Badfinger

The sound of Badfinger rests on melodies that feel like intimate anthems: clean guitars intertwined with close-knit vocals, as if each note was meant to be sung in a garage or a small stage. They weren’t chasing the shine of grand spectacles, but rather a hook-laden pop-rock, direct and eager to air on the radio without losing its acoustic essence. That blend of tenderness and energy set them apart from the start, even before they changed their name. When they were still The Iveys, they already covered songs by The Beatles and British soul, but it was after signing with Apple Records that they found their identity: tracks like “Come and Get It”, written by Paul McCartney for a film, gave them their first stroke of luck. The song has that riff that seems simple yet sticks in the memory, and the production sounds like a borrowed studio, unpretentious, as if they had recorded it in one take.

The moment the band went from a promising act to an international phenomenon arrived with “No Matter What”. The song features a chorus that repeats like a heartbeat, with vocal harmonies reminiscent of The Beatles but with a more urgent air. It was their first major hit they wrote themselves, without a Beatle’s help, and it came just as the band began to realize their music could cross borders. But that same year, “Without You” —a ballad written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans— became a song everyone wanted to cover. Harry Nilsson’s version took it to number one in the United States, and years later, Mariah Carey revived it for a new generation. By then, Badfinger had become synonymous with songs that could sound just as well in a bar as in a stadium.