“We had been on the road pretty heavily and we were burned”: How Bad Company karate chopped their way through burnout to make their great ‘lost’ album
Bad Company made Burnin’ Sky in 1977 after an intensive period of touring left the band exhausted, with singer Paul Rodgers describing them as “burned”. The album has often been overlooked beside the group’s earlier successes, but the article argues it deserves recognition as a strong, largely forgotten entry in their catalogue and a record shaped by the pressures of life on the road.
While promoting the album, the band based themselves in Palm Springs and travelled to shows by private jet. Rodgers, photographed in a karate gi for the cover, said he was trying to stay fit after witnessing how touring could leave people badly affected; the image reflected an effort to regain discipline and control amid the band’s hard-living reputation.
- Burnin’ Sky emerged from Bad Company’s touring burnout.
- Paul Rodgers embraced fitness and karate during promotion.
- The 1977 album is presented as an overlooked highlight.
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Bad Company were a British rock band formed in 1973, with singer Paul Rodgers among their best-known members. Their early albums made them a major group, and years of touring to support them brought long stretches away from home and the demands of performing night after night.
Burnin’ Sky was recorded in 1977, after that intense touring schedule had left the band exhausted. Its place in the group’s catalogue is less prominent than their earlier successes, but the album offers a glimpse of how life on the road shaped their music and their efforts to keep going.