The 500 - #198 - The Best Of Little Walter - Little Walter

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

Album: #198

Album Title: The Best of Little Walter

Artist: Little Walter

Genre: Blues

Recorded: May, 1952 - January, 1955

Released: 1958

My age at release: Not born

How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all

Is it on the 2020 list? No

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Juke

Although I’ve improved, I am prone to shooting myself in the foot. Sometimes, I recognize I am doing it in real time. I’ll feel myself making an ill-advised decision and ignore every impulse to change course. It’s as if both my ego and superego are standing at a fork in the road frantically waving their arms and screaming for me to veer left. All the while, my Freudian Id is white-knuckling the steering wheel, banking hard to the right onto the precipice of social calamity.

I’m not alone. Psychologists recognize that, particularly when under stress, humans tend to retreat to habits of emotional regulation that were formed when they were young. Our Id takes over and our emotions and behavioural choices figuratively become driven by a toddler. We act impulsively, eschew judgment or foresight and declare, “No! My Way!"

University of Maryland professor Dr. Steven Stossy says:

“The Toddler brain is dominated by feelings rather than analysis of facts. (If the feelings are negative, they seem like alarms.) Not surprisingly, habits formed in the Toddler brain are activated by feelings rather than analysis of the conditional context of past mistakes and their consequences. When we feel that way again, for any reason, past behavioral impulses grow stronger, increasing the likelihood of repeating the mistake.”

Such was the fate of American Blues musician Little Walter whose short life was punctuated by alcoholism and avoidable violence due to his legendary temper.

Marion Walter Jacobs was born in Marksville, Louisiana, sometime between 1923 and 1930. There are no birth records and Jacobs often changed his date of birth when completing government documents. This was likely so that he could sign performance contracts when he wasn’t at the age of majority. He quit school early, likely at 12, so he could travel to several cities, including New Orleans, Memphis and St. Louis. There, he worked odd jobs and busked on the streets with his harmonica and guitar. During that time, he came under the tutelage of legendary blues performers such as Sonny Boy Williamson and Honeyboy Edwards. Diminutive in stature, but large in personality, he began using the pseudonym Little Walter. Some of his contemporaries sometimes added a four letter expletive in the middle of his name because of his fiery temper. Behind his back, he became “The Little (****) Walter”.

Like many musicians from the southern states, Jacobs eventually made his way to “The Windy City” of Chicago. Nestled on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, the major metropolis had become the hub for the blues. There are a few factors that contributed to this:

• A mass migration of African Americans began with the end of the Civil War and continued through the early 1900s. The population shift was due to the implementation of “Jim Crow Laws” in the southern states, which codified racial segregation and made upward wealth mobility nearly impossible for black citizens.
• The newly completed trans-continental railway system allowed for reasonably priced passage to the north …and Chicago was the end of the line.
• The tradition of African American folk music and acoustic southern blues, or country blues, travelled north with the migrants. Chicago had been powered by electricity since 1888 and recording studios and nightclubs were abundant.
• Additionally, the electric guitar was introduced in the late 1930s and blues musicians in Chicago adopted amplification. The sound changed, eventually leading to Rock and Roll.
  

Jacobs immediately found success in Chicago, working solo or playing harmonica with Muddy Waters’ band (three records on The 500 at #348, #242 and #38). He also worked as a studio musician with the Chess, and later Checker, record companies, supporting other artists with his groundbreaking harmonica (or mouth harp) skills. The first appearance of Jacob’s electrified harp was on July 11, 1951, when he supported Muddy Waters on his soon-to-be hit single, Country Boy. Soon after, Jacobs began to revolutionize the harmonica’s amplified sound by driving his amplification to the point of distortion. The adjustment became his signature style – an aggressive, but bewitching growl that energized blues music solos.

In 1952, Jacobs recorded the song Juke, which is still the only harmonica instrumental to secure the #1 position on the Billboard R&B Charts. He also reached the top ten 14 times, including with the songs Off The Wall, Sad Hours and My Babe – all of which appear on this Best Of Little Walter Anthology (at #198 on The 500). He was frequently invited to play harmonica with the stable of Chess record talent. They included legendary entertainers Memphis Millie, Jimmy Rogers, Otis Rush, and even singer turned children’s poet, Shel Silverstein (The Giving Tree, Where The Sidewalk Ends) on his humorously titled 1966 record, I’m So Good I Don’t Have To Brag.

