This tells the story of young boy who grows up to be a rock star, but succumbs to rock and roll excess and dies of a drug overdose. According to Bad Company lead singer Paul Rodgers, who wrote it, the song is a warning. He wrote it about the casualties of the music business; people like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin as well as others who didn't make it.
An eerie parallel to the character in this song is Paul Kossoff, who was Paul Rodgers' bandmate in the group Free. Kossoff died of a heroin overdose in 1976, a year after this was released. The guitarist was just 25 years old when he died.
In a Songfacts interview with Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke, he said, "It was a sort of homage to the pitfalls of being in the rock world. You can let the success go to your head and you can get strung out and you can die. It's very, very simple. And, unfortunately, it's happening with alarming frequency to this day. Addiction will always be with us. But 'Shooting Star' was based on a composite of musicians."
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