The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Foundation recently announced the 2025 Inductees for music’s highest honor, among them, Bad Company.
Paul Rodgers recently spoke with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation. During the conversation, Paul talks about Bad Company being inducted into the Rock & Roll HallOof Fame and reflects on the band’s first album.
SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation, hosted by Eddie Trunk, airs daily at 3 PM, ET on SiriusXM’s Faction Talk. Audio clips and transcript below, courtesy of SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation.
Paul Rodgers on Bad Company being inducted into the RRHOF:
Paul Rodgers: “Been pretty relaxed actually about the whole thing. I didn’t really get too worked out, but now that it’s happening, I think it’s you know. And I wanna thank you for pushing Bad Company, you know, the induction into the Hall of Fame because I know that you and the fans have been working on this for years, so congratulations to you and the fans. The honor is yours. You know, really I was very easy about it, now that it’s here, it’s quite exciting.”
Eddie Trunk: “Yeah. Well, you know, I actually am an actual voter. I’ve been a voter for the Hall of Fame for a long time. I’m not on the nominating committee that gets people on the ballot, but I do have a full vote. And I actually do my vote with the fans, with my audience. I actually do the ballot on the air with them and let them have a voice in picking the five that we send in. But every year, Paul, if there’s a band on that ballot that I’ve been waiting for, I tell the audience immediately, “While there’s a couple here that are non-negotiable that I’m checking off right away.” And needless to say, Bad Company was one of those this year, although there was no pushback at all from the audience. So everybody was very excited about it. How did you feel when you first got the news about it? And did somebody call you in advance of it coming out on American Idol?”
Paul Rodgers: “Well, yes they did. And actually, I called Mick Ralphs, you know, because I said to him, ‘Do you remember all those years ago when I called you up? And I said to you two words, I said, Bad Company, and you dropped the phone?’ And he said, ‘Yes, that’s it. That’s what we gotta call the band.’ And I said, ‘No, it’s actually a song, you know, I’m just working on.’ And he said, ‘No, no, we’ve gotta call the band Bad Company. That’s it.’ You know, and he was just, you know, elated. It was great.”
Eddie Trunk: “So the song, ‘Bad Company’, predated it being the name of the band?”
Paul Rodgers: “Yes it did actually. Yeah. Strangely enough.”
Paul Rodgers on who from Bad Company will be at RRHOF:
Paul Rodgers: “Well, Mick, I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and I told him about the, you know, as I mentioned earlier, I told him about the induction and I said, ‘Do you remember when we decided on Bad Company being the name?’ And I said, ‘Well, we’ve been inducted like 50 years later, here we are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Hall of Fame.’ And he said, ‘Wow, I’m elated.’ So that’s really nice. Yeah. So November the eighth in LA. He is not gonna be there. I’m glad it’s happening now while Mick can enjoy it too.”
Eddie Trunk: “But as of now, it doesn’t look like Mick will come over for it?”
Paul Rodgers: “As of now, no.”
Eddie Trunk: “So, do you envision, and I don’t know how far down the line you are with this, but as far as the actual induction, do you envision putting maybe an all star band that comes together and you and Simon go up there and sing? Have you formed, have you started a hash away as how that’s gonna work?”
Paul Rodgers: “Well, we’re talking about it, shall we say that? I can’t say too much.”
Eddie Trunk: “Right. And what about Boz? How will Boz be honored at this? Does he have family or something that might be able to attend?”
Paul Rodgers: “Yeah, Cathy is coming. I’m told that Cathy is, a good lady. She is coming. So yeah, he’ll be honored. I mean, he was a great bass player, wasn’t he?”
Eddie Trunk: “And has there been dialogue as to who will do the induction? Do you know already or is that still being discussed?”
Paul Rodgers: “I actually don’t know. There could be so many. There’s so many options to ask and I don’t want to offend anyone by, you know, by not asking them or whatever, you know, we’ll see. Again, you know, it’s all a case of, we’ll see. It’ll be a surprise.”
Paul Rodgers on making Bad Company’s first album:
Paul Rodgers: “Mick and I were writing frantically in the country there. And so this was an opportunity to put it all together, you know? I mean, I wrote by the ‘Bad Company’ with Kirke, with Simon. He helped me throw a few lines in and I wrote ‘Seagull’. I came back from the beach. It was just an amalgamation of, it wasn’t really planned. It was just everything we had and it just worked. Fortunately, there was magic in the air. It really was.”