Despite his fame and success, Little Walter and his legendary temper cost him dearly. He was a heavy drinker and prone to fits of rage, often culminating in violent encounters. A few months after returning from his second successful European tour he was involved in a fight while taking a break between sets at a club in Chicago’s south side. He seemed to have only suffered minor injuries, but they exacerbated existing damage his body had withstood from years of violence and alcoholism. He died in his sleep that night, February 15, 1968. The official coroner’s report listed his death as a coronary thrombosis (blood clot in the heart) – he was approximately 40 years of age.

Little Walter statue in Germany.

Little Walter and his revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a powerful influence on blues and rock and roll for generations. His approach to the instrument has led to comparisons with the likes of seminal musicians Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix. Guitarist Eric Clapton (who appears on seven records on The 500) considered Jacobs “a powerful influence” on his style, and Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards (10 records) called Jacobs “one of the best singers of the Blues and a Blues harp player par excellence.”

Keith Richards and Eric Clapton performing in 2013

Jacobs was posthumously inducted into The Blues Hall of Fame (1991), The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1995) and the Grammy Hall of Fame for his song Juke (2008). His innovation and legacy live on through The Little Walter Foundation in Chicago, established by his daughter in 2021. Such were the tributes accorded to a legendary performer whose career trajectory was tragically cut short – a victim of his own tempestuous fury.

The 500 - #199 - Is This It - The Strokes

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #199

Album Title: Is This it

Artist: The Strokes

Genre: Indie Rock, Garage Rock Revival, Post-Punk Revival

Recorded: Transporterraum Studios, New York City, U.S.A.

Released: July, 2001

My age at release: 36

How familiar was I with it before this week: Somewhat

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #114, moving up 85 spots

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Last Night

Pictured above is the album cover for the debut record Is This It from American rock band The Strokes – a photograph of a nude woman’s hip and buttocks, with her leather-gloved hand provocatively positioned. The original snapshot was taken by professional photographer Colin Lane on a Polaroid Big Shot camera. He took it spontaneously as his then-girlfriend (who still remains unnamed) stepped out of the shower and slipped on a black Chanel-quilted lambskin in their shared apartment.

A Chanel glove similar to the one used in the photoshoot.

As Lane tells the story:

“Shooting on a Big Shot isn’t easy; you can only shoot from a specific distance, and it’s really designed for head-and-shoulders portraits. But when she put the glove on and slid forward, I knew it was the perfect shot – simple, straightforward, graphic and just so sexy.”

A ‘70s advert for the Polaroid Big Shot

The album cover, which is included in the coffee table book The Greatest Album Covers of All Time, was only available to international audiences. In the United States, the release was delayed until October, 2001, and a different cover was chosen – a psychedelic photograph of subatomic particle tracks in a bubble chamber (below).

Initially, I assumed the “black glove cover” was deemed too racy for American retailers – particularly in the Bible Belt. However, I was wrong. Strokes’ manager Ryan Gentles was contacted by lead singer Julian Casblancas immediately before the release of the record in Japan and Europe to say: “I found something even cooler than that ass picture.” The call was too late because the album was already being printed. However, there was time to change the cover for the later U.S. release date.

The history of the album cover legend is complicated by a passage in The Strokes’ 2003 biography by Martin Roach in which the band allegedly admitted that ‘the fear of objections from America's conservative retail industry and right-wing lobby was also a reason for the artwork's alteration.”

Regardless of the cover, The Strokes exploded on the music scene in the early 2000s. Formed in New York City in 1997, the group helped kickstart the post-punk and garage band revival of the new millennium, alongside The White Stripes, The Hives, Jet, The Killers and Franz Ferdinand.

Singer Casablancas, guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fabrizio Moretti began playing together as teenagers while attending the prestigious Dwight School, a private preparatory college on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They added bassist Nikolai Fraiture and Albert Hammond Jr., both childhood friends of Casablancas.

The Strokes  (l-r) Valensi, Casablancas, Moretti, Hammond Jr., Fraiture

Like some popular bands and artists, including some I have written about in this blog series (Gram Parsons, Vampire Weekend, Lars Ulrich from Metallica and Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane), The Strokes are from wealthy families. For example, Casablancas' father, John, was the founder of Elite Model Management and worth nearly $100 million when he died in 2013. He was credited with developing the concept of the “supermodel” in popular culture, a phenomenon from the ’80s in which fashion models transitioned into celebrities in mainstream media – Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Claudia Schiffer, to name a few.

‘80s Supermodel Cindy Crawford in a Pepsi commercial.

John Casablancas was also a documented racist and serial sexual harasser who married a 17-year-old when he was 50. He avoided criminal charges in 2003 when a case of sexual abuse was dropped by the Los Angeles Superior County Court because he was not a California resident. He, along with David Copperfield and Donald Trump, judged the Elite Model Look annual competition. The prize: $150,000 and a chance to secure a modeling contract. It was criticized by journalists from The Guardian newspaper, as “a chance for the trio to proposition these young and vulnerable girls.”

Donald Trump posing with contestants, as featured in a 2020 expose from The Guardian.

I suppose there is an element of disdain on my part for highlighting the band’s affluent background. Taking a chance in the music business was not a financial risk to The Strokes. Had their ambitions been dashed, the quintet would still have had money, social status and financial opportunities to cushion their failure.

There is a part of me, and no doubt others from middle class and working class homes, who admire a band that struggles to make it from humble beginnings to superstardom. We can identify with their determination to achieve their dreams – the artists who saved to buy their instruments, lived in a van or couch-surfed, criss-crossing their country playing gigs that barely covered the costs. Artists on The 500, including Dolly Parton, Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Cash, are good examples.

In a research paper published in 2019, Danish economist Karol Jan Borowiecki analyzed the historical development of creative activity in the United States from 1850 - 2015. Among his conclusions was that “every $10,000 in total family income makes a person around 2 percent more likely to pursue a creative occupation — meaning that someone who comes from a family worth $1 million is ten times more likely to become an artist than someone whose family is worth $100,000.” (See source here)

 Karol Jan Borowiecki

However, there is another side to this argument. As the baseball analogy goes, The Strokes “hit a homerun after starting on third base”. However, that discounts the fact that they worked hard to make it to home plate. According to many sources, the band practised and performed tirelessly in the late-’90s and their seemingly meteoric rise to rock stardom was fueled by their dedication and hustle.

Furthermore, they knew how to write damn catchy tunes and picked the perfect time to relaunch the garage rock sound of the ‘70s. Much like the infamous black glove cover, they took a bang-on shot and made a record good enough to land at #199 on The 500.

The 500 - #200 - Highway To Hell - AC/DC

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #200
Album Title: Highway To Hell
Artist: AC/DC

Genre: Hard Rock, Blues Rock
Recorded: Roadhouse Studios, Chalk Farm, London, U.K.

Released: July, 1979
My age at release: 14
How familiar was I with it before this week: Quite

Is it on the 2020 list? No
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: If You Want Blood

Album cover for Highway To Hell, AC/DC (1979)

AC/DC, the hard rock band from Australia, have two records on The 500 list. Highway To Hell, their sixth studio record, was released on July 27, 1979, and became their breakthrough album in the U.K. and America. It featured singer Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott, who had been with the group since their debut release, High Voltage, in 1975. It was also the first record to be produced by Robert "Mutt" Lange who was well on his way to becoming one of the greatest recording architects of all time...and future husband of Canadian singing legend Shania Twain.

AC/DC singer Bon Scott 

The second release by AC/DC on The 500 is Back In Black (#77) which was released almost one year later (364 days to be exact) on July 25, 1980. It became their biggest selling record of all time, with more than 50 million units sold. It was also produced by Mutt Lange. However, it featured vocals from English singer Brian Johnson who joined the band in February, 1980, following the death of Scott.

Brian Johnson, 1980, shortly after taking over singing duties for AC/DC.

Scott, who had been drinking into the late evening at a club in London, England, called The Music Machine, had decided to sleep in a car owned by his friend, Alistair Kinnear. The following morning, Tuesday, February 19, Kinnear found him unresponsive. Authorities were alerted and Scott was rushed to the nearby King's College Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The coroner’s report concluded it was "a death by misadventure". It seems likely that a combination of alcohol, heroin and the cold weather led to pulmonary aspiration. Scott likely experienced an overdose, lapsed into unconsciousness and aspirated (choked) on his own vomit.

Statue of Bon Scott in Freemantle region of Perth, Australia. It is one of
two statues of the singer, the other in his birthplace, Northmuir, Scotland

Scott's death brought the AC/DC into my pop cultural orbit. As a 14-year-old high school freshman, I was keenly tuned to the conversations of senior students, particularly about music. Hard rock was king in my rural high-school and my classes were filled with long-haired, denim- and black leather-clad fans of KISS, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Queen and Black Sabbath. My first introduction to some of these bands came from seeing their logos scrawled on student binders and notebooks.

Band logos of several bands popular in the late 70s.

In the spring of 1980, the words "Long Live Bon Scott" or "R.I.P. Bon Scott" were frequently sketched on those same school books. I also started to see patches and pins memorializing the singer on classmates’ jackets. The tragedy also elevated the popularity of their most recent record, Highway To Hell, and AC/DC songs were featured more heavily on Detroit rock radio.

