''Bad English'' is the debut studio album by British/American

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam r ...

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

Bad English Bad English was an American/British glam metal supergroup formed in 1987. It reunited Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain with singer John Waite and bassist Ricky Phillips, his former bandmates in the Babys, along with Journey guitarist Neal Schon ...

. It was released in on June 26, 1989. The album was a massive success, especially because of the No. 1 single " When I See You Smile". That single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America while the album was certified platinum. Aside from that song, the album had two other top 40 hits, "Price of Love" and "Possession", which peaked at No. 5 and No. 21, respectively.

Critical reception

The album received generally positive reviews. ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' reviewer David Spodek called it "an LP full of enough hard driving rock and roll and power chords to please any AOR MD" and named "Forget Me Not" as the best cut. ''

Rock Hard "Rock Hard" is a single by the Beastie Boys, released by Def Jam Records on 12" in 1984. The track contains samples from the AC/DC song "Back in Black", which was used without obtaining legal permission, causing the record to be withdraw ...

'' gave an extremely positive review, and called it the "best AOR album of the past six months". AllMusic's Dan Heilman gave the album four stars, saying, " id some tailor-made power ballads lurks some decent hard rock." LouderSound writer Dave Everley gave the album four stars, explaining the rating with "Bad English marked the end of an era, but what a last hurrah it was". Nonetheless, in 2016, "When I See You Smile" was ranked by ''

Louder Sound ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 60, ...

'' as the 10th worst power ballad ever written. ''

Musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

'' reviewer

J. D. Considine J. D. Considine (born 1957) is a music critic who has been writing about music professionally since 1977. Background J. D. Considine's work has been published in numerous newspapers and music magazines, and he has contributed to several books. ...

wrote simply: "Grammar is the least of their problems."

In popular culture

"Best of What I Got" is featured during the credits to the 1989 film ''

Tango & Cash ''Tango & Cash'' is a 1989 American buddy cop action comedy film starring Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Jack Palance and Teri Hatcher. Stallone and Russell star as Raymond Tango and Gabriel Cash respectively, two rival LAPD narcotics detect ...

''.

Track listing

Charts

Album

Singles

(* "Best of What I Got" was released only to U.S. rock radio)

Certifications

Personnel

Bad English *

John Waite John Charles Waite (born 4 July 1952) is an English musician. As a solo artist, he has released ten studio albums and is best known for the 1984 hit single " Missing You", which reached No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the top ten on ...

– lead vocals *

Jonathan Cain Jonathan Leonard Friga (born February 26, 1950), known professionally as Jonathan Cain, is an American musician and songwriter best known as the keyboardist for Journey. He has also worked with the Babys and Bad English. Cain was inducted into ...

– keyboards, rhythm guitar, backing vocals *

Neal Schon Neal (Neil) is a given masculine name and surname of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "hono ...

– lead guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals *

Ricky Phillips Ricky Lynn Phillips (born October 7, 1951) is an American bass guitarist and a member of the rock band Styx since 2003, splitting duties with longtime bassist Chuck Panozzo. He has also played in Nasty Habit, as a member of The Babys and Bad En ...

– bass, backing vocals *

Deen Castronovo Deen J. Castronovo (born August 17, 1964) is an American drummer and singer, best known for being a member of classic rock band Journey and hard rock acts Bad English and Hardline. He currently plays drums and shares lead vocals for the bands Jo ...

– drums, percussion, backing vocals Production *

Richie Zito Richie Zito (born August 21, 1952) is an American songwriter, composer and record producer from Los Angeles. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Zito has experienced success as a prolific session musician, being featured on a wide array of ...

– producer * Phil Kaffel – engineer, mixing (1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 13) * Mike Fraser – mixing (1-6, 8, 9, 11, 12) * Daren Chadwick – second engineer * Leon Johnson – second engineer * Jeff Poe – second engineer * Mike Tacci – second engineer * Bob Vogt – second engineer * Gary Wagner – second engineer * Randy Wine – second engineer * Toby Wright – second engineer *

George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He at ...

– mastering at Sterling Sound (New York, NY) * Richard Ivers – production coordinator * Katy Parks – production coordinator * Hugh Syme – art direction, design * Chris Cuffaro – cover photography * HK Management and Trudy Green Management – management

References

{{Authority control 1989 debut albums Bad English albums Epic Records albums Albums produced by Richie Zito Albums recorded at A&M Studios