I've spent the last few months immersing myself in blues. It started as a personal research project -- a rediscovery of the historical source of classic rock which I love so much.

In my prior naivety , I had assumed rock had it's origins in the likes of Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, J. P. Richardson, Elvis Presley, etc.

Then I discovered Robert Johnson, the unquestionable grandfather of rock.

I've listened to his 29 recorded songs, circa 1936, repeatedly, and his influence upon modern rock is unmistakable.

To begin this thread, I present Robert Johnson's Crossroad Blues:

and the perfect tribute by Eric Clapton and Cream (1968):

There is a myth that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his talent. This is impossible: nothing this Good can arise from Evil.

I will follow up with more if there is interest. In the mean time, I'll leave you with this (ragtime, not blues) :

 

Oh, I don't want to forget this:

 

You can probably imagine that Dr. Demento had a big impact on my childhood.

Silly me. I was hoping this could be a serious thread.

I forgot where I was for a moment. I'll try not to make that mistake again.

 

In the spirit of the libation thread, here is a true bluesman. I use to think of him as rather a joke, but if you delve into his history -- and realize that his primary influence was Robert Johnson -- his music takes on substantially greater respect. In fact, I've discovered that creating a "George Thorogood" station on Pandora provides one with an exceptional range of great blues and rock music.

 

Silly me. I was hoping this could be a serious thread.

I forgot where I was for a moment. I'll try not to make that mistake again.

If my vote counts, I'm taking this thread very seriously. I've been in love with music since birth, and playing the guitar since I was six... stand by and I'll be more than happy to make my own contributions.

 

I like where @joeyd999 is going with (re)-discovering blues but the title is kind of generic to that. I'll split the threads so we can have fun with music that makes you smile - I like novelty acts too - but treat the blues as a separate, single subject.

Novelty acts may be found in this aisle:
https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/music-that-makes-you-smile.139652/

 

Hey, do these guys look familiar?

 

I have some boxed set of tapes of Robert Johnson back from the 70's, The story of his early death is quite colourful!
Max.

 

I have some boxed set of tapes of Robert Johnson back from the 70's, The story of his early death is quite colourful!
Max.

And his place in the history of modern music has been quite well documented. Back when I had a subscription to Rolling Stone (late 70s/early 80s), every rock band would reference Robert Johnson as an inspiration during the interviews. The Animals, Rolling Stones, Greatful Dead, ...

 

In my prior naivety , I had assumed rock had it's origins in the likes of Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, J. P. Richardson, Elvis Presley, etc.

Then I discovered Robert Johnson, the unquestionable grandfather of rock.

Better late than never! I can remember listening with my brother to Robert Johnson in the sixties when we were kids. Growing up near Chicago helped nurture a deep connection to the blues over many decades.

Since you didn't mention his name, I have to point you towards Muddy Waters. To me, Muddy was the blues. No one else captured it quite the way he did, in my opinion. He took the influences of the country, such as R. Johnson, and electrified the blues for a city audience. Similar to Bob Dylan bringing folk into rock. Muddy's direct link to Rock and Roll is well known via his friendship with the Rolling Stones, Johnny Winters and many others.

I had the great fortune to see him a few times in Chicago's Quiet Knight, where he would do a special show every Christmastime and many of his family members would be there. In 1978, after they played Soldier Field, the Rolling Stones dropped in on Muddy's show at the Quiet Knight. Muddy used to live near me and could be seen in the local grocery stores and around town. My girlfriend once got his autograph for me on the back of a picture of my band. A prized possession now!

 

I have some boxed set of tapes of Robert Johnson back from the 70's, The story of his early death is quite colourful!
Max.

And much of it is highly imagined and romanticized. Very little is really known about him, including exactly how he died and where his body was buried.

 

Better late than never! I can remember listening with my brother to Robert Johnson in the sixties when we were kids. Growing up near Chicago helped nurture a deep connection to the blues over many decades.

Since you didn't mention his name, I have to point you towards Muddy Waters. To me, Muddy was the blues. No one else captured it quite the way he did, in my opinion. He took the influences of the country, such as R. Johnson, and electrified the blues for a city audience. Similar to Bob Dylan bringing folk into rock. Muddy's direct link to Rock and Roll is well known via his friendship with the Rolling Stones, Johnny Winters and many others.

I had the great fortune to see him a few times in Chicago's Quiet Knight, where he would do a special show every Christmastime and many of his family members would be there. In 1978, after they played Soldier Field, the Rolling Stones dropped in on Muddy's show at the Quiet Knight. Muddy used to live near me and could be seen in the local grocery stores and around town. My girlfriend once got his autograph for me on the back of a picture of my band. A prized possession now!

