Bad English

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).

The group embarked on eleven months of touring with the release of their debut eponymous album in June 1989. Their first single “Forget Me Not” almost reached the US top 40 that August. “When I See You Smile” was the band’s second single and it topped the US pop chart that November, reached #4 in Australia, and was a minor UK hit. Bad English was certified Gold in late 1989 and platinum four months later.

“Price Of Love” reached #5 in the US in early 1990 and was also a minor hit in Australia & the UK. They opened for Whitesnake in the spring of 1990 as “Heaven Is A 4 Letter Word” stalled at #66. In May, Bad English participated in a Memorial Day festival a half hour outside of Milwaukee dubbed The World Series Of Rock with Great White, Skid Row and Whitesnake. That August, “Posession” reached #21 in the US, giving the band a total of five crossover pop hits within a twelve month period.

The record company wanted more hit songs for Bad English’s second album, but there are conflicting stories about how the band members approached writing for it. Some sources claim the whole band wanted to ‘forget about commercial considerations’, but other sources state some members wanted to focus on hard-edged rock while others took ‘a somewhat softer approach’.

Outside songwriters contributed again including Spiro and Warren, plus Russ Ballard and Jesse Harms. However, creative differences continued to mount to the point that band had actually split up before the album Backlash was released. Its first single “Straight To Your Heart” almost made the top 40 in the US and The Netherlands. Three more singles were released under the name ‘Bad English featuring John Waite’, but none charted in the US (one was a top 30 hit in The Netherlands & Belgium).

Waite returned to a less successful solo career, and participated in the eighth incarnation of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band. Schon and Castronovo briefly joined Hardline, then Schon returned to Journey when the group came off hiatus in the mid-90s. Castronovo also joined Journey a few years later. Phillips worked with Coverdale/Page and Eddie Money before joining Styx in the 2000s.