Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood & the Destroyers

It’s not often that a no-frills, traditionally-minded blues band winds up with a hit single. By the time they recorded “Bad to the Bone” in 1982, George Thorogood & the Destroyers had racked up five years as a hard-charging roadhouse band; they once played 50 states in as many nights.

Songwriting wasn’t even that big an issue; they mostly played blues standards and the first five albums have barely a half-dozen original songs between them. Taking off on a classic blues riff, “Bad to the Bone” was the title track of the band’s major-label debut; part of a run of hits that included songs by John Lee Hooker (“One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer”) and Bo Diddley (“Who Do You Love”).

Thorogood has since admitted that he wrote “Bad to the Bone” to cover up his shame at growing up a quiet, well-behaved teenager.

Though the band was formed in Delaware, George Thorogood & the Destroyers’ first two albums were recorded in a still-operating rehearsal studio in Jamaica Plain, MA.

As you’d expect from a band like this, “Bad to the Bone” is above all a guitar song. On expert there is a tough four-chord run (green-yellow, green-red, green-yellow, yelllow-blue-orange) that you’ll have to get a feel for.

The drum part is simple but forceful, just like in real life.

And on vocals, you’ll mainly have to worry about getting all the “ba-ba-ba” parts in the right places.

Still out there playing. And having caught them lately, we can vouch that a Thorogood show is one of the places you’ll see the most bikers and truckers off the road.

"Bad to the Bone" as performed by George Thorogood courtesy of EMI Film & TV Music Written by George Thorogood published by Del Sound Music BMI © 1981