Bad Blood

Hey Zoo Freaks, the Zoo Crew is locked in on a hard-driving cut from the Swedish rockers Europe right now, "Bad Blood" off the 1991 album Prisoners In Paradise. This track hits with a gritty LA edge that still stands up after all these years, the kind of riff that makes you crank the volume and lean back. It comes from an album that marked the end of an era for the band, the last one with guitarist Kee Marcello before they took a long break, and it shows the guys pushing their sound while still delivering those classic hooks that defined their rise. Prisoners In Paradise arrived at a tough moment for hard rock, right as grunge was taking over the airwaves, yet the record holds its own with polished production and songs that mix big melodies with a tougher attitude. Produced by Beau Hill after Bob Rock stepped away to work on Metallica, the sessions took place at Enterprise Studios in Burbank, and the band had to scrap an earlier version of the album called Seventh Sign because the label wanted more material. That extra writing time gave us gems like this one.

Kee Marcello has shared some great stories about how "Bad Blood" came together so fast. He called it a real LA riff that took just ten minutes to write while the band was living in apartments around Los Angeles, places like North Fuller Avenue and Barham Boulevard. Kee had the riff, played it for Joey Tempest, and Joey started singing a melody before suggesting they try the verse in B. They ran through it once more and the verse locked in. Writing that one went really fast, which is no surprise given how tight the band was after years of touring. The intro is another story, though. It opens with sampled sounds that sound like moaning men, something Kee was never a fan of and wasn't even there for when it got recorded. He figured they picked up the sampling idea after touring with Def Leppard, who used samples all over the place on their Hysteria shows. It gives the track a weird, almost experimental start before the riff kicks in and takes over. Kee has said he fought to keep the song on the album because it fit the harder direction they were exploring, even as some other tracks got left behind. The song even got an early road test under a different name. In September 1989 the band played a secret club gig at the Whiskey a Go Go in West Hollywood as the Le Baron Boys, a name they took from the Chrysler cars Chrysler provided while they were working on material in California. "Bad Blood" made the setlist that night, giving the new songs a chance to land with a smaller crowd before the full album arrived.

Those LA sessions and the secret show fit the bigger picture of where Europe was headed at the time. After the massive success of The Final Countdown and Out of This World, the band had moved to America and was chasing a sound that could hold up in the bigger arenas while still feeling raw. Prisoners In Paradise features guest background vocals from Nate and Paul Winger on several tracks, including this one, and the whole record was mixed with that big, radio-ready polish. Fans who dig the deeper cuts often point to "Bad Blood" as one that still rocks hard in a live setting, even if it never became a single like the title track or "I'll Cry for You." The lyrics deal with that dangerous attraction, the kind of relationship that pulls you in even when you know it is trouble, and Joey's delivery sells the tension. It is the sort of song that reminds you how good Europe could be when they leaned into the guitar-driven side of their sound, something Kee always pushed for. Looking back, the album stands as a bridge between the glam-metal peak of the late eighties and the more stripped-down approach the band would take after their reunion years later.

Europe got their start the old-school way, as a bunch of teenagers from the Stockholm suburb of Upplands Väsby who just wanted to play loud rock. Joey Tempest, whose real name is Rolf Magnus Joakim Larsson, formed the band Force in 1979 with guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson, and drummer Tony Reno. Joey took his stage name from Shakespeare's The Tempest and the Kansas song "Sparks of the Tempest." They were huge fans of British bands like Thin Lizzy, UFO, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple, and their early rehearsals were mostly covers while they learned their instruments. Joey has said he started writing original songs because nobody else had ideas ready, so he brought his own into the room. Record companies turned them down at first, saying the guitars were too loud and the hair was too long. Joey's girlfriend entered them in the 1982 Rock-SM contest, the Swedish Rock Championships, without telling the band at first. They competed against thousands of other groups and won, taking home a record deal with Hot Records. Before the finals they changed the name to Europe, inspired by Deep Purple's live album Made in Europe. Joey won the award for best lead singer and John Norum for best guitarist. That win launched their self-titled debut in 1983, followed by Wings of Tomorrow the next year, and then the worldwide breakthrough with The Final Countdown in 1986. John Levén took over on bass early on, Mic Michaeli joined on keyboards, and Ian Haugland stepped in on drums, locking in the lineup that still tours and records. Kee Marcello came aboard in 1986 after John Norum left, right as the band was exploding internationally, and he stayed through the Prisoners In Paradise years. The early days of playing covers and scraping for gigs in Sweden shaped the hunger that carried them to arenas around the world.

You can dig deeper into the full story and keep up with what the band is doing on their official site at europetheband.com. Catch the latest posts and updates on the official Facebook page at facebook.com/europetheband, the Instagram account at instagram.com/officialeuropetheband, and the X account at x.com/europetheband. Fans looking for more exclusive content, early ticket access, and behind-the-scenes stuff can join the official Europe Force community at europe.os.fan. There is also a solid French-language fan site that covers discography, translations, and band history at europetheband.fr. That is the kind of deep-cut energy we love spinning here at THE ZOO, keeping the classic rock spirit alive for all the Zoo Freaks who know a great riff when they hear one. Keep those requests coming and we will keep the records turning.