In the spring of 1990, I was looking toward my future after college. What was my future? I didn't know. I was about to graduate from college and the most common question anyone hears is "What are you going to do after college?" Well, you work! I had been working for Dustys Records since November of 1987. I had made some great friends and made some great musical discoveries. Along with my job at Dustys, I was a DJ at the college radio station at Kearney State College(soon to be known as the University of Nebraska at Kearney). One of my classmates who was either program director or music director walked into the music library with a copy of this album. So, when I first saw the album cover for the Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker, I thought "oh no...not another GnR wannabe band!" You know what?...they weren't!
1001 Albums recalls about the same:
In 1990, as this debut album from the Atlanta quintet was released, American rock was in the midst of change. Heavy Metal was now well into its decline, while Seattle's alternative grunge sound was about to storm the charts. It was a difficult time for a young band to emerge who wanted to reinvigorate blues-based rock from an earlier time, via late-Sixties R&B-placing them in a tradition going back to the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
By the spring of 1990, long-haired rock n' rollers/metalheads had adopted some kind of "bad boy" image and the record companies were signing a bunch with that image and their watered down image akin to the street image of Guns N' Roses. Even Poison had dropped their full glam/drag queen look for bandanas and leather pants like Gn'R. So, I assumed (at first glance) that this was yet another LA Glam Metal band like Faster Pussycat or L.A. Guns. But, the sound of the Black Crowes' Shake Your MoneyMaker was a breath of fresh air in the form of straight up ballsy bluesy Rock n' Roll.
Part of my routine (in those days)had got the point of watching MTV's Headbangers' Ball on Saturday nights from 10pm to 2am. Sometimes, I'd go to the bar and catch the local bands. But, at the time, I had a handful of younger friends who weren't of legal age to go to the bar. The fact that I had been pulled over and almost got a DUI in January of 1989 made me very conscious of the alcohol I drank and gained a new respect for moderation. I remember one Saturday of watching "the Ball" at my friend Matt's dorm room. I don't think the Black Crowes were on the show. But, the video for Jealous Again was on shortly after the hour of 2am. Matt made a comment that he thought they were trying to be a Georgia Satellites or Aerosmith clone(or something along those lines). But, to me, Lead Singer Chris Robinson was definitely trying to channel a young Faces era-Rod Stewart.
Soon after that, we either received a promotional copy of the CD at Dustys or one was opened for in-store playing. I just knew that it really felt and sounded reinvigorated to me. Up to that point, most of the rock of that day was very heavy heavily distorted guitar. This wasn't the case on Shake Your MoneyMaker. The guitars were a clean sound....yet a bit down and dirty. If you look at those early videos, you'll notice that guitarist Rich Robinson is playing Fender Telecaster as opposed the heavy sounding Les Paul guitars that GnR's Slash was sporting and the bands of the day felt they needed to imitate that look and sound.
All I knew is that they seemed different and unprocessed from the world of rock inhabited by Hairsprayed bands of the 80's. This was back to basic/stripped down sound. It could also be said that they were instrumental for many of my generation and peers to go back and discover the music of a prior generation. With all the comparisons to the Stones and the Faces, I found myself more interested in anything by Rod Stewart(pre 1977). I still say that Chris Robinson was really trying to mimic classic Rod the Mod. I'm not saying I was completely oblivious to the music of the 70's and the music that came before. But, I was elated that this band was comprised of band members close to my own age and were making real music that seem breathe with heart and soul instead of throb with bright neon.
As I was writing this and searching online through more music tonight, I came across another band from Georgia...The Georgia Satellites. The Satellites even had a cover of Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells a Story. Of course, the Satellites got trapped with their song Keep Your Hands to Yourself. Both bands were stripped down Rock & Roll that you would hope to see raising Hell at the local bar on a Saturday night.
As I listened to the album the first few times through, I noticed a song called Hard to Handle and the way the lyric was rhythmic and catchy. I loved the way the song sounded and how it felt. It would be months later that (I think) my brother Mike brought it to my attention that this song was written by Otis Redding. For a white kid from Central Nebraska, Otis Redding wasn't a "household" name for me. I had obviously seen the name in my ventures into my tours of record stores. It was around this time that Michael Bolton had recorded a cover of Reddings' Sittin on the Dock of the Bay. But, I honestly don't think I was that familiar with his music. Thanks to the Black Crowes, here was another music offering that I felt compelled to explore
more deeply. It's not like I didn't know Rhythm and Blues or Otis Redding. The kind of exposure I had to Otis Redding was the covers that John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd did as the Blues Brothers.
This was definitely a strong debut. In the age of MTV and music videos, there were at least four videos from this album: Twice as Hard, Jealous Again, She Talks to Angels and Hard to Handle. In that day and age, that was huge. A band was lucky to get one or two singles/videos on MTV let alone 4. Of course, the landscape of popular music has changed. The Black Crowes never really regained the mainstream popularity they had in 1990-91. I recall when I bought my first VCR after college that I recorded the bands' SNL performance of She Talks to Angels and Thick and Thin .
My friend Mick was in a band in college known as the Untold and they covered Hard to Handle. Crowds loved it then. Then Mick went on to play in other bands and continued to play the song. Some of us who had seen him play in bands for all those years used to comment about that Mick was still playing that song after almost 17 years. Truth is...it really is a great song and people are drawn towards great songs.
By the release of their second album - Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, I had moved to Omaha and was managing a Tape World store in the Crossroads Mall. I remember the band still receiving press and attention. After all, this was a sophom
ore follow-up to their debut. So, people were still talking about the band. I remember some of my coworkers in the Crossroads Mall talking about the second album and how it wasn't as good as the first. I always get a little annoyed when a band or an artist is judged by how good their current work is in relation to their past work. I honestly think I like Southern Harmony better than Moneymaker. My college buddy (and Dustys cohort) Bob and I were both living in Omaha at the same time and went to see the Black Crowes at the Omaha Music Hall. I don't seem to remember much about the concert. I think I was fighting off some allergies at the time and took a decongestant or an antihistimine and ended up getting very drowsy during the concert. So now I wish I could see them again. After awhile, the band became more known for their controversies as opposed to the music they put out. There were the many stories of in-fighting between brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, the much reported fondness for the herb and of course Chris' marriage to Kate Hudson and controversial album covers.
sed as a music lover and as a retail store manager...especially since my district manager referred to everything as....."product". By the time they released their highly controversial 3rd album - Amorica, I had returned to Kearney and was back working for Dustys yet again. But, Amorica was a strong album too. The 90's rolled on and the Black Crowes even toured and recorded with Jimmy Page. The Live at the Greek album was really great for a band that I originally considered more of a Faces type of band. They pulled off some great Zeppelin covers along with a great rendition of the early Fleetwood Mac tune Oh Well.
Of course, they continued to record more. I believe they broke up for a short time too. But, they continue to record and perform. I would like to go back and listen to their whole catalog to see what I've missed since Amorica. I tried to keep up with them. But, I just couldn't. There was some mediocre work. But, for a short time, they were a big deal and still should be. But, for me, they helped me discover a kind of stripped down rock that wasn't new by any stretch but sure felt like fresh enough that it felt new and creative. It also helped me to discover music and bands that had come before by discovering more of the Rolling Stones and of course Rod Stewart and the Faces.
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