the work. We didn’t headline our first show. We opened for bands — Edgar Winter’s White Trash, bands that I can’t even remember now. So, we paid our dues. But by the second tour the next year, we were headlining, and we lived up to our CV, if you will.
How did Bad Company come to be artist to be signed to Zeppelin’s Swan Song Records?
I think purely by chance. I remember sitting down at the table. We had our first rehearsal in this little farm that Paul owned, and we sat down and said, “Right, who’s the biggest band in the world right now?” “Led Zeppelin.” “OK, who managing Led Zeppelin?” “Peter Grant.” Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Our roadie was a New Zealander, and he had a friend who was another New Zealander who roadied for Led Zeppelin. Our roadie called Clive, Led Zeppelin’s roadie, and said, “Can you get us Peter Grant’s number?” And within, I don’t know, a day, Paul was speaking to Peter Grant. He said, “Hey Peter, you might not know me, but…” Peter Grant said, “Excuse me for interrupting, but you’ve got a band together.” And Paul goes, “What?” Peter says, “Yeah, I know a lot of things. And I want to come and see you.” Wow. Peter Grant wants to come and see us?
So, we arranged for him to come and see us. And he did a very clever thing. We were [rehearsing] in this little village hall, waiting for Mr. Grant to arrive. And he was late. There were no cell phones back then. Hours went by and we thought, “Oh, f***, he’s not coming.” And he suddenly walked in and said, “Hello boys, I’m sorry I’m late. Traffic was terrible.” And we said, “OK, sit down, and we’ll play you the set.” He said, “That’s OK, I’ve already heard it. I knew you’d be nervous, so I’ve been sitting in the car park listening through the open windows, and I think you sound great.” That was our introduction to Peter Grant! And he said, “By the way, me and the boys” — Zeppelin — “are putting together a record label. Would you like to be on it?” And we said, “Well, we’ll have to think about it. [pauses for one second] Yes!”
What was Peter Grant like? He had quite a reputation. What was he really like to work with, and how long did he manage you guys?
I would say eight or nine years. If you were on his side, if he was on your side, you couldn’t ask for a better guy. Even though he was only a couple of years older than us, he looked older. He was 300 pounds. He was an ex-wrestler, but with amazing business acumen. But if he was in a bad mood and not on your side, he was really quite frightening. And we only had one cross word, me and him; it’s not worth bringing up. But 99 percent of the time, he was a great guy, and I loved him very much. He adored Led Zeppelin, obviously. I mean, they were his band. They were his first choice. But when we started to nip at their heels, Bad Company gave them a good run for their money. We were coming up, and he spent a lot of time with us. But unfortunately, and it’s common knowledge, drugs got the better of just about all of us. Peter went into seclusion, and Swan Song collapsed around 1982. But for seven or eight years, he was great. I love the guy.
Did you have much of an addiction problem yourself?
Oh, yeah!
I don’t know how much you want to talk about that. You look so healthy and young.
I don’t mind talking about addiction. In fact, it’s part of my program. I’ve been in recovery now, on and off, for about 40 years, but I’ve been completely sober coming up on 12 years. So yeah, I don’t mind talking about it. I was doing a lot of blow and drinking a lot in my thirties, forties, and fifties and sixties! I was doing stupid stuff, and it did cause the demise of Bad Company. Paul gave all that up in the ‘70s. He’s very healthy guy. And the irony is that he suffered from these health problems over the last six or seven years. So, it’s a crapshoot. You never really know. Now I do yoga and I go to the gym and I eat properly, so that’s helped me. But I don’t mind telling people that I am “an addict in recovery.” I can say that now, but 50 years ago, it was a shameful thing.
I don’t even know what you would have to do in England to be considered an “alcoholic,” because the drinking culture is so ingrained there.
It is. Every second advert over there is Budweiser or whatever. Look, at my worst, I was drinking brandy in the morning. And drinking in the morning is a classic sign [of alcoholism]. Trembling and just thinking about it constantly. And then you fuel that with cocaine. It’s just a never-ending, vicious circle. I was on that particular carousel for quite a few years, but all bad things have to end. And I’m glad — it’s the best thing I ever did, getting sober.
Was there an epiphany, a rock-bottom moment, that made you get sober for good?
It’s funny you mentioned “rock bottom.” We’ll get to that in a minute. There were a couple of rock bottoms. I inherited my addiction from my parents; they were both alcoholics. But when you are young, you can shake off a hangover. You can actually stay up all night and play the next day without too much negative s***. But it brings with it a certain arrogance when you’re in your twenties and you think, “Yeah, f*** it, I’ll stop drinking for 30 days.” And then you say, “Well, I can do that, so I can drink again.” And that’s what happened to me. I went through several rehabs over the years thinking I got ahold on it. Bulls***. Once you’re an addict, you’re an addict. I’m addicted to gum now. I mean, nice, healthy, aspartame-free gum.
I’m sure your breath is great.
Of course. But what I like, I like to do lots of it. And my epiphany came when I nearly died on a tour bus. I nearly died, and without the help of a particular person, I’m sure I would’ve flatlined. That was when I really thought, “F***, this is it.” And the next day I dragged myself to a rehab and started that slow, uphill recovery, dragging that rock on my back. But that’s what it took. And I was very, very lucky. Nowadays, everything’s laced with fentanyl, so you don’t get a chance. A hundred people a day die in America through overdoses. A hundred people a day. That’s a Vietnam every year. The drug problem in this country is off the charts. It’s around because youth is naturally rebellious. Tell someone not to do it, and they’ll go and f***ing do it.
