George Thorogood and the Destroyers

George Thorogood is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s USA rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the Bone" and "I Drink Alone".

On the evening of December 1st, 1973 at The University of Delaware’s Lane Hall, a guitarist, a drummer, and their rhythm guitarist set up on the small bandstand. Though the three-piece band had barely rehearsed, guitarist George Thorogood and drummer Jeff Simon had been bashing out covers of songs they loved – including ‘No Particular Place To Go’, ‘Madison Blues’ and ‘One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer’ – in suburban Wilmington basements since they were teens. The Lane Hall audience was wary at first. “Then it was like somebody flipped a switch,” Simon recalls. “Everybody hit the dance floor all at once.”

“We had the place rockin’,” Thorogood says. “From that very first show, Jeff and I knew we were onto something.” Five decades, 15 million albums and more than 8,000 performances later, few bands can still rock the house like George Thorogood & Destroyers. And for Thorogood, Simon, and long-time Destroyers Bill Blough, Jim Suhler and Buddy Leach, their Bad All Over The World – 50 Years of Rock Tour will be a celebration like no other.

But when asked to pick a career highlight, maybe one night over the past half century that changed everything for George Thorogood & The Destroyers, he shakes his head, flashes a huge grin and heads off to soundcheck. “My highlight is when I step on that bandstand,” Thorogood says. “The promoters invited us, the fans came to hear us, and we’re ready to rock. Every night I play for people can be the biggest night of my life.”