I was gonna get to him eventually, but thanks for beating me to it -- it saves me some effort!

The close ties between one-man acoustic blues and group-format electric rock and roll is remarkable, especially during that time. It seems that R&R sprang to life at the exact instant technology arose to support it.

Or was it the other way around?

 

Better late than never! I can remember listening with my brother to Robert Johnson in the sixties when we were kids. Growing up near Chicago helped nurture a deep connection to the blues over many decades.

Since you didn't mention his name, I have to point you towards Muddy Waters. To me, Muddy was the blues. No one else captured it quite the way he did, in my opinion. He took the influences of the country, such as R. Johnson, and electrified the blues for a city audience. Similar to Bob Dylan bringing folk into rock. Muddy's direct link to Rock and Roll is well known via his friendship with the Rolling Stones, Johnny Winters and many others.

I had the great fortune to see him a few times in Chicago's Quiet Knight, where he would do a special show every Christmastime and many of his family members would be there. In 1978, after they played Soldier Field, the Rolling Stones dropped in on Muddy's show at the Quiet Knight. Muddy used to live near me and could be seen in the local grocery stores and around town. My girlfriend once got his autograph for me on the back of a picture of my band. A prized possession now!

Muddy Waters was also a product inspired by Robert Johnson - albeit an Early Electrified version.

@wayneh , I liked the "Better late than never" comment.

 

I have a question: why don't kids demand this kind of music anymore?

 

I have a question: why don't kids demand this kind of music anymore?

As a musician, I've wondered about this a LOT. I've always had a preference for music that was ... music. Actual music created by musicians playing instruments. The more that music has become produced to perfection, the less it sounds like music and the more like a computer program. I think if you haven't had much experience with real music made by real people, you don't care about that aspect and can be satisfied with sound-as-entertainment regardless of the source of the sound.

An interesting analogy just occurred to me. Suppose sex robots become commonplace in the next decade and achieve a level of "perfection" similar to the way today's music has perfectly removed the human element. Will old timers like us lament the lack of human imperfection? The youngsters will all be enjoying their robots while we old guys remember the back seats of cars, nights in the park, and all the other live performances.

 

I saw a documentary a while back where B.B. King credited ME with making black blues musicians more acceptable in the U.S. 50's to 60's, Well not ME Personally but the young music crowd in the UK at that time, where the genre really took off and even produced some good blues artists and the popularity bounced back to the U.S..
There was an amusing incident where some UK blues artists visited the U.S. and one of them asked an American black blues player if he knew the name of a popular UK artist (forgot who), he replied he had heard him on a radio program and praised him highly and thought he was great.
So one of the visitors said he had a record of the artist and he would give it to him, when the guy saw the album cover he said no that can't be him, the guy I heard has to be black.!
Max.

 

I saw a documentary a while back where B.B. King credited ME with making black blues musicians more acceptable in the U.S. 50's to 60's...

Yes, it's interesting and sad I suppose that the hurdles between black music becoming white music were easier to go around - via Europe - than to cross directly here on our continent. I've heard some fascinating stories from those times about the segregated nature of American music, and how 'adventurous' white folks would seek out the black artists and dance halls and such. The Seabreeze resort in North Carolina was one of the more notable and influential examples.

 

I also recall seeing the great Louis Armstrong at a concert in London in the '50's.
One reporter asked him how he liked London, the group were staying at a high end London hotel during their visit, Louis said it was hard for him to get used to be able to go in through the Hotel front door!
Also the (white) Door man calling him Sir.
Max.

 

I also recall seeing the great Louis Armstrong at a concert in London in the '50's.
One reporter asked him how he liked London, the group were staying at a high end London hotel during their visit, Louis said it was hard for him to get used to be able to go in through the Hotel front door!
Also the (white) Door man calling him Sir.
Max.

The movie about Jesse Owens depicts when he attended an event in his honor at the Waldorf Astoria but was not allowed to enter through the front door. This was after he was snubbed by the racist-in-chief, FDR. (White athletes were invited to the White House, but not Owens or other black athletes.) Interestingly, Teddy Roosevelt hosted the first black man to dinner in the White House, Booker T. Washington, in about 1901 or so. That caused an enormous uproar and it seems FDR fell firmly onto the opposite side.

 

An interesting analogy just occurred to me.

And me too:

Electricity comes out of the light switch. "Music" comes out of an iPod.