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George Thorogood & The Destroyers
American blues rock vocalist/guitarist (born 1950)
George Lawrence Thorogood is an American musician, singer and songwriter. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s US rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the Bone" and "I Drink Alone".
He has also helped to popularize older songs by American icons, such as "Move It on Over", "Who Do You Love?", and "House Rent Blues/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer".
Thorogood began his career as a solo acoustic performer in the style of Robert Johnson and Elmore James in 1970, after being inspired by a John P. Hammond concert. He traveled to San Francisco, California and performed on the streets before a tape of one of his sets got into the hands of Bonnie Raitt's manager. He convinced Thorogood to come back to the East Coast. There he started playing with blues artists Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Eventually, Robert Lockwood advised Thorogood to get an electric guitar, and in 1973, he formed a band, "the Delaware Destroyers", with high school friend and drummer Jeff Simon. The band's name comes from a piano player who played for Howlin' Wolf, and was only ever credited as "Destruction'". With...
1982 single by George Thorogood and the Destroyers
"Bad to the Bone" is a song by American blues rock band George Thorogood and the Destroyers, released as a single in 1982 from the album of the same name by EMI America Records. It was written by George Thorogood.
Writing and composition
George Thorogood wrote "Bad to the Bone" sometime during their 50/50 tour. It took "a few months" for Thorogood to write the song. The title of the song came from US slang of the era, according to Thorogood:Our word in the neighbourhood was ‘bad’. “It was an alternative word, like ‘hip’ or ‘groovy’. And there was this guy in the neighbourhood who would always say: ‘Bad to death’. So I thought, hmmm… ‘Bad to the bone’. It was so common to say that word, so I knew that eventually someone was going to write this song, and it might as well be me.The stuttering in the chorus was inspired by Roger Daltrey in "My Generation" and Bachman Turner Overdrive with "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet."
Recording
Recording of the song took place in the Dimension Sound Studios in Jamaica Plains, Boston in April 1982. Rolling Stones keyboardist Ian Stewart helped record, and played piano on the song.
Release
"Bad to the Bone" was first released in 1982 as the title track to their fifth studio album, before being released as a single on September 17. The song peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. Although the single was not widely popular upon its initial release, its music video made recurrent appearances on MTV, which launched a year before. The song was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on April 18, 2025.
Music video
The video intercuts a live performance by Thorogood and his band with footage of him entering a pool hall and challenging Bo Diddley to a game. Word of the challenge quickly spreads throughout the neighborhood, and a spectator brings in pool player Willie Mosconi from an adjoining boxing gym where he is watching a fight. Mosconi wagers a large sum of money on Diddley, and the game lasts several hours, with Thorogood gaining the advantage.
