The band falls apart and in October ´91 BAD ENGLISH is history, even though the one or other statement John´s leaves a slight feeling of hope. But reading between the lines the thought creeps in inevitably that he has lost all confidence already...
Jonathan Cain and Neil Schon return to Journey, Deen Castronovo follows in 1998. Ricky Phillips works on different projects and does sessions with highly qualified musicians. In 1995 he releases his album Frederiksen / Phillips, on which he affords the lead vocals for the song „Queen Bee“. Beside that he ogles with the film industry and in summer 1997 he starred in the 25 minute short film H.T´s Song, which has been made for a film festival in Los Angeles. Ricky plays the part of the eponymous songwriter and in fact that he wrote the title song the producer insists him to sing it himself because the whole movie leads up to this song - „H.T´s Song“

„Too many cooks“, deplores Ricky later on the split up of BAD ENGLISH. „Nobody was willing to bend anymore. Everybody forgot the reason why we were here, what the beauty of being in a band was all about. At some point it has to be democratic, or all the parties have to agree that one person is the dictator. It can't be both. When you've got that much potential in one band, you have to follow the middle course. Everyone. That´s how it´s got to be.

Photo Brian Aris

With our first record we glowed with enthusiasm and we did a great job. But after a while the magic disappeared. Everyone was fighting for their own ideas. The opinions differed in the same way as they harmonized at first with each other.“

„And the record company started to lose interest in putting anything behind it...“, Ricky goes on. „... which is a shame, because there are some really classy pieces of music on 'Backlash'. You can feel that tension.“

„Maybe we could have change something“, John supposes later on. „We had enough attention and we could have done a lot more to change the mainstream of American music. We had the balls to do so. Or just go along like everybody else is going. Which is something I couldn´t and just wouldn´t do.“

„Backlash“ manages it to #72 and keeps it for many weeks. „Straight To Your Heart“ (cover photo below) and
„Time Stood Still“ are pretty successful as well.

Single "Straight To Your Heart"Single "Time Stood Still"

Second of them provides a commercial for Heineken beer in Holland.

Till this day John Waite mentions repeatedly that he would have loved to release a live album with BAD ENGLISH, but it turns out that not a single show ever has been recorded.

After the final break of BAD ENGLISH the rumour goes about a possible collaboration between John and
Ex-Whitesnake guitarist Adrian Vandenberg (Photo below). John, however, keeps cool. „If he does a solo record then I will sing some songs on it. Should I do a record then he will play on that. Should fail both those things, who knows? Maybe we put a band together then and do an album.“
Indeed, the both of them are invited to the Dutch show „Countdown TV“ on January 20, 1992. But the project is going to be called back in the last minute and each further co-operation with Adrian Vandenberg comes to nothing.


Photo Courtesy of www.whitesnake.com

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