Author: wamdiness

Feature Photo: Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com

Bad Bunny didn’t become an international music sensation by taking the conventional route—his journey to global stardom began humbly in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, where he first showcased his musical inclinations singing in his local church choir. Named Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio at birth, he gravitated toward music production and songwriting as a teenager. While attending the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, he worked at a supermarket, but the itch for something greater led him to upload original tracks onto SoundCloud, a decision that soon catapulted him into public consciousness. These early uploads revealed a raw, earnest talent that quickly caught the ear of Puerto Rican DJ Luian, who signed him to his record label, Hear This Music, marking Bad Bunny’s official entry into the music industry in 2016.

His distinctive voice and fearless experimentation quickly reshaped the Latin trap genre, leading to breakthrough singles such as “Soy Peor,” a candid reflection on heartbreak that resonated widely across the Spanish-speaking world. However, it was the 2017 collaborative smash hit “I Like It,” alongside Cardi B and J Balvin, that pushed him into the global spotlight. The track became his first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, solidifying Bad Bunny’s status as not just a Latin star but a global force in popular music. This was soon followed by another monumental collaboration with Drake titled “Mia,” which reached the top five of the same chart and further broadened his international appeal.

Since his groundbreaking debut album X 100pre in December 2018, Bad Bunny has unleashed a prolific output, dropping a total of five studio albums as of early 2025. Each subsequent release has seen his artistry deepen and evolve, notably YHLQMDLG in 2020, which not only debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 but also became the highest-charting all-Spanish-language album at the time. His versatility shined again in El Último Tour Del Mundo later that year, setting yet another historic precedent as the first entirely Spanish-language album to top the Billboard 200 chart. Not one to pause, he continued his dominance with Un Verano Sin Ti in 2022, which also reached number one and became the first Spanish-language album nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards.

The music industry hasn’t held back in recognizing Bad Bunny’s massive influence and undeniable creativity. His trophy case includes multiple Latin Grammy Awards, including Best Urban Music Album for X 100pre and Best Urban Song for “Yo Perreo Sola.” Moreover, he received a Grammy Award for Best Música Urbana Album for El Último Tour Del Mundo, underscoring his cross-cultural impact. Billboard Music Awards have frequently spotlighted him, crowning him Top Latin Artist and recognizing his albums and singles as definitive chart-toppers. His accolades reflect not just popularity but a profound respect for his authenticity and musical innovation.

Yet, Bad Bunny’s allure isn’t confined to his music alone; fans and peers alike celebrate him for breaking barriers and championing important social causes. He’s been vocal about LGBTQ+ rights and gender equality, notably wearing shirts and advocating messages supporting transgender rights during high-profile performances and appearances. Beyond mere symbolism, he’s used his massive platform to protest government corruption and call attention to critical political issues, most memorably joining demonstrations against Puerto Rican governor Ricardo Rosselló in 2019, showcasing his commitment to activism both on and off the stage.

His cultural influence extends seamlessly into other fields, reflecting his multifaceted persona. Demonstrating his versatility, Bad Bunny stepped onto the big screen with memorable performances, including his role in the blockbuster film Bullet Train in 2022. Additionally, he has made guest appearances at major WWE events, illustrating yet another dimension of his eclectic charm. Whether performing music, advocating for change, or captivating audiences through acting and wrestling, Bad Bunny continues to redefine what it means to be a global superstar—one deeply rooted in authenticity and compassion.

