Bad Boys (Inner Circle song)

"Bad Boys"

Bad Boys (Swedish edition)

1990 Swedish release
Single by Inner Circle
from the album One Way and Bad Boys
B-side "Sweat (A La La La La Long)" (1992)
Released 4 May 1993
Format LP, 45
Recorded 1986–1987
Genre Reggae
Length 3:52
Label Island
Writer(s) Ian Lewis
Certification Gold (RIAA)[1]
Music sample
Bad Boys

"Bad Boys" is a 1987 song by the Jamaican reggae band Inner Circle, which obtained high popularity in the United States after its re-release in 1993, peaking at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 7 on the Top 40 Mainstream.[2] It is well known as the opening theme to the U.S. TV show Cops.

History

The song was originally released in 1987 on the album One Way and obtained minor airplay and poor sales. However, in 1992, it was also included on "Bad Boys" album, and the song was released as a single in 1993, after the unexpected success of their previous international hit single "Sweat (A La La La La Long)". Bad Boys reached number 52 in the United Kingdom[3] and number 8 in the United States,[2] going gold along the way. The song was also released as B-side on Inner Circle's 1992 single "Sweat (A La La La La Long)".[4] The song was also released as a single in mid-1991 in Norway, it peaked at number one for three weeks.

This song makes references to "Sheriff John Brown", who was the sheriff killed in Bob Marley's song "I Shot the Sheriff".

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year Chart Peak
position
1991 Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[5] 1
Norway (VG-lista)[6] 1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[7] 2
1993 Australia (ARIA)[8] 25
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[9] 21
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[10] 19
Germany (Media Control Charts)[11] 35
Ireland (IRMA)[12] 26
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[13] 5
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[3] 52
US Billboard Hot 100[2] 8
US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales[2] 15
US Billboard Hot R&B Singles[2] 58
US Billboard Rhythmic Top 40[2][2] 27
US Billboard Top 40 Mainstream[2] 7
2006 US Billboard Hot Ringtones[2] 10
2007 US Billboard Hot Ringtones[2] 20

Year-end charts

Chart (1993) Position
US Billboard Hot 100[14] 69

In popular culture

  • "Bad Boys" was selected as the theme song to Cops because a field producer for the show happened to be a fan of Inner Circle.[15]
  • The song, which was very popular during the 1990s, was also used in the Will Smith and Martin Lawrence action/comedy film Bad Boys[16] and the sequel Bad Boys II (some of the lyrics are sung by Smith and Lawrence in both films).[17]
  • An instrumental version of the song plays in the "In Drag Net" bonus level in Gex: Enter the Gecko.
  • This song is sampled in WWE superstar Rey Mysterio's entrance song "Booyaka 619" by P.O.D.
  • In the episode, "Diamonds Are for Roger" of the Nickelodeon sitcom, Kenan & Kel, Kel believes that Kenan's father, Roger is in fact the "Diamond Bandit", after looking at a police sketch of the aforementioned criminal on a television screen. This causes Kel to sing a parody of "Bad Boys" called "Bad Dad".
  • Wrigley's uses their version of the song for their advertising of Extra chewing gum, changing the line "What you gonna do" to "What you gonna chew".
  • In the Full House episode Wrong-Way Tanner, Becky and the boys were sing and dancing to the song using Danny's kitchen supplies then Jesse joins in.
  • On the July 28th edition of WWE Raw, Chris Jericho had the audience start singing the song to mock Stephanie McMahon for her recent storyline arrest.
  • This song is parodied in The Simpsons season four episode "Homer's Triple Bypass" as "Bad Cops," and serves as a theme song for Chief Wiggum, Eddie and Lou throughout the episode.

References

  1. ↑ "RIAA – Gold & Platinum Searchable Database – Bad Boys". RIAA. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 "Inner Circle – Awards". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Inner Circle: Artist Chart History" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  4. ↑ "cdBBQ: Inner Circle". Cdbbq.com. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  5. ↑ (Finnish) Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  6. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Inner Circle – Bad Boys". VG-lista. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  7. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Inner Circle – Bad Boys". Singles Top 60. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  8. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – Inner Circle – Bad Boys". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  9. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Inner Circle – Bad Boys" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  10. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0993." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  11. ↑ "Officialcharts.de – Inner Circle – Bad Boys". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  12. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Inner Circle". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  13. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Inner Circle – Bad Boys". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  14. ↑ "Top 100 Hits for 1993". The Longbored Surfer. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  15. ↑ Griffin, Gil (2 July 1994). "Inner Circle's Sphere of Influence - Big Beat/Atlantic Set Follows 'Bad' Breakthrough". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media) 106 (27). Retrieved 1 August 2010.
  16. ↑ "Inner Circle Biography". Bad Boys of Reggae. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  17. ↑ Walker, Klive (2005). Dubwise: reasoning from the reggae underground. Insomniac Press. p. 203. ISBN 1-894663-96-9.
Preceded by
"3 a.m. Eternal" by The KLF		 Finland number-one single
4 March 1991 – 11 March 1991 (2 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"Se mustamies" by Hausmylly
Preceded by
"Sadeness (Part I)" by Enigma		 Norwegian number-one single
7/1991 – 9/1991 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"Do the Bartman" by The Simpsons

External links