Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy

"Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy"
Single sleeve
Single by Bad Company
from the album Desolation Angels
B-side	"Crazy Circles"
Released	March 1979
Recorded	1978
Studio	Ridge Farm Studios, Surrey, England
Genre	Hard rock
Length	3:15
Label	Swan Song
Songwriter(s)	Paul Rodgers
Producer(s)	Bad Company
Bad Company singles chronology
"Burnin' Sky" (1977) "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" (1979) "Gone, Gone, Gone" (1979)
Audio
"Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" on YouTube

"Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" is a song by the rock supergroup Bad Company. The track was written by vocalist and frontman Paul Rodgers, and released as the lead single from their 1979 studio album Desolation Angels.

The song remains a staple of Bad Company's discography and has become an essential track on classic rock radio.

Background

"Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" was inspired by a guitar synthesizer riff that Paul Rodgers had come up with. While not the band's highest charting single in America, it is their best selling, having been certified Gold by the RIAA.

Reception

Cash Box said "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" has a "stout beat and heavy fuzz guitar sound and excellent singing" as well as "solid" production. Record World called it "a hard rocker with a sure shot at AOR and Top 40 play" and praised Rodgers' lead vocals as being "inspired." Democrat and Chronicle critic Jack Garner said it "contains the most varying material yet from the band, indicating continued growth and maturity on their part." Allmusic reviewer Mike DeGagne commented on Rodgers' "vocal passion" on the song. Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine regarded it as one of the band's best "big, brawny arena rockers" and noted that it's a "quintessential classic rock staple."

In 2016, Classic Rock ranked the song at number nine on their list of Bad Company's 10 best songs, praising Ralphs' "curt, sharp [guitar] solo" and the "clipped rhythmic accompaniment" from drummer Simon Kirke bassist Boz Burrell. Classic Rock History critic Janey Roberts rated it as Bad Company's 8th best song. Ultimate Classic Rock critic Matt Wardlaw rated it as Bad Company's 4th best song, saying that it "is probably one of the best songs ever written about what it's like living life as a star in the music business."

Track listing

Chart performance

The song peaked at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1979, ultimately climbing to number 54 for the Billboard Year-End singles chart in that year.