Complete List of Bad Bunny Songs From A to Z

1. 100 Millones (with Luar la L) – Non-album single – 2021
2. 120 – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
3. 200 MPH (featuring Diplo) – X 100pre – 2018
4. 25/8 – YHLQMDLG – 2020
5. <3 – YHLQMDLG – 2020
6. A Tu Merced – YHLQMDLG – 2020
7. Acho PR (with Arcángel, De la Ghetto and Ñengo Flow) – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
8. Adivino (with Myke Towers) – La Pantera Negra – 2024
9. Agosto – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
10. Aguacero – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
11. Ahora Me Llama (with Karol G) – Unstoppable – 2017
12. AM (Remix) (with Nio García and J Balvin) – Non-album single – 2021
13. Amantes de una Noche (with Natti Natasha) – Non-album single – 2018
14. Amigos y Enemigos (Trap Capos and Noriel featuring Bad Bunny) – Non-album single – 2017
15. Amorfoda – Non-album single – 2018
16. Andrea (with Buscabulla) – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
17. Antes Que Se Acabe – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
18. Así Soy Yo (with Anuel AA) – Emmanuel – 2020
19. Baby Nueva – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
20. Bad con Nicky (with Nicky Jam) – Las Que No Iban a Salir – 2020
21. Báilame (Remix) (with Nacho and Yandel) – Non-album single – 2017
22. Baile Inolvidable – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
23. Baticano – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
24. Bellacoso (with Residente) – Non-album single – 2019
25. Bendiciones – Las Que No Iban a Salir – 2020
26. Bichiyal (featuring Yaviah) – YHLQMDLG – 2020
27. Blockia (with Farruko) – Non-album single – 2017
28. Bokete – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
29. Booker T – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
30. Bye Me Fui – Las Que No Iban a Salir – 2020
31. Café con Ron (with Los Pleneros de la Cresta) – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
32. Caile (with Bryant Myers and Revol featuring Zion and De La Ghetto) – Non-album single – 2016
33. Callaíta – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
34. Canción con Yandel (with Yandel) – Las Que No Iban a Salir – 2020
35. Cántalo (with Ricky Martin and Residente) – Pausa – 2019
36. Cantares de Navidad (performed by Trio Vegabajeño) – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
37. Caro – X 100pre – 2018
38. Chambea – Non-album single – 2017
39. Coco Chanel (with Eladio Carrión) – 3men2 Kbrn – 2023
40. Como Antes – X 100pre – 2018
41. Como Soy (with Pacho and Daddy Yankee) – Non-album single – 2018
42. Como un Bebé (with Mr Eazi) – Oasis – 2019
43. Cómo Se Siente (Remix) (with Jhay Cortez) – Las Que No Iban a Salir – 2020
44. Crecia (with Justin Quiles and Almighty) – Non-album single – 2017
45. Cuando Perriabas – X 100pre – 2018
46. ¿Cuál Es Tu Plan? (with DJ Nelson featuring Ñejo and PJ Sin Suela) – Non-album single – 2018
47. Cuidao por Ahí – Oasis – 2019
48. Cybertruck – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
49. Dákiti (with Jhay Cortez) – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
50. Dame Algo (Wisin & Yandel featuring Bad Bunny) – Los Campeones del Pueblo – 2018
51. De Las 2 (Noriel featuring Bad Bunny and Arcángel) – Trap Capos: Season 2 – 2018
52. De Museo – Non-album promotional single – 2021
53. Dema Ga Ge Gi Go Gu (El Alfa El Jefe featuring Bad Bunny) – Non-album single – 2016
54. Después de la Playa – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
55. Desde el Corazón – Non-album promotional single – 2018
56. Diabla (Farruko featuring Bad Bunny and Lary Over) – Non-album single – 2017
57. Diles (with Farruko and Ozuna featuring Arcángel and Ñengo Flow) – Non-album single – 2016
58. Dime (with J Balvin and Revol featuring Arcángel and De La Ghetto) – Non-album single – 2018
59. Dime Si Te Acuerdas – Non-album single – 2018
60. Dos Mil 16 – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
61. DTMF – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
62. Dura (Remix) (Daddy Yankee featuring Natti Natasha, Becky G and Bad Bunny) – Non-album single – 2018
63. Efecto – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
64. El Apagón – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
65. El Baño (Enrique Iglesias featuring Bad Bunny) – Final – 2018
66. El Clúb – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
67. El Mundo es Mío – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
68. En Casita (featuring Gabriela) – Las Que No Iban a Salir – 2020
69. Enséñame a Bailar – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
70. Eoo – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
71. Está Cabrón Ser Yo (featuring Anuel AA) – YHLQMDLG – 2020
72. Está Rico (with Marc Anthony and Will Smith) – Non-album single – 2018
73. Estamos Arriba (with Myke Towers) – Non-album single – 2019
74. Estamos Bien – X 100pre – 2018
75. Estamos Clear (Miky Woodz featuring Bad Bunny) – El OG – 2018
76. Europa 🙁 – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
77. Explícale (Yandel featuring Bad Bunny) – Update – 2017
78. Fantasía (with Alex Sensation) – Non-album single – 2018
79. Fina (with Young Miko) – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
80. Gato de Noche (with Ñengo Flow) – Real G 4 Life, Vol. 4 – 2022
81. Gently (Drake featuring Bad Bunny) – For All the Dogs – 2023
82. Gracias por Nada – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
83. Hablamos Mañana (featuring Duki and Pablo Chill-E) – YHLQMDLG – 2020
84. Haciendo Que Me Amas – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
85. Hasta Que Dios Diga (with Anuel AA) – Emmanuel – 2020
86. Hibiki (with Mora) – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
87. Hoy (Ñengo Flow featuring Bad Bunny) – Real G4 Life Vol. 3 – 2017
88. Hoy Cobré – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
89. I Like It (with Cardi B and J Balvin) – Invasion of Privacy – 2018
90. Ignorantes (featuring Sech) – YHLQMDLG – 2020
91. Infeliz (Arcángel with Bad Bunny) – Historias de un Capricornio – 2019
92. K-pop (with Travis Scott and the Weeknd) – Utopia – 2023
93. Kemba Walker (with Eladio Carrión) – Sauce Boyz – 2019
94. Ketu Tecré – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
95. Kloufrens – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
96. Krippy Kush (with Farruko and Rvssian, and Nicki Minaj and 21 Savage) – TrapXficante – 2017
97. La Canción – Oasis – 2019
98. La Cartera (Farruko with Bad Bunny) – Gangalee – 2019
99. La Corriente (with Tony Dize) – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
100. La Difícil – YHLQMDLG – 2020
101. La Droga – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
102. La Jumpa (with Arcángel) – Sr. Santos – 2022
103. La Mudanza – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
104. La Noche de Anoche (with Rosalía) – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
105. La Romana (featuring El Alfa) – X 100pre – 2018
106. La Santa (featuring Daddy Yankee) – YHLQMDLG – 2020
107. La Última Vez (with Anuel AA) – Non-album single – 2017
108. La Zona – YHLQMDLG – 2020
109. Lean (with El Nene La Amenaza “Amenazzy” and Lito Kirino) – Non-album single – 2017
110. Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
111. Lo Siento BB:/ (with Tainy and Julieta Venegas) – Data – 2021
112. Loca (Remix) (Khea featuring Bad Bunny, Duki and Cazzu) – Ave María – 2018
113. Los Pits – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
114. Madura (Cosculluela featuring Bad Bunny) – Non-album single – 2018
115. Mala y Peligrosa (Víctor Manuelle featuring Bad Bunny) – 25/7 – 2017
116. Maldita Pobreza – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
117. Más de Una Cita (with Zion & Lennox) – Las Que No Iban a Salir – 2020
118. Mayores (with Becky G) – Mala Santa – 2017
119. Me Acostumbré (Arcángel featuring Bad Bunny) – Non-album single – 2017
120. Me Fui de Vacaciones – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
121. Me Llueven (Mark B featuring Bad Bunny and Poeta Callejero) – Non-album single – 2017
122. Me Mata (with Hear This Music, Mambo Kingz and DJ Luian featuring Arcángel, Almighty, Bryant Myers, Baby Rasta, Noriel and Brytiago) – Non-album single – 2017
123. Me Porto Bonito (with Chencho Corleone) – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
124. Mercedes Carota (with YovngChimi) – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
125. Mía (featuring Drake) – X 100pre – 2018
126. Mojaíta – Oasis – 2019
127. Mojabi Ghost (with Tainy) – Data – 2023
128. Monaco – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
129. Moscow Mule – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
130. Move Your Body (Wisin featuring Bad Bunny and Timbaland) – Victory – 2017
131. Mr. October – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
132. Nadie Sabe – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
133. Netflixxx (with Brytiago) – Non-album single – 2017
134. Neverita – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
135. Ni Bien Ni Mal – X 100pre – 2018
136. No Me Conoce (Remix) (with Jhay Cortez and J Balvin) – Famouz – 2019
137. No Me Quiero Casar – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
138. No Te Hagas (with Jory Boy) – Non-album single – 2017
139. Nuevayol – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
140. Odio – Oasis – 2019
141. Ojitos Lindos (with Bomba Estéreo) – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
142. Original (Arcángel featuring Bad Bunny) – Ares – 2018
143. Otra Noche en Miami – X 100pre – 2018
144. Otra Vez (with Kelmitt and Darell) – Non-album single – 2016
145. Otro Atardecer (with the Marías) – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
146. P FKN R (featuring Kendo Kaponi and Arcángel) – YHLQMDLG – 2020
147. Pa Ti (featuring Bryant Myers) – Non-album single – 2017
148. Pa’ Romperla (with Don Omar) – Las Que No Iban a Salir – 2020
149. Party (with Rauw Alejandro) – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
150. Perfumito Nuevo (with RaiNao) – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
151. Pero Ya No – YHLQMDLG – 2020
152. Perro Negro (with Feid) – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
153. Pitorro de Coco – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
154. Puerta Abierta (Juhn featuring Bad Bunny and Noriel) – Non-album single – 2017
155. Puesto Pa’ Guerrial (featuring Myke Towers) – YHLQMDLG – 2020
156. Pure (EZ el Ezeta with DJ Luian featuring Bad Bunny, Bryant Myers and Farruko) – Non-album single – 2017
157. Qué Pasaría… (with Rauw Alejandro) – Cosa Nuestra – 2024
158. Qué Pretendes – Oasis – 2019
159. Que Malo (featuring Ñengo Flow) – YHLQMDLG – 2020
160. ¿Quién Tú Eres? – X 100pre – 2018
161. RLNDT – X 100pre – 2018
162. Ronca Freestyle – Las Que No Iban a Salir – 2020
163. Safaera (featuring Jowell & Randy and Ñengo Flow) – YHLQMDLG – 2020
164. Satisfacción (with Nicky Jam and Arcángel) – Non-album single – 2018
165. Seda (with Bryant Myers) – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
166. Sensualidad (with Prince Royce and J Balvin) – Non-album single – 2017
167. Ser Bichote – X 100pre – 2018
168. Sexto Sentido (Gigolo & La Exce featuring Bad Bunny) – Non-album single – 2017
169. Si Ella Sale – Las Que No Iban a Salir – 2020
170. Si Estuviésemos Juntos – X 100pre – 2018
171. Si Tu Lo Dejas (Rvssian featuring Bad Bunny, Farruko, Nicky Jam and King Kosa) – Non-album single – 2017
172. Si Tu Novio Te Deja Sola (J Balvin featuring Bad Bunny) – Non-album single – 2017
173. Si Veo a Tu Mamá – YHLQMDLG – 2020
174. Solo de Mí – X 100pre – 2018
175. Solita (Ozuna featuring Bad Bunny, Almighty, and Wisin) – Non-album single – 2018
176. Soliá – YHLQMDLG – 2020
177. Soltera (Remix) (with Daddy Yankee and Lunay) – Épico – 2019
178. Sorry Papi (with Abra) – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
179. Soy El Diablo (Remix) (with Natanael Cano) – Todo Es Diferente – 2019
180. Soy Peor – Non-album single – 2016
181. Soy Peor (Remix) (featuring J Balvin, Ozuna and Arcángel) – Non-album single – 2017
182. Tarot (with Jhayco) – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
183. Te Boté (Remix) (Nio Garcia, Darell and Casper Magico featuring Bad Bunny, Nicky Jam and Ozuna) – Non-album single – 2018
184. Te Deseo Lo Mejor – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
185. Te Descuidó (Barbosa featuring Bryant Myers and Bad Bunny) – Non-album single – 2018
186. Te Guste (with Jennifer Lopez) – Non-album single – 2018
187. Te Lo Meto Yo (Pepe Quintana featuring Bad Bunny, Lary Over, Farruko, Arcángel and Tempo) – Non-album single – 2017
188. Te Mudaste – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
189. Teléfono Nuevo (with Luar la L) – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
190. Tenemos Que Hablar – X 100pre – 2018
191. Thinkin (Spiff TV featuring Anuel AA, Bad Bunny and Future) – The Union – 2018
192. Thunder y Lightning (with Eladio Carrión) – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
193. Tití Me Preguntó – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
194. Tocate Tu Misma (Alexis & Fido featuring Bad Bunny) – Non-album single – 2018
195. Tormenta (Gorillaz featuring Bad Bunny) – Cracker Island – 2023
196. Tranquilo (with Kevin Roldán) – Non-album single – 2017
197. Trellas – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
198. Triste (Bryant Myers featuring Bad Bunny) – La Oscuridad – 2018
199. Tú No Metes Cabra – Non-album single – 2017
200. Tú No Metes Cabra (Remix) (featuring Daddy Yankee, Anuel AA and Cosculluela) – Non-album single – 2017
201. Tú No Vive Así (with Arcángel featuring DJ Luian and Mambo Kingz) – Non-album single – 2016
202. Turista – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
203. Un Coco – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
204. Un Día (One Day) (with J Balvin, Dua Lipa and Tainy) – Jose and Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition – 2020
205. Un Peso (featuring Marciano Cantero) – Oasis – 2019
206. Un Polvo (Maluma featuring Bad Bunny, Arcángel, Ñengo Flow and De La Ghetto) – Non-album single – 2016
207. Un Preview – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
208. Un Ratito – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
209. Un Ratito Más (Bryant Myers featuring Bad Bunny) – Non-album single – 2017
210. Un Verano Sin Ti – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
211. Un x100to (with Grupo Frontera) – El Comienzo – 2023
212. Una Velita – Non-album single – 2024
213. Una Vez (featuring Mora) – YHLQMDLG – 2020
214. Veldá (with Omar Courtz and Dei V) – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
215. Vete – YHLQMDLG – 2020
216. Volando (Remix) (with Mora and Sech) – Non-album single – 2021
217. Volví (with Aventura) – Non-album single – 2021
218. Vou 787 – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
219. Voy a Llevarte Pa’ PR – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
220. Vuelve (with Daddy Yankee) – Non-album single – 2017
221. Vuelve Candy B – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
222. Weltita (with Chuwi) – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – 2025
223. Where She Goes – Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana – 2023
224. X Última Vez (Daddy Yankee featuring Bad Bunny) – Legendaddy – 2022
225. Yo Le Llego – Oasis – 2019
226. Yo No Soy Celoso – Un Verano Sin Ti – 2022
227. Yo Perreo Sola (featuring Nesi) – YHLQMDLG – 2020
228. Yo Visto Así – El Último Tour Del Mundo – 2020
229. Yonaguni – Non-album single – 2021

