Bad English

Bad English

23 songs 2 albums

Bad English was a short-lived hard rock supergroup best known for their chart-topping rock ballad “When I See You Smile”. The band came up with their name while shooting pool between studio takes. The term means ‘putting the wrong spin on a cue ball’.

After releasing four successful albums on his own, ex-Babys frontman John Waite felt the urge to front a band again. When his manager suggested teaming up with a previous bandmate, he reconnected with ex-Babys Jonathan Cain (while Cain’s band Journey was on hiatus) backstage at a Heart concert. Cain had already been in touch with another ex-Babys member Ricky Phillips about ‘doing a band with the rock attitude of The Babys again’. The three began writing songs together.

Neil Schon (also of the then-inactive band Journey) occasionally stopped by the studio and offered to play guitar to help the band out. However, he ended up officially joining the project and recruiting Wild Dogs drummer Deen Castronovo. After accumulating seven songs, a conference call between the band, producer Ritchie Zito and their A&R man led to adding songs written by outside songwriters like Martin Page, Mark Spiro and Dianne Warren – the latter contributing the ballad “When I See You Smile” (a song previously offered to Alias frontman Freddie Curci).