Saturn Automobile Ads Bring Back Sad Episode Of Rock And Roll History

New ads for the Saturn automobiles are bringing back a deeply sad episode of history with a remake of a song by the ill-fated Wales group, Badfinger's COME AND GET IT. The sad history of this group is indeed heartbreaking.

Since 1959, Pete Ham and the other talented musicians who eventually formed the late 60's group, Badfinger were trying hard to break into music. By 1969, their song, COME AND GET IT, which was from the film THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN became a big hit, and the band was signed to The Beatles label, Apple Records. Badfinger was good fit for Apple with a Beatleslike sound, but a bad manager, with a questionable reputation for negotiations and possible ties to organized crime left the band in a complete mess. The contract with Apple was terminated in favor of a contract with Warner Bros. and the last Apple album by the group, ASS, was held up in legal limbo, and the newer albums by the group were poorly received by the critics.

In later years, with a sharply declined income, and deep dispair, band leader Pete Ham killed himself. Another band member killed himself some years later and another died in his sleep.

Indeed the song, COME AND GET IT, should be a joyful bit of rock and roll history. But the sad history of Badfinger casts a giant shadow over any works by this band.