After guitarist Jake E. Lee was unexpectedly fired from Ozzy Osbourne’s band, he formed the bluesy hard rock group Badlands with two people he’d met when they unsuccessfully auditioned for Ozzy’s band in 1985 – Surgical Steele bassist Greg Chaisson and Lita Ford/Black Sabbath drummer Eric Singer. Ray Gillen, who briefly sang with Black Sabbath, was brought on as vocalist. And they were initially managed by producer Paul O'Neill (Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra) who also contributed to the group’s early songwriting.

After jamming “old Cream, Free, Led Zeppelin — the things we all grew up on”, Lee wrote “99% of the material on the first album”. But when Atlantic didn’t hear a hit, they flew him from LA to NY to write with another bassist and drummer. In these sessions, “Dreams In The Dark”, “High Wire” and “Winter’s Call” – three of the group’s best-known songs – were born.

Their eponymous debut album reached #57 in the US and #39 in the UK in the summer of 1989. Its lead single “Dreams In The Dark” was a minor rock radio hit in the US. Rolling Stone would (later) name the album the #35 Greatest Hair Metal Album Of All Time. The band toured Japan that summer, then across the US twice for the remainder of the year.

Things began to sour after their first album. Singer left to replace deceased Kiss drummer Eric Carr, later sharing, “My memories of Badlands aren’t good ones. I saw a lot of potential with really talented people turn into a sad situation.” He was replaced by Surgical Steele/Racer X member Jeff Martin. Then when the band considered firing O'Neill over missing funds, he threatened to tell Atlantic Records that the reason Gillen had “started getting really thin and didn’t look quite as healthy” was because he had contracted AIDS. Gillen denied this and insisted O'Neill be fired anyway. Lee later shared he felt the band “got kind of screwed” by Atlantic because of it, claiming “they wouldn’t even give us tour-support money at all” after O'Neill went to them.

While the band was recording songs for a sophomore album, Atlantic felt again the band “didn’t have a hit” and wanted to bring in outside hit-writers like Desmond Child (Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper) and Holly Knight (Pat Benatar, Tina Turner). The band refused and continued writing. After hearing more songs, Atlantic’s opinion didn’t change so they halted the band’s recording until they agreed to bring in outside songwriters. In defiance, the band toured. Gillem would later share he’d threatened to quit at the time because he agreed with Atlantic and had already written more commercial-sounding songs that the band rejected. Lee later revealed Gillem, who had been secretly telling Atlantic he’d written some potential hits the band refused to record, was the reason behind why Atlantic stopped funding studio time. Chaisson also shared a similar story years later.

Voodoo Highway was eventually released in June 1991 and peaked at a much lower #140 in the US and #74 in the UK, and it spawned no hit singles, causing Atlantic to drop Badlands. While touring, the band was pulled over by police who found Gillen’s AIDS medication during their search. He told police it was for his uncle, but this is when Lee figured out O'Neill’s information was in fact correct. Tensions came to a head when Gillen quit shortly before a 14-date UK tour in the summer of 1992. Lee then gave a scathing interview to Kerrang Magazine, tearing into Gillen and claiming he’d been fired. When the tour’s promoter begged Gillen to fly to the UK and perform, he reluctantly did. However, four songs in at their second gig, he flashed a copy of Lee’s interview to the crowd and called it “BS” while Lee shook his head and mouthed “It’s all true”. Gillen soon after fired back at Lee in his own Kerrang interview, calling him “a real lazy guitar player” and spoke about a new band he was forming. Debbie Holiday briefly replaced Gillen partway through the tour when he exited.

Afterwards, the band solicited demo tapes from vocalists to replace Gillem and chose John West, but ultimately were not satisfied with the choice so they disbanded in 1993. Originally Lee wanted to start a new band with Chaisson right away, but Chaisson instead moved back to Phoenix. Years later, a collection of unreleased 1993 recordings made at Gillen’s insistance – referred to as the group’s ‘lost third album’ – surfaced years later as Dusk after Chaisson tracked down the original tapes.

Gillen died in late 1993 of AIDS, which he’d likely contracted from a needle he shared one time with his HIV+ uncle. Lee formed Wicked Alliance, then released two solo albums before rejoining Ozzy’s band in 2010 for one album cycle. Chaisson and Martin performed together in both RedSea and Blindside Blues Band. Then in 2013, Lee formed Red Dragon Cartel with Chaisson, who shared in 2016 that despite their very acrimonious split with their vocalist:

I have no doubt that if (Gillen) was alive, he, Jake, and I would have done some stuff together and there would probably still be a Badlands.