You’re right. That “Just Say No” campaign never worked.
It didn’t work. But I work with kids now. I’m working with a couple of organizations that help troubled teens, and there’s like 17-year-old kids who’ve been sober three years. It’s amazing, because I just wish that I could have done that. But back then, shame magnified the intake, if you will. But I’m here.
I’m so glad you’re here! But since rock is about debauchery and all that, but there’s sort of this concept that musicians make their best music when they’re taking substances or in a dark place. Like, “Oh, they made their best work when they were all strung-out on heroin and depressed. Now that they’re all normal, sober, middle-aged guys, their music is boring!” What do you think of that myth?
I don’t know. That’s a tough one. I mean, Eric Clapton said years ago — and he’s been sober many, many years — that he decries the work that he did when he was drunk or high on heroin. He turns his back on it. And that’s kind of hard, because I don’t really. … I never played high or stoned. One time in Detroit I had a line of coke and it was the worst, but I never played stoned. Maybe a little toke of a joint before I went to the stage, but never, ever out-of-it. But afterwards, when you’ve been bathed in that applause and you are 20 feet high and people are looking at you, particularly the ladies, it’s part of the lifestyle. But no, I’ve been sober a long time now and I write great songs now. I’ve written a rock musical called Rock Bottom about addiction.
Tell me about that!
This is going to be a doozy. I’m writing it with two people who are in the program, and the ideas come. We wake up with clear heads and not red eyes, and we just get on with it. I’m putting together a band. I’m going to be doing some solo shows next year because I can now. I’ve got a good reputation as not being the guy who f***s up and rides my Harley to shows drunk. I did that a lot back in the ‘90s. That’s another story for another time.
What is the plot of Rock Bottom?
Two addicts who fall in love. One gets sober and tries to convert her or his, depending on the choice, their partner to get sober. One of her friends overdoses, dies, and going through rehab and just trying to get her friend to get f***ing sober. I won’t spoil it by telling you what the ending is, but it’s heartfelt, and I really, really hope it gets a shot.
I’m finding it ironic now to realize that one of the most iconic Bad Company albums was called Straight Shooter…
That’s my favorite [Bad Company] album.
Tell me about making that record, because it’s one of the most important rock albums of that era.
It was done in a place called Clearwell Castle, which is on the border of Wales, and we used the Rolling Stones’ mobile unit. And it was a castle. Peter Frampton recommended it to us. I believe the Faces had recorded an album there. We always used a residence with an external mobile, not a regular recording studio, because we could record any time of the day of the night. It was a lot of fun and we’d just come off a world tour, so we were a real knit-together band. Whereas with the first album, BadCo, we’d rehearse those eight or nine songs in and out, in and out. We weren’t actually a band per se. But once you’ve done a couple of hundred shows around the world, you come back in for that second album. It was a rocking band, and the album was fantastic. I loved that album.
And now you’ve just put out the Can’t Get Enough, A Tribute to Bad Company album, which features the Pretty Reckless. Taylor Momsen of the Pretty Reckless is listed as one of the participants in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2025 ceremony, so can I assume she’s part of the Bad Company segment in some way?
Oh, you know more than I do! … I know that Mick Fleetwood is inducting us, an old friend. That’s about all I know. I should know more, but I don’t. But whoever wants to cheer us on, I welcome them with open arms.
Are there any of your fellow class of 2025 inductees that you’re excited about?
Joe Cocker — I know it’s posthumous — because he was such a wonderful singer. I’m happy for Cyndi Lauper. I think she’s a hoot and she said a great thing on Howard Stern recently: Her very first song that she ever sang professionally was “Feel Like Makin’ Love”! So, I’ll be happy to meet her. Jack White I know fairly well, have met him several times. I’m happy for [the White Stripes]. Carol Kaye. … She’s amazing. Growing up in the ‘60s with this male crew, the Wrecking Crew, surrounded by guys — she deserves a real tip of the hat. Warren Zevon, of course, has passed away. He was a great musician. OutKast, I don’t really know much about them. But we’re all having a dinner at Spago’s, all of us, so I’ll get a chance.
Wow, how exciting!
Yeah, it’s shaping up to be quite a week.
Who would you like to see get into the Rock Hall next?
Iron Maiden, for sure. I mean, they’re rock, man. They are really rock.
I know Iron Maiden’s snub has been a source of much outrage from rock fans, including myself. But I’m glad Bad Company finally got in. I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ll do at the ceremony, and how you will honor Mick and Boz as well.
Oh, they’re going to get a mention in my speech. I’m sure Paul will mention them as well. And also the wives, the widows who looked after them, particularly Susie [Mick Ralphs’s widow], who looked after Mick Ralph. He had seven years of being incapacitated. Boz died of an instant heart attack, so if there’s such a thing as a good death, it was quick, but Mick lingered for many, many years. And I feel that his wife should get a mention. And I’m going to make sure that I mention her.
Yes, the rock wives need their own hall. The Rock & Roll Wives Hall of Fame.
That’s really good. I like that!
We’ll see if we can make that happen. In the meantime, congratulations to you and to Paul.
Thank you very much.
This Q&A, which has been edited for brevity and clarity, originally ran on Gold Derby. Watch Simon Kirke’s full interview in the video at the top of this article.