Albums

X 100pre (2018): 15 songs

YHLQMDLG (2020): 20 songs

El Último Tour Del Mundo (2020): 16 songs

Un Verano Sin Ti (2022): 23 songs

Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana (2023): 22 songs

Debí Tirar Más Fotos (2025): 17 songs

Oasis (with J Balvin) (2019): 8 songs

Las Que No Iban a Salir (2020): 10 songs

Various other albums: 28 songs

Non-album singles/features: 70 songs

Total songs: 229

Check out our fantastic and entertaining Bad Bunny articles, detailing in-depth the band’s albums, songs, band members, and more…all on ClassicRockHistory.com

Top 10 Bad Bunny Love Songs

Top 10 Bad Bunny Songs

Complete List Of Bad Bunny Albums And Discography

Read More: Artists’ Interviews Directory At ClassicRockHistory.com

Read More: Classic Rock Bands List And Directory

Complete List of Bad Bunny Songs From A to Z article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2025

About The Author

Brian Kachejian

More from this Author

Brian Kachejian was born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx. He is the founder and Editor in Chief of ClassicRockHistory.com. He has spent thirty years in the music business often working with many of the people who have appeared on this site. Brian Kachejian also holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from Stony Brook University along with New York State Public School Education Certifications in Music and Social Studies. Brian Kachejian is also an active member of the New York Press.

Smashing Pumpkins mainman Billy Corgan is taking his band’s classic album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness to the opera in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

The Lyric Opera in the band’s hometown of Chicago, Illinois, will host ‘A Night Of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness’ for seven nights on November 21-30 this year.

The show sees Corgan reimaging the album using the Lyric’s technical and artistic capabilities “for an immersively original sonic and visual experience that blurs the boundaries of opera, rock, and performance art.”

It will feature newly commissioned arrangements and orchestrations by Corgan and opera conductor James Lowe.

Corgan says: “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was written in Chicago, in many ways for Chicago. So to bring this work to this esteemed opera house, it’s got such a local tie to it, it feels so deep to me.

“The versions that most people would be familiar with are the versions that the Smashing Pumpkins did, and we’re very proud of those versions. But as the writer I know there’s other ways to do this music.

“So the idea here is to create an interpretive effect that’s a single, standalone event. You have to see this if you want to experience the album in a completely different way.”

Tickets for go on sale to the general public on Friday, April 11, at lyricopera.org

Mellon Collie is considered Smashing Pumpkins’ masterpiece. Made up of 28 songs, it spawned five successful singles – Bullet With Butterfly Wings, 1979, Zero, Thirty-Three and Tonight Tonight.

Corgan adds: “Opera and rock both tell stories of heightened emotions, and I am excited for both fans of my music and traditional opera fans to hear some truly inspired work; for the balance here is to honour both traditions in a magisterial way.”

From 1976 through 1994, Stan Lynch proved to be the backbone of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, laying down drums on classic albums like 1976’s Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 1979’s Damn the Torpedoes, 1982’s Long After Dark, 1985’s Southern Accents, and 1991’s Into the Great Wide Open.

Though it might have seemed easy to some, Lynch reminds us that a life in music is a battle of attrition. “I earned it every step of the way,” he tells ClassicRockHistory.com. “It was like an obstacle course that I had to master—and each step was even more frightening.”

He adds: “To get where I am today, I could never have imagined that when I was basically a teenager driving to California.”

After leaving the Heartbreakers in 1994, Lynch pivoted to the other side of the glass, digging his heels in as a producer, leading to a second act. Lynch’s production credits feature everyone from The Eagles to Don Henley to Sister Hazel.

