They were sponsored by the Beatles’ Apple label and were the soundtrack for the finale of the Breaking Bad series.
Five decades ago, the Welsh band Badfinger released their second album No Dice. It included what would become an iconic song, Without You. In a way, it would also become their curse, of which the group suffered during its unfortunate career.
Without You was hidden on that Badfinger album, and in fact, it was never a single. After a drunken night, Harry Nilsson discovered it, thinking at first that it was a Beatles song. He decided to cover himself for his album Nilsson Schmilsson (1971). The single was number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for four weeks, from February 13 to March 11, 1972.
The history of the pioneering formation of power pop is today known as one of the most tragic in the history of rock.
From 1968 to 1973, Badfinger – in his original version Pete Ham, Mike Gibbins, Tom Evans, and Joey Molland – recorded five albums for the Beatles’ Apple label and toured extensively before being engulfed in chaos after the label’s disbandment.
After the bankruptcy in 1973, the quartet struggled with a series of legal, administrative, and financial problems, leading to their leader taking his own life in 1975.
Warner Bros terminated its contract with Badfinger and the band, which had been dubbed – like poisoned candy – as the “new Beatles” disbanded. Around that time, like a demonic band, Apple also removed all Badfinger albums from its catalog.
For the next three years, the surviving members struggled to rebuild their personal and professional lives in a context of lawsuits, and whose debts prevented songwriters’ royalty payments for years.
Have a glance at The Tragic History Of Badfinger: