OK, so I'm working today, driving my truck, listening to classic rock radio, and the DJ says he's gonna play a George Thoroughood track. "Fine," I say to myself, and prepare to hear "Bad to the Bone,

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...but instead, it's this insane song where George spits this whole narrative about not having the rent and getting kicked out by his landlady, and trying to crash on a friend's couch but the dude's wife won't have it, etc etc, and the track rules and makes Jack White sound like Gordon Lightfoot

but then it segues RIGHT INTO "One Bourbon, One Shot, One Beer." I've NEVER heard this 'intro' (which lasted at least six minutes) before, and to my ears, this was definitely not a live version. What gives here? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

― Overbite Hanging Party, Friday, 21 January 2005 22:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Sounds like his Kid Rock tribute.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:35 (twenty-one years ago)

SIX minutes?!? You sure about that? I've heard the intro a bunch of times, but I don't recall it being THAT long. Maybe you've been hearing a radio edit all your life (until now).

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:40 (twenty-one years ago)

3 One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer Hooker 8:20
Composed by: Hooker
Performed by: George Thorogood and The Destroyers,

― chuck, Friday, 21 January 2005 22:42 (twenty-one years ago)

The thing that always got me about that track was that the intro is "House Rent Boogie" by John Lee Hooker, but I didn't think Hooker wrote "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer." I thought somebody else wrote it - Amos Milburn, or somebody. Am I wrong?

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

god, all I've heard is "Bad To The Bone" and "I Drink Alone" 9000 times, now I discover he's got an 8 minute radio-approved track just waiting to rape my earhole someday.

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

no, anthony, it's totally good, dude.

so it IS an intro, then? Jesus. So all these years - seeing the video, hearing the song - I've been hearing the EDITED version?

― Overbite, Friday, 21 January 2005 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, it's really long and I've heard it countless times. This is a really common jukebox selection in biker bars, along with "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", "Dazed and Confused" and an extremely long Thin Lizzy live medley. Presumably the idea is that you are getting value for money.

― everything, Friday, 21 January 2005 22:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Naw, George Thurrygood wasn't always saddled with the rep of pseudo-redneck boogie hack for the LCD white trash classic rock crowd. Radio mostly did that to him. And the desire for power drunks to hear nothing but "Bad to the Bone" (power drunk sports fans of all stripe, too) and "I Drink Alone" in roadhouses nationwide on Saturday night.

― George Smith, Friday, 21 January 2005 22:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I never knew there WASN'T an 8 minute long version, I've only ever heard that one. I don't recall any version ever being in the regular classic rock rotation either -- at least not around here, but I've noticed these type of stations still do maintain some regional variation.

I saw this dude do an awesome karaoke of this a few months ago; I know, that sounds like the WORST thing in the world (even beyond the fact that it was indeed 8 minutes long), but it was actually great - dude had a great, gruff voice and just totally nailed it.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:54 (twenty-one years ago)

is that the one where he does that whole wierd rap about his landlord being "all lovey dovey" cuz he's got the "front rent" but he'll be lucky to get the "back rent" and then he does this wierd chukkka chuka da chuckkada guitar thing that I swear sounds more like Big Black or Gang of Four than blues? I love that....I don't remember it being that long.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 21 January 2005 23:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Ditto Stormy Davis - I've only heard the 8-minute version, and a rollicking good time it is too. Oh, and I had a similar karaoke experience once, during which a Rocker Chick From Hell got up and did Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" and Totally. Fucking. Nailed. The. Song.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 21 January 2005 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I think movie trailers for snarky kid/baby vs. criminal/babysitter/goofy adult movies killed off all my tolerance for Thorogood more than any jukebox rednecks.

FADE IN:
Dude 1 (to Dude 2): Dude, this job is going to be easy. Free place to stay on the island and all we have to do is babysit an 8 year old

Dude 2: Schweet!

CUT TO:
Evil kid on Big Wheel with devilish grin. Cue opening riff of "Bad To The Bone"

― Gator Magoon (Chris Barrus), Friday, 21 January 2005 23:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I swear I've seen two dozen different movie trailers all using that same formula and song.

Also: trailer for Steven King's "Christine" to thread.

― Gator Magoon (Chris Barrus), Friday, 21 January 2005 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I HATE that song, btw

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Friday, 21 January 2005 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

joe queenan wrote that movies in the 90s can be summed up by somebody named Quaid or Baldwin stepping out a limo and getting kicked in the groin to the tune of "Chain Of Fools."

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 21 January 2005 23:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Wasn't there a brief moment when every other movie trailer featured "Lust for Life"? At least the ones for Trainspotting and Basquiat did.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 21 January 2005 23:56 (twenty-one years ago)

does anyone here actually like thorogood? he seems pretty reprehensible from what little i've been exposed to.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 22 January 2005 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

"reprehensible"

obv. everybody upthread is just pretending to like him. duh!

― live from kazakhstan, Saturday, 22 January 2005 00:55 (twenty-one years ago)

When I was like 8 or 9 my dad bought the album that has "Move It On Over" and "Who Do You Love?" on it (the album might be called "Move It On Over") and I loved it because I'd never heard those songs. I don't have any particular use for him now, but I feel a little affection anyway. Plus I thought it was funny when he pissed off Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 22 January 2005 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I really don't see what anyone could possibly find 'reprehensible.' Maybe it's not your thing, fine, but I'll take George over fucking Franz Ferdinand a billion times over, pal.

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I recall 19th Nervous Breakdown being used ad nauseum in movie trailers, as well.

Bad To The Bone is a horrible, horrible song.

― darin (darin), Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:01 (twenty-one years ago)

worst movie cliche offenders:

Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Baby Love
There She Goes
and especially
Dude Looks Like Lady

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:03 (twenty-one years ago)

The 3 Rounder albums were his most rocking - -And yep, I heard "Move it On Over," "Who Do You Love," and "Nadine" before I had ever heard the Hank/Bo/Chuck versions too. Here's a decent CD comp of that stuff:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:m0xvad4kq8w6

His 1993 novelty hit "Get a Haircut" was pretty amusing too, I think.

― chuck, Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:09 (twenty-one years ago)

...with album cover art by Peter Bagge of Hate fame, who in fact illustrated the entire song!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I will admit that my knowledge of Thorogood extends only to those two songs I mention upthread. I'm not much for blooze anyhow.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Also very cool, by the way: The Delaware Destroyers baseball jersey I came this close to buying in a Salvation Army in Manayunk, Philly, a few years ago. Only reason I decided otherwise is that it had a big gawdy photo of George on the back. I should have bought it anyway!

― chuck, Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the most offensive song right now is "Baby It's Cold Outside". I mean, nice little tune, but I must have heard it in three or four commercials this season, and I just heard it again as background music in some NPR report about the weather in Minnesota. Fucking NPR producers. "Hey, here's a song that references cold weather, and .. what do you know, it's cold outside!" It's sad cuz it's taken a decent little tune and reduced it to a banality.

I saw George on VH1 Classic over Xmas doing some song that I can't remember. But boy was it bad. And i don't have anything against him or anything, but this performance was BAD. Like, out of tune singing (his voice is shot, btw), clunky guitar playing .. ugh. He's really lost whatever he once had.

He did help introduce me to blues stuff too, tho, so I can't hate him. Like I remember when that 'Live' album came out where he goes, "this song is dedicated to the late great Hound Dog Taylor". I had never heard of the late, great Hound Dog Taylor, but I knew that he must be good! It seemed like this cool historical thing to explore. Pretty soon I found the Blues Before Sunrise program on the Eastern Michigan University radio station, and I was off. buying Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell albums and things like that.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:34 (twenty-one years ago)

growin up on classic rock radio in the south this song is more played than bad to the bone or that other one everyone mentioned. but maybe this is just the only one i'll stop the dial on. but its always the full on eight minute version. and its always fuckin' brilliant.

― brontosaur, Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:38 (twenty-one years ago)

worst movie cliche offenders:

Can we add:

I Feel Good
Walking On Sunshine
Respect

― Garibaldianne (Garibaldianne), Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:43 (twenty-one years ago)

George was a great intro for 16-year-old me to this stuff, since i picked up his first comp on a class trip to washington dc right as i was discoving john lee hooker, bo diddley, etc. thru those cheap best-ofs that were available at the then-new Best Buys.

on that Baddest of the Bad comp is like 4 worthwhile covers: "Louie to Frisco", "One Bourbon...", "Who Do You Love", and "Treat Her Right"(I think).

but still, i always loved the One Bourbon, mainly for the drawn-out intro and the ka-thonk ka-thonk ka-thonk over and over...

xpost yeah, i found out about WEMU's blues programming when i moved to ann arbor to head to university. my favorite show was always the "Bone Conduction Music Show", hosted by a white CPA named "Thayrone", which aired right before Dr Demento.

Oddly enough, years would pass and Iraq(part 2) caused Thayrone's conservative side to come out to where he would openly support the preznit and the invasion on the air. It didn't last all that much longer on WEMU, so he swapped it over to the same timeslot on the golden oldies/adult contemporary station(107.1 WKQZ, i think).

I wonder if Thayrone has since changed his tune about the war...

― kingfish (Kingfish), Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:54 (twenty-one years ago)

'reprehensible' -- well, i can't think of too many songs that i find as utterly devoid of merit as the few thorogood songs i hear on the radio (and in films) from time to time. and i'm someone who finds merit in nearly everything. his voice in particular, is horrible--not just his voice but how he uses it, that is. i'm willing to accept that once upon a time he made some half-decent recordings but i still can't imagine them being in an idiom i would enjoy.

that's cool that you were turned on to old blues (indirectly) by thorogood, diamond. so he obviously has some utility.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 22 January 2005 02:22 (twenty-one years ago)

i include his cover of "one scotch..." in my assessment. i think i've only listened to more than a few bars of that song once. the rest of the time a few seconds is all i could tolerate.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 22 January 2005 02:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll commit ILM blaspheny and say right now that, as a rule, I listen to things like Jack O Fire, Canned Heat, and sometimes even George Thoroughood much more than the 'classic' bluesmen, mostly because I'm not too pompous to admit that I often cannot tell the 'masters of the blues' apart.

I'm not talking about gospel / country blues here - there are few things I'd rather listen to than Washington Phillips, Elizabeth Cotton, or Gary Davis. But those 'guild of the blues' guys, everyone from Lightnin' Hopkins to John Lee Hooker? I dig it, man, you know, but fuck if it doesn't really all sound the same. And I don't mean that in a Roger-Fidelity's-Dad-"rap-is-just-the-same-song-over-and-over-again'" kinda way - I mean from an educated, critical perspective, how many people outside of guitar players can really hear much difference in any of these songs? And if it's just a matter of style over songcraft, fine - but give me dub, dub, dub, baby, not 1-4-5 progressions!

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Saturday, 22 January 2005 03:01 (twenty-one years ago)

All blues sounds the same? Yeah i've been saying that for years.But isn't that kinda the point? I mean i remember in college getting up in the on campus bar(those were the days!)on open mic nite & making up a blues song on the spot with my buddies called "The A to Z triple play Led Zeppelin Blues". Anybody who lived thru seventies radio can appreciate this.And we fuckin nailed it because really anybody can play the blues right? Doesn't mean i don't like it just that as an art form it's a bit limited.I've found that lots of beer greatly enhances my enjoyment.

― evan chronister (evan chronister), Saturday, 22 January 2005 05:36 (twenty-one years ago)

i know that i've said this before, but i'll say it again anyway. i like george thorogood b/c i like the SOUND of his guitar-playing. more precisely, i like his tinny, low-fi amplified guitar sound (almost like an electric razor, and kinda punk to my ears).

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 22 January 2005 06:19 (twenty-one years ago)

i should also note that i've never heard hound dog taylor, who i've heard influenced thorogood's sound. but i'm not generally a blues fan (or a blooz fan, either).

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 22 January 2005 06:20 (twenty-one years ago)

My friend did the 8 minute long version at karaoke at this hipster bar, totally ad-libbing the spoken word beginning parts and adding snide little comments, drunk off his ass. I died laughing, the rest of the people in the bar were not quite as entertained.

― tylero (tylero), Saturday, 22 January 2005 08:22 (twenty-one years ago)

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