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Just six weeks after finishing Ass, Badfinger was back in the studio trying to fulfill the Warner Brothers contracts their agent Stan Polley set up for them, which came with a reported $3 million advance. The money was supposed to go into an escrow account for the band. That was the good news. The bad news was that Badfinger had to knock out two albums and two extra singles every year. It didn't begin well and it would only get worse. Badfinger, originally titled For Love Or Money, was written and recorded in the studio with producer Chris Thomas. At the same time, the members were dealing with depositions from Apple lawyers. The result is an album of slight tunes and punch-less pop, their lowest-charting album.
The album's February release was timed with an American tour in which they often played nightclubs befitting local bands. Warner Brothers made no effort to promote the band's single "Shine On". After the tour, Badfinger had to get back into the studio for their second album of 1974, and one of their very best, Wish You Were Here.
But by then all the money in the escrow account had vanished and Warner Brothers had filed a lawsuit against Polley and Badfinger. The experience took a dreadful toll on the band. Both Pete Ham and Joey Holland quit Badfinger and in 1975, destitute, and awaiting the birth of his girlfriend's child, Ham hanged himself in the garage of his Surrey home.
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