Good and b-b-b-b-bad

George Thorogood is scheduled to perform May 1 at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. KANE HUBBARD / COURTESY PHOTO

You know the song.

After wreaking havoc and appropriating a biker’s leather duds at a roadside bar in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” Arnold Schwarzenegger, as the titular cyborg, mounts a motorcycle, swipes a shotgun and sunglasses from another biker who’s threatening him, and roars off into the night — all to the strains of “Bad to the Bone.”

When that song first hit the airwaves in 1982, it caused nothing but a ripple. But since it has been used multiple times on TV, in more than two dozen movies, and even covered by Alvin and the Chipmunks, its pulsating opening strains have made it one of the most instantly recognizable rock songs in history.

And it has made George Thorogood and the Destroyers rock ’n’ roll icons.

We’re talking a group that has cut 20 albums — two of which have been certified Platinum and six certified Gold — totaling 15 million in record sales worldwide.

On May 1, Thorogood and his Destroyers will bring their high-energy blues/rock fusion vibe to the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota as part of their “Bad All Over the World: 50 Years of Rock” Tour.

DAVID DOBSON Courtesy Photo

In advance of his tour dates in Southwest Florida, Thorogood agreed to a phone interview, during which he spoke about his early career, his unique style, and how and when he realized he was “bad.” Get ready to rock.

From the street to the stage

“Florida’s a unique state within itself,” Thorogood said. “It’s probably the ultimate party state of the entire South.”

It’s certainly worlds apart from the musician, singer, and songwriter’s home state of Delaware (his band was initially known as the Delaware Destroyers), where he was born in 1950.

The group played their first show at the University of Delaware’s Lane Hall on the evening of Dec. 1, 1973, knocking out some covers of songs they love, such as “No Particular Place To Go” and “Madison Blues.”

A week before that initial performance, Thorogood hadn’t even owned an electric guitar, having been traveling around the country as an acoustic street musician.

But the band had the joint rockin’—and, from that moment on, Thorogood’s choice to forge a career as a rock ’n’ roller was, essentially, not a choice.

“I mean, I’m not qualified to do anything else,” he said. “As long as I can remember, I never really had anything on my mind except performing and music — and, as long as I can remember, for one thing, I wasn’t adapted to anything else. … My parents knew that at an early age, and so did I. So, yeah, it was a very easy decision to make, at a very early age.”

Thorogood explained that, through the years, he’s been motivated mostly by the audience. But he’s also been told things — sometimes endearing, sometimes unexpected — that have added kerosene to his fire.

“I remember one time a guy coming out of a club, and he said, ‘There’s probably 50 guitar players much better than you. But you’re not a great guitar player — you’re a bad guitar player.’ And he was saying it in a technical term, which I had never heard before.

“I kind of tried to get him to explain it to me, and he said, ‘No, I’m telling you: That’s the style of the guitar you play, the kind of actor that Lee Marvin is.’ “And I said, ‘Oh, I get it.’

“And I had not planned it that way; it just evolved that way over the years. And if that’s my style, so be it.

“It’s like the color of your eyes, or how tall you are, or how much you weigh… The guy was much older than me, too, and I said, ‘OK, if that’s what I am, then that’s what I am.’ And, well, they’re payin’ me for it, so let the chips fall where they may.”

He does, however, admit that his style is kind of bizarre.

Stepping Stones

“I don’t think anyone can play like me, because only me can play like me,” Thorogood said.

The most effective motivation he received during his career was from the people who told him to never stop going.

He also got some tongue-in-cheek advice from a rock superstar, and it always makes him giggle, he said.

“I worked with a lot of people, you know. Mick Jagger gave me some advice that was pretty good. His advice was, ‘You gotta wear the right pants.’”

In fact, it was the Rolling Stones who gave Thorogood mainstream exposure when they chose him as a support act during the Stones’ world tour in 1981.

Although, Thorogood said, he’s been able to work with incredible people throughout his career, the Rolling Stones treated him and his band well and really took them under their wing.

“Billy Gibbons treated me like a brother,” Thorogood said. “And the list of people I was fortunate to work with would go on and on, but that would just take all day and all night.”

On the current tour, Thorogood’s goal is to stay healthy and practice safety first in the hope that nobody gets hurt. The band will go everywhere they get sent to, he said, even if it really is everywhere. But as they rack up the bucks from their dozens of tours scheduled across the United States, not all the money is going into their pockets.

Not so bad

According to the George Thorogood and the Destroyers website, the band also has a longstanding commitment to medical science and social justice, that includes a partnership with The Leukemia Lymphoma Society as well as an ongoing partnership with Musically Fed to feed veterans, the homeless and the food insecure nationwide.

A portion of proceeds from the “Bad All Over the World: 50 Years of Rock” Tour will also benefit The Marla Thorogood Memorial Fund for Ovarian Cancer Research, combined with Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in memory of Thorogood’s late wife, who passed away in 2019.

It’s a heartfelt tribute from someone whose most popular song is about being bad to the bone.

In a demonstration of professional industry generosity, Thorogood also has a few words of wisdom to give young performers in the world.

“I would say always play for fun,” he advised. “The more you enjoy yourself, the more you’re going to play, and the more you play, the better you’re going to get at it.”

He obviously knows where he speaks after being able to celebrate a half-century in the business.

“My favorite part of a show is probably walking on the stage in the very beginning, the second I walk on the stage,” Thorogood said. “And just the fact that I’m doing it is my favorite part. I don’t consider myself anything but a performer, and just a performer first.”

And he’s a b-b-b-b-bad one at that.

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