The Top-Selling 1970s Supergroup That Broke Up After a Fist Fight

From the 70s onward, rock saw many supergroups, but few earned legacies befitting regular bands like Bad Company. In fact, you’d be forgiven for not even realizing this band is a supergroup, for how much they have become a sole entity. Nevertheless, the fact remains.

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Bad Company consisted of two former members of the short-lived band Free, Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke, as well as Mott The Hoople’s Mick Ralphs and King Crimson’s Boz Burrell. In this lineup, the band lasted only nine years, though they’ve reunited in various iterations over the decades. Despite their brief run, Bad Company remains a powerful force in 70s rock.

This supergroup ended up cutting ties with one another just as explosively as they earned fame. An inner-band fight broke out, got physical, and spelled the end of Bad Company.

[RELATED: Bad Company Drummer Simon Kirke Opens Up About His Plans for a New Solo Album and a Rock Stage Musical (Exclusive)]

The Fight That Broke Up Bad Company

Bad Company was formed from the bones of Free, an English rock band with a couple of hits to their name. Rodgers and Kirke survived that band breakup and later reunited in Bad Company. After adding the other members, this band shed its past affiliations in favor of something new.

As a band, Bad Company earned its fair share of era-defining songs, including their namesake track, “Feel Like Makin’ Love”, and “Can’t Get Enough”. They helped build the foundation of arena rock and eased the transition from the genre’s 70s style to 80s power anthems.

Despite how popular the group was, it didn’t save them from the rock band convention of infighting. They eventually fell victim to creative differences and leadership struggles.

“A Complete Shock When They Came To Blows”

The majority of the fighting happened between Rodgers and Burrell. According to Kirke, the Bad Company founder thought Burrell was trying to take the reins of the band. This creative tension eventually turned physical.

“Boz was growing as a musician and would make suggestions,” Kirke once said. “But it came as a complete shock to me and Mick when they came to blows. Judging by Paul’s language, he seemed to think Boz was trying to become the leader of the band, when nothing could have been further from the truth.”

Despite not being involved in the fighting, Kirke got pulled into the crossfire, according to the band’s head of road crew, Phil Carlo.

“I remember the fracas,” Carlo continued in the same interview. “Simon stood in the middle and said to Rodgers, ‘If you want to hit anyone, hit me’ – so he did.”

After this fight and a tough couple of album releases that didn’t rise to the popularity of their earlier works, Bad Company decided to hang up their hats. It might’ve been easier to ignore their issues if they had continued being successful. But, fist fights and album flops do not an enduring band make.

(Photo by Watal Asanuma/Shinko Music/Getty Images)