What’s more, Lynch became a successful songwriter, penning cuts for Eddie Money, Tora Tora, Ringo Starr, and more. And with his latest group, Speaker Wars, he’s combining all his talents. “The process is very there’s a lot of joy in the room. It’s not work,” he says.

Laughing, he adds: “It’s too late in my life to even go to work. I don’t even know what that even means anymore. I’ve gotten away with murder for so many years just doing what I want. It’s a lot of fun. We just go from there.”

Lynch understands that regardless of pedigree, it’s hard to make it in the musician biz in 2025. He’s hopeful but cautious about Speaker Wars’ prospects. “I have to manage expectations,” he admits. “I’m not unrealistic. I know how hard this is going to be.”

“I’m forever grateful for the audience’s listening and tuning in,” he says. “I hope they go listen; that would be great. We’d love to get out there. We love to work. We love this, and we’d love to play for you.”

How did Speaker Wars come to be?

The actual genesis of the project is that I met a cool guy, John Christopher Davis, when we were in Nashville. We were both on different rosters, you know, with different publishing companies. We were put together on a blind date, and we hit it off.

Over time, I thought I was writing for John to make his record. And he kept bugging me, like my little brother, like going, “Hey, man, let’s just get a band.” And I was thinking, “Yeah, maybe…” Then, finally, he just kind of wore me down. [laughs]

He proceeded to show me he had a really a bunch of great guys in Texas that he’d been working with, too. So, it was really easy and natural and organic for me to step into their band with this material and make noise.

What kinds of sounds were you going for?

Well, oddly enough, I don’t think we were going for anything specific, which is kind of fun. With John, he’s one of those who totally writes from the heart and writes from the hip. So, he doesn’t care. We have that in common. We just write to turn each other on, and we take it from there.

Tom Petty often praised what you brought to the band as a drummer. What do you feel is your greatest quality as a player?

Oh, boy… my greatest quality is that I hope I bring joy, love, and passion to what I do. And that there ain’t a lot of quit in me. There’s a lot of “want to” in me. My greatest quality ain’t technical; it’s more that I want to share in the experience. I want to sell a song. I want the singer to feel good about what I’m playing, and I play around the vocal; that’s the quality I bring.

Do you have a favorite Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album?

I’d probably choose either Damn the Torpedoes or the first record [Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers], just because it’s so pure and fast; it’s so ambitious. You know… coming out of nowhere and thinking that we’re going to kick the world’s ass, you know, I’m proud of that. Pound for pound, song for song, that record is pretty hard to beat. I think any band would be proud to have a record with that much meat on the bone, you know?

Could you have ever imagined that you’d be here talking about that record all these years later?

Oh, hell no. [laughs] If the man I am today were to meet the kid who made that first record on the street and tell that kid what’s going to happen to him, I think he would pass out, faint, or puke. [laughs] He wouldn’t know what to think or even how to process that.

The fortunate thing for me is that the arc of a career takes a long time, so you adjust to your next station in life. I was not an overnight sensation. I didn’t wake up one day, and they were backing in a Brinks truck of money and a Ferrari. [laughs].

The fact that you’ve done it twice, as a musician and a producer, makes it all the more impressive.

A first act is hard enough. It really is. I’m not going to lie; it requires a lot of luck and timing. I’ve kidded that it takes a village to have a career, but you need a lot of people who are invested in you—and like you.

I was really lucky to have a great rock ‘n’ roll band, and I loved those guys. They were my brothers. We had great producers, a great crew, great managers, and great lawyers! [laughs] Everybody in my life… you know, it’s not a one-man band. You don’t get to where you are alone.

Is that way with Speakers Wars, too?

To be a professional, anything requires someone to be a gatekeeper, and you have to have faith in all the people around you and that they have faith in and want to carry the baton to make it all work. That’s what’s happening with Speaker Wars.

There’s a lot of people involved. The guys in the band are great. The manager is great—everybody is on board and brings a lot of joy and energy. So, that’s really what’s required to keep things moving, you know, to keep the circus going. There needs to be a lot of people who really want to be there.

As a producer, you’ve worked on some big albums, like The Eagles Hell Freezes Over. What was that like?

That stands out because that’s a real transitional moment for me. That’s the moment when I’m literally changing careers. I’m no longer the drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; I’m now a standalone producer. I’m really proud of that step—but taking that step was like stepping on the Moon for me. I was thrilled to be a part of that.

Overarching, what’s your biggest pride point as a drummer and producer?

That I got to do it and that it worked. When you focus on the fact that it’s endured and that there are songs that are pushing 50 years old, I mean… it’s hard for me to get my head around that. I’ll be at a restaurant, and they’ll be playing “American Girl” and “Breakdown,” I’ll think, “I was just a kid when we made those records…”

I’m proud that they’re still here. They still sound good. I’m proud of my entire tenure with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; I thought it was a gas. I was thrilled to help start that band, and I was thrilled with every second that I got to it.

And as a producer, and a songwriter, I’m really proud of the work that I got to do—and still do—with Don Henley. He was a real mentor and is a mentor. He sets a really high bar. So, if you can get to work with someone of that caliber, of course, you’re very proud when you get an “Atta boy.” When that happens, it’s a great day.

Do you have any regrets?

Well, yeah, probably, you know? But really, the truth is that regrets are kind of pussies. So, if it’s a regret, then you just kind of learn from it. You don’t do that again. You don’t do it twice. So, that would be how it is with most mistakes that I’ve made; I really only did them once.

So, they’re not really mistakes; they’re just part of your continuing education. I guess I’ve converted regret into growth. But yeah… I look back occasionally and go, “What would I change?” Maybe I wouldn’t have been quite so obnoxious, or so self-serving, or so needy, you know?

But like I said, that would require this guy telling that 19-year-old, “Don’t worry so much. It’s all going to work out. You can be cool.” But when you’re young and dumb, you think that every day you’re going to die, and you live and die on that wave. So, there’s a certain desperate quality—but if you don’t have that, I don’t know how you made it. It’s a catch-22.

What does the future of Speaker Wars look like?

That’s a good question. In today’s world and business, who knows? There’s lots in the tank, and we have lots of songs. We subscribe to the theory that the best song we’re ever going to write is tomorrow morning. We’re always on the hunt to write and be creative.

We would love for this album to be well-received and go play live because that’s what I actually miss. What I miss from the old band is a connection to the audience because that’s the ultimate experience when you’re a musician. That’s where a great rock ‘n’ roll band lives, and I look forward to that.

Check out similar articles on ClassicRockHistory.com Just click on any of the links below……

Read More: Artists’ Interviews Directory At ClassicRockHistory.com

Read More: Classic Rock Bands List And Directory

An Interview With Stan Lynch Of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers article published on ClassicRockHistory.com© 2025

At 77, Ian Anderson remains sharp-witted, laconic, humorous, and brilliant. To converse with him is to gain insight not previously had. That sounds obvious, but it’s deeper than it appears. More importantly, the same can be said about his music, which lately, as in the last few post-Covid years, he’s gotten back to releasing as Jethro Tull.

Before 2022’s The Zealot Gene, the last Jethro Tull album proper was 2003’s underwhelming, if not absurd, wholly unasked-for, and ill-fated The Jethro Tull Christmas Album. In fact, given the existence of said Christmas record, it’s no wonder that Anderson moved on to solo work.

Anyway, while better than that prog-laden holiday smorgasbord, The Zealot Gene wasn’t exactly primetime Tull… but it was a start. A reboot, if you will. But rebooted and prolific as Anderson was, 2023’s RökFlöte wasn’t much better, though still an improvement by some measures.

