| Bad to the Bone | |
| Cover: | BadtotheBonesingle.jpg |
| Caption: | US single picture sleeve |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | George Thorogood and the Destroyers |
| Album: | Bad to the Bone |
| B-Side: | No Particular Place to Go |
| Released: | September 17, 1982 |
| Recorded: | 1982 |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 4:52 3:36 (single edit) |
| Label: | EMI America |
| Producer: | The Delaware Destroyers |
| Prev Title: | Nobody but Me |
| Prev Year: | 1982 |
| Next Title: | Rock and Roll Christmas |
| Next Year: | 1983 |
"Bad to the Bone" is a song by American blues rock band George Thorogood and the Destroyers, released in 1982 on the album of the same name by EMI America Records. The song adapts the hook and lyrics of Muddy Waters' 1955 song "Mannish Boy".[1] While "Bad to the Bone" was not widely popular upon its initial release, its music video made recurrent appearances on MTV, created a year before. Licensing for films, television, and commercials has since made the song more popular. Author Jim Beviglia opined that despite the song not landing on the Hot 100 chart, it "outstrips all other 80s songs in terms of the way it has essentially become cultural shorthand".[2]
The video intercuts a live performance by Thorogood and his band with footage of him entering a pool hall and challenging Bo Diddley to a game. Word of the challenge quickly spreads throughout the neighborhood, and a spectator brings pool player Willie Mosconi from an adjoining boxing gym where he is watching a fight. Mosconi wagers a large sum of money on Diddley, and the game lasts several hours, with Thorogood gaining the advantage.
As the video ends, Thorogood attempts to sink the 8-ball but leaves it sitting at the edge of a pocket. He grins and flicks ashes onto the floor from a cigar he has been smoking throughout the game, causing just enough of a disturbance to sink the ball, and the children gathered outside the pool hall celebrate his victory.
Chicago area musician James Pobiega, who goes by the stage name "Little Howlin' Wolf", has claimed that he wrote "Bad to the Bone" and that Thorogood stole it from him.[3] The song is influenced by Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy".[4] Thorogood initially offered the song to Waters, who rejected it outright.[5]