Eddie Trunk: “And you know, one of the things that’s so amazing to me about really the whole Bad Company catalog is just the production sonically, It still sounds so good. It holds up so well, at least I think. And I’m curious, I mean, you guys basically self-produced those records for the most part. I mean, I know you had major, you know, people from Zeppelin history, like Eddie Kramer, Ron Nevison, and people like that involved. But you really, the band really called the shots as far as production on the records, right?”
Paul Rodgers: “Yeah, very much so. Yeah. But Ron Nevison was very good. I mean, the idea of, it was putting microphones out in the field one day with the headphones and everything. I said, ‘What are you doing?’ He said, ‘Well, we’re gonna do the vocal for ‘Bad Company’ out in the field here because it’s a full moon tonight. Want to get the atmosphere.’ And so we did that and trumping across these, you know, fields in the middle of the night and singing the song basically with headphones on and the microphone there. It was really, really atmospheric. It was very beautiful. You know, you can hear a cold wind blowing at the very end of it because the mic picked it up, I think to some extent.”
To be eligible for nomination, artists have to be at least 25 years out from the release of their first commercial recording.
“Each of these inductees created their own sound and attitude that had a profound impact on culture and helped to change the course of Rock & Roll forever,” said John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “Their music gave a voice to generations and influenced countless artists that followed in their footsteps.”
The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Inductees are:
Performer Category: Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden, The White Stripes.
Musical Influence Award: Salt-N-Pepa, Warren Zevon.
Musical Excellence Award: Thom Bell, Nicky Hopkins, Carol Kaye
Ahmet Ertegun Award: Lenny Waronker.
The Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Billy Idol, Mana, Joy Division / New Order, Oasis and Phish were all nominated but failed to make the cut.
The Induction Ceremony will be held on November 8, 2025, and will air live on Disney+ from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California. ABC and Hulu will have a special airings following the live event.
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Paul Rodgers recently spoke with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation. During the conversation, Paul talks about Bad Company being inducted into the Rock & Roll HallOof Fame and reflects on the band’s first album.
SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation, hosted by Eddie Trunk, airs daily at 3 PM, ET on SiriusXM’s Faction Talk. Audio clips and transcript below, courtesy of SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation.
Paul Rodgers on Bad Company being inducted into the RRHOF:
Paul Rodgers: “Been pretty relaxed actually about the whole thing. I didn’t really get too worked out, but now that it’s happening, I think it’s you know. And I wanna thank you for pushing Bad Company, you know, the induction into the Hall of Fame because I know that you and the fans have been working on this for years, so congratulations to you and the fans. The honor is yours. You know, really I was very easy about it, now that it’s here, it’s quite exciting.”
Eddie Trunk: “Yeah. Well, you know, I actually am an actual voter. I’ve been a voter for the Hall of Fame for a long time. I’m not on the nominating committee that gets people on the ballot, but I do have a full vote. And I actually do my vote with the fans, with my audience. I actually do the ballot on the air with them and let them have a voice in picking the five that we send in. But every year, Paul, if there’s a band on that ballot that I’ve been waiting for, I tell the audience immediately, “While there’s a couple here that are non-negotiable that I’m checking off right away.” And needless to say, Bad Company was one of those this year, although there was no pushback at all from the audience. So everybody was very excited about it. How did you feel when you first got the news about it? And did somebody call you in advance of it coming out on American Idol?”
Paul Rodgers: “Well, yes they did. And actually, I called Mick Ralphs, you know, because I said to him, ‘Do you remember all those years ago when I called you up? And I said to you two words, I said, Bad Company, and you dropped the phone?’ And he said, ‘Yes, that’s it. That’s what we gotta call the band.’ And I said, ‘No, it’s actually a song, you know, I’m just working on.’ And he said, ‘No, no, we’ve gotta call the band Bad Company. That’s it.’ You know, and he was just, you know, elated. It was great.”
Eddie Trunk: “So the song, ‘Bad Company’, predated it being the name of the band?”
Paul Rodgers: “Yes it did actually. Yeah. Strangely enough.”