This leads us to 2025, which sees Anderson still recording as Jethro Tull, and, finally, delivering a properly Tull-sounding record in Curious Ruminant. If you know anything about Ian Anderson or have spent any length of time chatting him up, you probably are aware that he hardly seems to care about sounding like anything other than he wants to sound at a given moment.

You would believe that… until digging into this new Tull record, at which point it becomes obvious that Anderson, while cagey about the idea in conversation, is clearly looking back specifically to Tull’s ‘70s heyday. This is good news if you’re a fan of Tull, aka a “Tull head,” which I just made up.

Specifically, this is good news if you believe that Jethro Tull is best served with a side of Martin Barre. No, Barre, aka the best damn guitarist this band ever has, has not returned to the fold—but newcomer Jack Clark, either via his own volition or, more likely, through the direction of Anderson, has done a fine job of making it like it’s the year of Aqualung all over again. Which, for the record, was 1971.

Time flies, doesn’t it? But no, that doesn’t mean Curious Ruminant is anywhere close to Aqualung, or Thick as a Brick, or A Passion Play, or Minstrel in the Gallery, for that matter. But it does mean that, finally, Jethro Tull has made a proper Tullian record worth feasting on again.

And maybe, just maybe, at 77, Ian Aderson still has enough gas left in the tank to prove once and for all that, despite his best intentions or attempts, Tull is, and always was, prog rock’s ultimate guitar band… served with a heaping side of flute for good measure.

In support of Curious Ruminant, Ian Anderson beamed in with ClassicRockHistory.com to dig into the making of the record, the dynamics of his band, and his charmed relationship with record companies.

What kicked off Jethro Tull’s lates record, Curious Ruminant?

If you’d asked me in April of last year in 2024, “Do you have plans for a new album?” I would have said, “No, I don’t have any plans not to make a new album—but I don’t actually have plans to make one.” Then, if you’d asked me that in the middle of May of 2024, I would have said, “Oh, funny you ask because I’ve started work on a new album.” [laughs]

What changed your mind?

It came about primarily because I was, well, my son was about to trash an old laptop computer that had some audio files on it that I’d used back in 2006. I think I bought it in order to record some music, and it had some audio files, which, before he smashed up the hard disk with a hammer, he thought he should check with me if I wanted to keep anything.

Normally, I would have said, “No,” but I said, “Well, send it to me anyway…” And on there was a demo that I made for a long piece of music to be played as a flute duet with the venerable Indian classical flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia, with whom we had some upcoming concerts scheduled in India and Dubai. And the demo was made with our then-keyboard player, Andrew Giddings.

So, essentially, the genesis of this record came from forgotten demos from 2006?

It was just rough ideas that we didn’t use because Hariprasad Chaurasia decided he wanted to play a traditional Indian raga together rather than something I’d written. So, I’d just forgotten [about it], and when I heard it again all these years later, I was immediately struck by how good I thought my bamboo flute playing was. I thought, “Wow… that’s brilliant. You know, I would really like people to be able to hear that.”

From there, how did the album begin to take shape?

So, I started developing that demo and added bass guitar, drums, guitars, and Cajan, and I wrote some lyrics and a melody and integrated it all into a lengthy track, which is on the new album, and that was the first one I completed.

What came next?

The second track that I worked on was the one that became titled “Curious Ruminant.” When I finished recording that, I didn’t have a title for it, and I looked through the lyrics of the song for some inspiration for a title—but the subject interested me more than any of the lines of the lyrics.

I thought, “Well, it’s a song about how, as a person, I have curiosity…” Since I was a child, I’ve always been curious about a variety of subjects and topics; I’m a ruminant in the sense that I’m a contemplative person. I like to think things over or chew the cud, as we say in English. So, I thought, “Curious ruminant… that’s a good title for the song.”

And a good title for the album, too.

Yes. I thought, “While I’m at it, maybe it’s a good title for the album…” I carried on in a similar vein of giving a more personal set of lyrics that were reflecting my own viewpoints, my own thoughts, and my own emotions on a variety of subjects. And so, lyrically, it’s a bit more of a personal album—but as an album, musically speaking, it’s very much a band album.

How so? The perception most people have is that you’re in control.

It’s very much a band album on which the guys in the band are very much playing in a, you know, it’s a rock band—but that’s okay. It’s a rock album but with personal lyrics. And the guys in the band don’t read my lyrics anyway, for some reason, so it doesn’t matter. It won’t worry them.

Jethro Tull remains consistent on the full-length album front when most bands of your age don’t bother. Are you unimpacted by the awful state of the music industry?

Well, my relationship with record companies since the very beginning has always been a very positive and rich relationship of mutual benefits. I have no bad stories or experiences in regard to any of the record companies that I’ve worked with—and that applies today.

So, your record company generally supports full albums when most bands are releasing singles or EPs?

I mean… when I thought last May, “Oh, you know, maybe there’s a new album coming,” the first thing I did as soon as I started to work was call the recording company boss. I said, “Look, you know, would you be interested in another Jethro Tull album for release in 2025?”

He said, “Yeah, sure. What kind of thing would you think it’s going to be?” I said, “Well, I have no idea… I’m just starting to think about it now.” So, he said, “Well, that’s fine. Whatever you want, you know, whatever it turns out to be, we’ll be very happy to, you know, release it.”

That’s a bit of a luxury that most bands don’t have, though you’ve certainly earned it.

That’s the way it’s always been. You know, record companies get a finished product from me, including the artwork, and they just put it out. I’ve had that kind of relationship with everybody, from the early Chrysalis record, and Warner Brothers in the USA, Island Records in the UK, and through the EMI years, and then, the Warner Music years now.

And, of course, this album is the third album with a subsidiary of Sony Records called Inside Out [Music], who are a German company that was sold to Sony some years ago. So, we have the distribution and marketing of Sony behind us, but this kind of boutique label identity is similar to the early Chrysalis records, where I tend to deal with the same few people all the time. It’s more of a personal relationship.

While listening back to Curious Ruminant, more so than your last few albums, I noticed that the overall sound of the album harkens back to Jethro Tull’s ‘70s era. Was that intentional?

It’s just how it developed when I started working on arrangements and ideas, you know? I wanted the songs to not all sound the same, so having some different instruments was a good idea. And trying to make sure the tempos were different, the keys of the songs were all different, and the general mood and dynamics were different.

It sounds like maybe your intent, or how you heard it, doesn’t quite line up with how I heard it—which is okay since music is subjective.

You know… I wanted to make an album of varied music—but I don’t overthink it. It comes very naturally and organically for me to come up with an idea of a song. The song kind of tells me what it wants to be. I listen, as a record producer, you know, to that early phase of the song…

And what do you tend to hear while listening?

It kind of speaks to me and says, “You know, I think I want to be like this,” or “I want to be like that.” And it’s my job, as a producer, to try and make that come true in terms of the way I work with the other band members and the parts that they evolve and add to the music.

We touched on the perception of Jethro Tull earlier, which is that you’re in charge. If that’s the case, what’s your relationship with your band like—especially since they don’t read your lyrics?

Oh, they don’t actually read any of them. [laughs] They don’t read any of them unless they have some vocal harmonies to sing live onstage for performances. But they, you know, they work in the way that we’ve done for, you know, whatever it is now… for more than 20 years that we’ve been working together, which is a way that we all mutually understand.

And that is?

