Budgie

Budgie

The Dangerous Band, not the Little Harmless Bird.

I listen to my Budgie CDs when I need a little Bass Ooomph in my day.

My Budgie CD Collection (above image).

My top two Budgie albums are Bandolier and In For The Kill (great album cover too). Followed by Budgie (first album) and Squawk (great cover by Roger Dean).

Budgie is a Welsh band powered by Burke Shelley with his trademark pounding bass. I dig the albums from the original trio – Burke Shelley (bass and vocals), Tony Bourge (guitar and vocals) and Ray Phillips (drums).

The band had initially considered the name “Six Ton Budgie”. Burke Shelley said that the band’s name came from the fact that he “loved the idea of playing noisy, heavy rock, but calling ourselves after something diametrically opposed to that”. Akin to the light/heavy names of Led Zeppelin, Iron Butterfly and Atomic Rooster.

In 1988, the band got due mass international recognition when Metallica covered their “Breadfan” song.

Sadly, Shelley passed on in 2022 at the age of 71 years old.

Years later, I had the honour to hang out with Roger Dean – he designed most of the iconic Yes, Osibisa, Asia and Uriah Heep albums covers.