Chester Arthur Burnett, better known as Howlin' Wolf, was one of the most influential and popular blues singers of his time. His music is still played and covered today, and always ranks among the top in electric blues standards. Along with Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Little Walter, Howlin Wolf rounded out the group of greatest artists to record for Chess Records.
"Smokestack Lightinin'" was always a favorite of mine, long before I even knew who Howlin' Wolf was. And like most of his music, you just want to move to it. It's sexy, it's smooth, it's tough, and it's simply cool. In college I discovered my love for a lot of this music as I delved deeper into the genre. I remember riding around listening to Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Buddy Guy, and just feeling untouchable. That music did something to me. I had grown up listening to The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, but to hear exactly where their sound came from, and in certain cases, the exact songs and licks they were ripping off, changed my outlook entirely. Suddenly I had new heroes, and a new understanding of where the music I loved really came from. Suddenly Led Zeppelin didn't seem as innovative, or original.
I don't want to be misunderstood however. I still love Led Zeppelin. They were innovative, and they were absolutely one of the most talented and influential bands of their day. But chronologically, it's important to keep things in perspective. Led Zeppelin was a force in their time. But the music they played, and were influenced by came directly from Howlin' Wolf's time. In fact, Howlin' Wolf had to sue Led Zeppelin just to get credit on "The Lemon Song", as Zeppelin had no intention of giving him any. I'm more than agitated by this, and it's simply one example in an ongoing list of occurrences of this kind. Such was the culture back then, and giving credit to old school African-American R&B musicians was not part of the plan. European rock bands came in, took what they wanted from their American predecessors, and with a few very minor changes, tried to pawn it off as their own. Hey, Elvis (and many others) got away with it, right?
Fortunately, the age of information has given us the ability to look these things up on our own now. So anyone interested enough, can go and research it. And believe me when I tell you, it's a fascinating subject because you'd be absolutely shocked at how rampant plagiarism was among the bands we consider to be the biggest and best of that time. It's certainly a bit sad and disheartening to see your musical heroes for what they really were in many instances, but at the same time, it's worth knowing the truth. And it's worth finding out who your real heroes are and should be.
"Killing Floor" is one of the dirtiest upbeat 12-bar blues songs I've ever heard. That guitar riff is so familiar now, it's practically ingrained in our DNA. But somehow, it never gets old. Its one of my all-time favorite songs, sung by one of the all-time best vocalists out there. The imposing figure of a six-foot six-inch, 300 pound Howlin' Wolf, growling out a song like this, must've been a sight to see. What I would've given to see him live just once. But I'm thankful that in this day in age it's so easy to get my hands on his music. We're truly fortunate to have so much music at our fingertips, because simply put, we get to enjoy music from any and every genre, and time. And thanks to youtube, it's free.
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