Paul Rodgers on who from Bad Company will be at RRHOF:
Paul Rodgers: “Well, Mick, I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and I told him about the, you know, as I mentioned earlier, I told him about the induction and I said, ‘Do you remember when we decided on Bad Company being the name?’ And I said, ‘Well, we’ve been inducted like 50 years later, here we are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Hall of Fame.’ And he said, ‘Wow, I’m elated.’ So that’s really nice. Yeah. So November the eighth in LA. He is not gonna be there. I’m glad it’s happening now while Mick can enjoy it too.”
Eddie Trunk: “But as of now, it doesn’t look like Mick will come over for it?”
Paul Rodgers: “As of now, no.”
Eddie Trunk: “So, do you envision, and I don’t know how far down the line you are with this, but as far as the actual induction, do you envision putting maybe an all star band that comes together and you and Simon go up there and sing? Have you formed, have you started a hash away as how that’s gonna work?”
Paul Rodgers: “Well, we’re talking about it, shall we say that? I can’t say too much.”
Eddie Trunk: “Right. And what about Boz? How will Boz be honored at this? Does he have family or something that might be able to attend?”
Paul Rodgers: “Yeah, Cathy is coming. I’m told that Cathy is, a good lady. She is coming. So yeah, he’ll be honored. I mean, he was a great bass player, wasn’t he?”
Eddie Trunk: “And has there been dialogue as to who will do the induction? Do you know already or is that still being discussed?”
Paul Rodgers: “I actually don’t know. There could be so many. There’s so many options to ask and I don’t want to offend anyone by, you know, by not asking them or whatever, you know, we’ll see. Again, you know, it’s all a case of, we’ll see. It’ll be a surprise.”
Paul Rodgers on making Bad Company’s first album:
Paul Rodgers: “Mick and I were writing frantically in the country there. And so this was an opportunity to put it all together, you know? I mean, I wrote by the ‘Bad Company’ with Kirke, with Simon. He helped me throw a few lines in and I wrote ‘Seagull’. I came back from the beach. It was just an amalgamation of, it wasn’t really planned. It was just everything we had and it just worked. Fortunately, there was magic in the air. It really was.”
Eddie Trunk: “And you know, one of the things that’s so amazing to me about really the whole Bad Company catalog is just the production sonically, It still sounds so good. It holds up so well, at least I think. And I’m curious, I mean, you guys basically self-produced those records for the most part. I mean, I know you had major, you know, people from Zeppelin history, like Eddie Kramer, Ron Nevison, and people like that involved. But you really, the band really called the shots as far as production on the records, right?”
Paul Rodgers: “Yeah, very much so. Yeah. But Ron Nevison was very good. I mean, the idea of, it was putting microphones out in the field one day with the headphones and everything. I said, ‘What are you doing?’ He said, ‘Well, we’re gonna do the vocal for ‘Bad Company’ out in the field here because it’s a full moon tonight. Want to get the atmosphere.’ And so we did that and trumping across these, you know, fields in the middle of the night and singing the song basically with headphones on and the microphone there. It was really, really atmospheric. It was very beautiful. You know, you can hear a cold wind blowing at the very end of it because the mic picked it up, I think to some extent.”
To be eligible for nomination, artists have to be at least 25 years out from the release of their first commercial recording.
“Each of these inductees created their own sound and attitude that had a profound impact on culture and helped to change the course of Rock & Roll forever,” said John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “Their music gave a voice to generations and influenced countless artists that followed in their footsteps.”
The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Inductees are:
Performer Category: Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden, The White Stripes.
Musical Influence Award: Salt-N-Pepa, Warren Zevon.
Musical Excellence Award: Thom Bell, Nicky Hopkins, Carol Kaye
Ahmet Ertegun Award: Lenny Waronker.
The Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Billy Idol, Mana, Joy Division / New Order, Oasis and Phish were all nominated but failed to make the cut.
The Induction Ceremony will be held on November 8, 2025, and will air live on Disney+ from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California. ABC and Hulu will have a special airings following the live event.
Follow BraveWords on social media… Facebook page, Facebook Group, X/Twitter, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky and YouTube.
Visit https://linktr.ee/bravewords
The post PAUL RODGERS On BAD COMPANY’s Upcoming Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction – “I Was Very Easy About It, Now That It’s Here, It’s Quite Exciting”; Audio appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
Continue reading...