We don’t have to try too hard. It’s a musical relationship that is one born out of the initial period of learning about each other and how we work into a more comfortable familiarity. We can almost second-guess what each other is going to do. That’s the way we work.

Read More: Artists’ Interviews Directory At ClassicRockHistory.com

Read More: Classic Rock Bands List And Directory

An Interview With Ian Anderson Of Jethro Tull article published on ClassicRockHistory.com© 2025

Cyndi Lauper has announced the final leg of her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun farewell tour, booking 25 additional North American dates for the summer.

The six-week trek begins on July 15 in Buffalo, New York, and concludes on Aug. 30 with the second of two consecutive nights at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl. Along the way, Lauper will visit amphitheaters and performing arts centers in Philadelphia, Toronto, Milwaukee, Denver and many more cities.

Tickets for the final leg of Lauper’s tour go on sale to the general public on Friday. The full list of dates can be found below.

READ MORE: Cyndi Lauper on ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ Movie: ‘It Sucked’

Cyndi Lauper’s Big Year: Sold-Out Shows, Rock Hall Nomination and More

Lauper kicked off her farewell tour last October in Montreal. The trek took her to arenas across Europe and North America, including her first headlining performance at New York’s Madison Square Garden, which sold out.

It’s a major victory lap for Lauper, who’s also nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year and was the subject of a 2024 documentary, Let the Canary Sing, which is available to stream on Paramount+.

Cyndi Lauper, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun 2025 Tour Dates
July 15 – Buffalo, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater
July 17 – Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center
July 19 – Wantagh, NY @ Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
July 20 – Philadelphia, PA @ TD Pavilion at The Mann
July 22 – Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park
July 24 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
July 25 – Bethel, NY @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
July 27 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
July 29 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
July 30 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
Aug. 1 – Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre
Aug. 3 – Milwaukee, WI @ American Family Insurance Amphitheater
Aug. 5 – Tinley Park, IL @ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
Aug. 7 – Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
Aug. 9 – Bonner Springs, KS @ Azura Amphitheater
Aug. 12 – Denver, CO @ Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
Aug. 14 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
Aug. 17 – Ridgefield, WA @ Cascades Amphitheater
Aug. 19 – Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre
Aug. 21 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
Aug. 23 – Wheatland, CA @ Toyota Amphitheatre
Aug. 24 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
Aug. 26 – Concord, CA @ Toyota Pavilion at Concord
Aug. 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
Aug. 30 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl

James Taylor has added 17 more shows to his upcoming tour of North America.

The trek will begin on May 5 in Phoenix, and then make its way through mostly U.S. cities with the exception of a stop in Toronto. The tour will conclude over four months later on Sept. 17 in Fort Worth, Texas.

You can view a complete list of show dates, with the newly added shows in bold, below.

Is James Taylor Contemplating New Music?

Taylor’s most recent studio album, American Standard, came out in 2020, but he has not excluded the possibility of making another one in the near future.

READ MORE: How James Taylor’s ‘Sweet Baby James’ Sparked a New Genre

“I feel like I’ve got another one in me — sounds like an egg — but I’m writing a little bit,” he told The Independent last year. “You know, live music — the thing that I’m so attached to about it, why I can’t let it go — is that there’s something [that] happens when people come together for a couple of hours, for two or three hours, and have a sort of collective experience.

“It’s indescribable. You prepare for it, but when it happens, it’s spontaneous and, in a way, unique. I love it when that happens, and it does most nights.”

James Taylor Summer 2025 Tour
May 5 – Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center
May 7 – Palm Desert, CA @ Acrisure Arena
May 8 – Highland, CA @ Yaamava Theater
May 10-11 – San Diego, CA @ Rady Shell
May 13-14 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl
May 16 – Stanford, CA @ Frost Amphitheater
May 17 – Lincoln, CA @ The Venue at Thunder Valley
May 19 – Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheatre
May 21 – Nampa, ID @ Ford Amphitheater
May 23 – Ridgefield, WA @ RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheatre
May 25-26 – Seattle, WA @ Chateau St. Michelle Winery
May 13-14 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks
May 17 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Center
May 19 – Highland Park, IL @ Ravinia
May 21 – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
June 13-14 — Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheater
June 17 — St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Center
June 19 — Highland Park, IL @ Ravinia
June 23 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Amphitheater
June 24 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
June 27 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
June 29 – Canandaigua, NY @ CMAC
July 1 – Gilford, NH @ BankNH Pavilion
July 3-4 — Lenox, MA @ Tanglewood Music Center
Aug. 21 — Vienna, VA @ Wolf Trap
Aug. 23 — Vienna, VA @ Wolf Trap
Aug. 24 — Vienna, VA @ Wolf Trap
Aug. 26 — Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
Aug. 27 — Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway
Aug. 29 — Bridgeport, CT @ Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater
Aug. 30 — Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
Sept. 1 — Richmond, VA @ Riverfront Amphitheater
Sept. 3 — Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheatre
Sept. 4 — Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
Sept. 6 — Atlanta, GA @ Cadence Bank Amp. At Chastain Park
Sept. 8 — Simpsonville, SC @ CCNB Amphitheatre at Heritage Park
Sept. 10 — Birmingham, AL @ Coca-Cola Amphitheatre
Sept. 12 — Franklin, TN @ FirstBank Amphitheater
Sept. 13 — Southaven, MS @ BankPlus Amphitheater
Sept. 16 — Tulsa, OK, @ BOK Center
Sept. 17 — Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena

When Police guitarist Andy Summers got together with King Crimson mastermind Robert Fripp, they were just looking to have some fun as two like-minded guitarists who were perceived to be similarly innovative with what they did.

“At that age, we were dicking around in the studio, trying out everything and trying to make exotic sounds that worked,” he explains in an interview with UCR. “It’s very much a reflection of the era.” The pair released two albums, 1982’s I Advance Masked and 1984’s Bewitched and to their surprise, they found there was an audience keenly interested in hearing what they’d done together. “The first one went inside the Billboard Top 50, which was amazing for an instrumental record like that.”

The Complete Recordings 1981-1984 collects the work that they did on an expansive 3 CD / 1 Blu-ray set. It’s exhaustively comprehensive, thanks to Summers, who held on to two-inch analog masters of all of the material that the two recorded together. But even he was surprised to find a trove of previously unreleased material, so much so, that they were able to assemble a third album, Mother Hold the Candle Steady. “I was sort of shocked that we had never used them,” Summers says now. “You know, we must have been very persnickety about what we were putting out, but the [recordings] were really nice. They really constitute a third album.”

During a recent conversation, he discussed his working relationship with Fripp.

How did you first meet Robert?
You know, it’s a good question, because we’re both from the same town [Bournemouth] in England. We used to go to the same guitar shop, this is when we were kids. I know that Robert went in and out of there. I don’t know if I ever met him in that period. I certainly knew of him, it was a small town. I was one of the guitar players and he was one of the other ones. He’s definitely a figure in my life, because we were from a small area. Of course, he’s King Crimson and I’m in the Police. Somewhere in there, we met. I don’t know if I contacted him or what. But we met one afternoon in New York, when we were at a photographer’s apartment and we discussed what we might do, without even picking up guitars. We just sort of said, “Well, we’ll have a go” and agreed to do it. There’s a friend of ours [Tony Arnold,] in fact, from the same small hometown, who had become a recording engineer and had a little studio [Arny’s Shack]. So we said, “Well, we’ll go there and do it there.” We really didn’t have much of an idea about what we were going to do, but as pretty experienced guitar players and guys who had been in bands, we kind of made it up in that studio. It was like, “If you play that, I’ll play this.” Or, “Keep playing that and I’m going to do a few different things on top of it.” It was that sort of thing, just working it out in the moment.

Listen to Andy Summers and Robert Fripp’s ‘Skyline’

Based on what you knew about Robert, what intrigued you about getting the chance to work with him?
Well, I knew he was the famous guitar player, the guy who had started King Crimson and had done all sorts of things. Obviously, he was very used to being in musical situations, being in the studio and making stuff work. Which is just the same as me. He’s different stylistically, I mean, Robert had a very certain way that he played and he only really did that. It was mostly polyrhythmic guitar lines that he’s very good at and that’s what he did. He didn’t play jazz or blues or anything like that. He had that certain approach that he was very good at. Musically, I think I’m more broad in my approach to the guitar. I play more different kinds of music. But my job that I felt was to use that way he could play and layer it out with other things like harmony chords and rhythmic approaches on top of what he was already doing. Once we got to that realization, it wasn’t so difficult. These are the records that came out of that.

Revisiting these albums, it feels like you both have a lot of common ground, for example, just how you like to experiment from a sonic standpoint. Both of you weren’t afraid to try random things.
No, no. It was very open, you know. That period of the ’80s was wide open. We were getting more things, like, the whole guitar pedal technology was coming along and people were excited about it. So it was a time when you could still sort of pull off new stuff that people really hadn’t heard yet. I’m proud to say that we were pretty cutting edge in what we did with those two records at that particular time.

It’s also a time where you would hear people play something and wonder, “How are they doing that?” How much did that happen for you with Robert. Were there things you were curious about?
The simple answer to that, it was all in his hands. He really had this thing and he had good chops, as we say in musician circles. He could actually play quite fast. The thing that was almost weird with him and more difficult for him, was to play in 4/4 time or straight ahead. [Laughs] It was always 5/4 and all of these different kind of [time signatures]. So I thought, “Okay, well, that’s what he does. We can mess around with that sonically and do it differently.” I felt like the way he played were the bones of a piece and I would put on the flesh, as it were. That’s the way we kind of built these pieces up.

That sticks out, listening to something like the title track from I Advance Masked, it just seems like it would have been a pretty fascinating process building these songs out with Robert.
We had a lot of fun doing it, because we weren’t the two most obvious guitar players to put together. But you know, you’ve still both got a guitar in your hands and you’re going to make these noises and if you’ve got musical taste, figure out what’s working. You just changed your path, I see what you did — you dropped that quarter-note at the beginning of the part. Real musical stuff like that. You work your way through it both musically and intellectually and also, [it depends] on what your taste is. Do you like this? Is it exciting or is it boring? What I think we did was that we created our own sort of ethos with the two of us playing that didn’t really sound like anyone else. The way the two of us came together, it came out sounding pretty original.

Watch Andy Summers and Robert Fripp’s Video for ‘I Advance Masked’

It’s always interesting when musicians come together, you know? I’ve made many records — 15 solo albums and many collaborations. But you get together with somebody and try and keep it open. Let’s just see what they can do. I don’t try to lay a heavy trip on anybody. Let’s see what you’re good at. And I go, “You know what? You’re playing a lot of cliches. I don’t like that.” But what I find with, let’s say, drummers and bass players, especially here in Los Angeles, they’re very skillful and highly technical, but they’re not necessarily composers or people who imagine different kinds of music. So I don’t want to get into playing some sort of jazz/rock cliches, I’m trying to find something very fresh and see if I can find somebody who can move their imagination to where I feel the piece should be. The last two records that I made, I made alone, completely. I played the bass and drums on them as well. I found that very freeing in a way, rather than having to instruct somebody or get somebody who is really talented to stop playing cliches and try to find a different way to approach it. When it comes to music making, it’s always interesting.

What are you working on presently?
I’ve actually just come off the road. I got back [recently] from Japan. I did some shows there and I was in Australia and New Zealand before that. So now, I’m stopping for a while. I know I’m going to have to go all over South America in July and August and then they’re lining up some shows in September and October. You know, I’ve been doing a solo show where I play to photography on a big screen. I’ve really enjoyed that and it’s been sold out eveywhere in Australia and Japan. So I’ll be doing [more of] that. It’s almost like a multimedia show, all of these sequences of photography that I show and I have different kinds of music for each section — some solo guitar and some with backing. I do a lot of talking in between and the show gets up to about two hours now, but I look forward to doing it. I need to get in the studio and work on making a new record. That’s my driving urge at the moment.

Bad Company already had quite a resume before releasing their five-times platinum 1974 self-titled debut.

Frontman Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke had been in Free, a shooting star of a band that hit in 1970 with the international Top 5 single “All Right Now.” Guitarist Mick Ralphs was a founding member of Mott the Hoople whose stint included 1972’s breakout All the Young Dudes. Bassist Boz Burrell gained early notice with King Crimson, appearing on 1971’s Islands.

Ralphs was a contributing writer in both Mott the Hoople and Bad Company, and his knack for creating hooky songs led him to this new group. He’d amassed a growing pile of material that Mott frontman Ian Hunter felt was unsuitable for his voice. Ralphs was also becoming restless as the group shifted toward glam rock. “I wanted something more bluesy, more simplistic, more earthy,” he later admitted.

READ MORE: Top 10 Bad Company Songs

Then Rodgers ran into Ralphs and they successfully ran through a few of these leftover tracks. Bad Company was born. Four of the group’s first five albums were certified platinum or multi-platinum in the U.S. Unfortunately, the partnership fractured when Rodgers left Bad Company following 1982’s Rough Diamonds. Burrell played on a subsequent tour, but declined to record without Rodgers. Bad Company somehow survived, though with two other frontmen and an often era-specific approach.

The original founding quartet finally reunited to complete four new songs for 1999’s The ‘Original’ Bad Co. Anthology. Rodgers, Kirke, Ralphs and Burrell also did a short promotional run, but they’d never tour together again. Ralphs left the road with health issues. Bad Company came to an official end in 2023, after Rodgers suffered a series of strokes. Their subsequent nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was somewhat bittersweet, Kirke told New York City’s Q104.3.

“I was saying to a friend of mine earlier on that I hope that we can get on the podium, because Mick, our guitarist … is not well and we don’t know how long he’s gonna be around,” Kirke admitted. “But it would be wonderful if me and Paul could get on the stage and say, ‘This is for Mick as well.'”

Here are five reasons why Bad Company should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame:

They Helped Set the Supergroup Template in Rock

It wasn’t just that the original lineup featured name-brand members of Free (Rodgers and Kirke), Mott the Hoople (Ralphs) and King Crimson (Burrell). Bad Company was a supergroup that actually operated like one: After signing to Led Zeppelin‘s Swan Song label, everyone made key contributions: Their first single, 1974’s U.K. Top 20 hit “Can’t Get Enough,” was written by Ralphs. Their self-titled theme song was composed by both Rodgers and Kirke, the latter of whom was the band’s only continuous member. Rodgers and Ralph shared credit for 1975’s “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” a Billboard Top 5 rock-radio staple. Everyone contributed to “Honey Child,” a single from 1976’s Run with the Pack. Rodgers wrote 1979’s gold-selling “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy,” then Burrell composed the follow-up single, “Gone, Gone, Gone.”

Few Bands Have Overcome as Much Adversity

Bad Company rose from the ashes of Free, whose troubled guitarist Paul Kossoff died early. Unfortunately, the new group started by former Free members Rodgers and Kirke had its share of medical issues, too. Burrell died of a heart attack in September 2006 at just 60; his last collaborations with Bad Company dated back to the late-’90s. By then, Bad Company had already cycled through two replacements for Rodgers, who left in the early ’80s. The most successful LPs were with Brian Howe, who died at age 66 in May 2020 after suffering cardiac at his Florida home.

Still, the Bad Company brand remained: Rodgers was part of a partial reunion with Kirke in the early 2000s that produced 2002’s In Concert: Merchants of Cool. Rodgers, Kirke and Ralphs appeared as Bad Company off and on between 2008-19, but health problems – including a debilitating stroke just after a partial reunion tour in 2016 – eventually pushed Ralphs off the road. A rotating group of bassists replaced Burrell. Former Heart guitarist Howard Leese and Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes both subbed for Ralphs. Bad Company was finally grounded for good in 2023 when Rodgers suffered his own series of strokes.

Bad Company Was a Marvel of Consistency

Bad Company arrived with plenty of momentum based on their past musical exploits. Then they made good on all of those expectations, scoring gold or platinum albums in every decade from the ’70s through the ’00s. Their first two LPs, 1974’s Bad Company and 1975’s Straight Shooter, were multi-platinum international Top 5 hits. Then 1976’s Run With the Pack went platinum. They scored gold sales with 1976’s Burnin’ Sky before returning to multi-platinum status with 1979’s Desolation Angels and the 1985 compilation 10 from 6. The retooled band then reached gold sales with 1988’s Dangerous Age and 1992’s Here Comes Trouble. They sold more than a million copies of Holy Water in 1990. Finally, 2002’s In Concert: Merchants of Cool was also certified with gold sales.

They Weren’t Afraid to Push Back Against Their Label

The new group’s road manager had earlier worked with Led Zeppelin, and he connected Rodgers with their powerful manager Peter Grant. In a happy coincidence, Grant was also launching a new label under the Led Zeppelin aegis to be known as Swan Song. Grant became their manager and Bad Company signed with Swan Song – but then a familiar issue with label executives popped up again. “They thought it was a terrible name,” Rodgers later remembered. “I told them that I had been through this before with Free as Island Records had wanted to call us the Heavy Metal Kids. We agreed to go in and tell them that we were going to be called Bad Company and that was the end of the story. As soon as Peter heard how strongly I felt about the name, he became very supportive and together we turned the record company around.”

Bad Company Cemented Peter Grant’s Legacy

As Led Zeppelin’s manager, Grant undoubtedly learned a thing or two about breaking U.K. acts in America – and he did it all while balancing the creative and personal conflicts that arise with any supergroup. Replicating Led Zeppelin’s success with the newly signed Bad Company would confirm his status as a rock Svengali. Bad Company was the first band signed to Swan Song and they added another layer of platinum-level credibility to Grant’s fledgling label. Kirke once described Grant as “the worst enemy you could ever have and he was the best friend. The thing is, we had the goods to back it up. So when we came out of that starting gate, everything went boom!” Grant also played a crucial role with their blockbuster debut: He alerted Bad Company that the mobile studio at Headley Grange was available after Led Zeppelin was delayed – but only for a short two-week span. Bad Company finished their first LP in just nine days.

As frontrunners of the burgeoning New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden made perfect sense as tour mates — and the latter were wise to create some healthy competition when they joined the former’s British Steel tour on March 7, 1980.

Both bands typified the subgenre coined by the British press, which fused the technicality of heavy metal with the speed and intensity of punk rock. They rubbed elbows with the likes of Def Leppard, Motorhead and Saxon, even though several of those groups rejected the classification.

“Now, a lot of bands dislike being co-opted into music journalists’ manufactured movements and lazily pigeonholed, but I liked the idea of the New Wave,” Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford reflected in his 2020 memoir Confess. “I figured, after years of being ignored, it was nice for metal to get a bit of attention for a change. It felt like validation.”

READ MORE: How Judas Priest Came Alive on ‘Unleashed in the East’

How ‘British Steel’ Turned Judas Priest Into Metal Gods

Judas Priest was about to get much more validation on a global scale. In April 1980 they would release their sixth album, British Steel, which would become a cornerstone of ’80s metal. Bolstered by the hits “Living After Midnight” and “Breaking the Law,” British Steel would become a Top 5 hit on the British charts and pierce the Top 40 in the United States, transforming Judas Priest into an arena-filling concert draw.

The buzz was already building when Judas Priest kicked off their British Steel tour, and who better to join them than Iron Maiden? The plucky rockers had generated hype with their debut single “Running Free,” released in February 1980, and their self-titled debut album would arrive in April at the same time as British Steel.

Iron Maiden was lauded for their take-no-prisoners performance style and boisterous attitude. So when asked about the Judas Priest tour, frontman Paul Di’Anno did what anybody in his position would have done: he threw the gauntlet down.

READ MORE: Iron Maiden Live Albums Ranked Worst to Best

Iron Maiden Threatened to ‘Blow Judas Priest Off Stage Every Night’

“On the eve of the tour, [Iron Maiden] did a music-press interview in which their then-singer, Paul Di’Anno, said they would blow Judas Priest off stage every night,” Halford recalled. “I wasn’t remotely bothered by this, because a) they were wrong, and b) that was the kind of thing cocky young bands were supposed to say! We had tried to do it to every major band we had supported, so why shouldn’t they? I found it funny.”

Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing didn’t share Halford’s sentiment. “He was offended and outraged by the comment and demanded that we kick Maiden off the tour,” Halford wrote. “The rest of us said that would be a daft overreaction to a flippant remark, but he was absolutely livid.”

Cooler heads prevailed, and Judas Priest launched the European leg of their British Steel tour at Cardiff University in Wales on March 7, 1980, with Iron Maiden in tow. Despite both bands’ buzz and mutual commitment to excellence, they didn’t fraternize much off stage — except for one potentially awkward moment that luckily didn’t escalate.

“We didn’t really hang out and banter with Maiden much on that tour, but maybe I took Di’Anno’s comment that he would blow Priest offstage too literally … because the one night we got drunk together, I tried to seduce him!” Halford wrote. “We went to my room to carry on drinking, but I was too pissed to try anything, and he was too pissed to even know what I wanted to try.”

He added: “I think that was definitely for the best.”

READ MORE: Judas Priest Lineup Changes: A Complete Guide

Judas Priest and Iron Maiden Later Buried the Hatchet

The pairing was clearly a success, as Iron Maiden went on to support Judas Priest on tour in 1981 and 1982. Years later, Di’Anno would acknowledge the absurdity of his Judas Priest comments, noting that he and his bandmates were all big fans of their tour mates.

“If I remember correctly, some paper was published saying that Maiden had been slagging off Priest, or something like that,” Di’Anno told Rock Hard in 2004. “But I’m sure that it was a load of bollocks ’cause we were all Judas Priest fans. The whole story got blown out of proportion, like [is] usually the case, but I’m pretty sure that there isn’t any resentment anymore, ’cause I’ve met Rob Halford or the boys from Priest quite often and everything always went really well.”

Downing also maintained that, despite Di’Anno’s tough talk, Judas Priest ruled the roost on the British Steel tour. “Can I just say, they didn’t blow the bollocks off Judas Priest,” the guitarist told Eddie Trunk in 2018. “We were pretty well established at the time, and those guys were coming up through the ranks. So that happened. But it wasn’t a good atmosphere on the tour, and it’s not something I like to have happen.”

Nevertheless, both groups eventually mended fences. Downing recalled: “I did meet Paul Di’Anno some years later, in about 1985, and he said, ‘Hey, K.K., we’re sorry about that quote in the paper.’ And that’s all you need.”