Bon Scott gravestone in Fremantle City, Australia.

During the summer of 1980, I moved to London, Ontario, and was delighted to be living in a larger metropolitan area that featured a transit system, multiple libraries, public swimming pools, arenas and community centres. However, more importantly, rock bands included London (The Forest City) on their tour schedules. Within a few weeks of my arrival, I learned that California rockers Van Halen would be playing the London Gardens. I wrote about this in a July, 2020 post, in context of their debut record (#415 on The 500).

A Van Halen "Invasion" shirt from the tour, identical to
one I owned and wore proudly for years after the London show.

Eight days following the Van Halen show, the sound of amplified guitars still ringing in my ears, AC/DC brought their high-octane rock show to the London Gardens venue. The event came on the same day their seventh album, Back In Black, was released and was the 14th show with new lead singer, Johnson. The tickets were only $8 and I considered going. However, I skipped it because, as ridiculous as it seems in retrospect, I felt my "tastes" had matured beyond the simplistic rock and roll of AC/DC.  

At 15, I was becoming enamoured with progressive rock bands, including Rush, Genesis and Yes. Foolishly, I felt that a band needed virtuoso players who tackled epic, lengthy songs with complex key and changing time signatures in order to be considered "worthy". Van Halen had "cut the mustard" at that time because the lead guitarist, Edward Van Halen, was considered a guitar prodigy. His brother, Alex, was no slouch on the drum kit either. I liked AC/DC, but had mentally relegated them to basement party stereo status.

A Back In Black concert shirt from the 1980 tour.

Years later, I became a much bigger fan of AC/DC and began to understand how well the group composed the memorable, catchy anthemic rock songs that dominate their 18 studio records (1975-2020). Sure, their songs are usually written in standard 4/4 time and built around a handful of common chords, but, there is something masterful about how they execute their playing. They’re wizards when it comes to incredible, catchy rock riffs around which their songs were structured. However, not unlike jazz, it's not just the riffs they play, it's the patience with which they are delivered and how the rhythm section (guitar, drums and bass) support the rest of the song.

AC/DC in 1979 - (l-r) Malcom Young (rhythm guitar), Bon Scott (vocals),
Cliff Williams (bass), Angus Young (lead guitar) and Phil Rudd (drums).

A friend of mine, former guest blogger Glen "Archie" Gamble, spent months touring with an AC/DC tribute act dubbed Who Made Who as their drummer.  He was tasked with replicating Phil Rudd's sound and style, and told me he was rehearsing diligently for a series of shows across Canada. I was struck when he said: "I have to go back and re-examine the songs, relearning them to get the proper feel."

Promotional poster for the AC/DC tribute band Who Made Who.

I'm glad that I have a better appreciation of the deceptive complexity of this fantastic rock band. However, I deeply regret my decision not to attend that July, 1980, concert....for $8, no less.

Long Live Bon Scott!

The 500 - #201 - The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #201
Album Title: The Downward Spiral
Artist: Nine Inch Nails 

Genre: Industrial Rock, Industrial Metal
Recorded: Three Studios, Los Angeles, U.S.A.

Released: March, 1994
My age at release: 28
How familiar was I with it before this week: Fairly

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #122, moving up 79 spots
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Piggy

Album cover for The Downward Spiral from Nine Inch Nails.

It was a line cook named Jeff Nisbet who first pushed a cassette copy of The Downward Spiral into my hands following a busy dinner shift at a London, Ontario, restaurant in the spring of 1994.

"You gotta hear this! It is incredible," he exclaimed.

Granted, he said that about a lot of music. Jeff was prone to superlatives when it came to his love of music and hockey. The two of us had bonded quickly around those two topics when I was first hired at the restaurant six months earlier. That, and the fact that he was, like me, born in St. Catharines, Ontario. Well, technically, he was from Thorold, -- a village that was incorporated into the Greater Niagara Region, including St. Catharines. Jeff was quite proud of being a classmate and friend of Thorold's best known citizen, Owen Nolan, who was drafted first overall into the 1990 National Hockey League by the Quebec Nordiques. Jeff proudly wore a Nolan Nordique jersey when we played pick-up hockey three times a week.

The only pictures I have of Jeff were scanned from
an old photo album -- notice his Nordiques jersey 
playing pick-up hockey.

I took the Nine Inch Nails cassette home and played it in the basement stereo of the townhouse I shared with two high school chums. I wasn't sure what I was hearing. I can't say I didn't like it. There were elements of hard rock that I appreciated; but there was something darker, grittier and more sinister about the sound. Of course, I'd heard about industrial music and could name a few bands that played the style, although I was less than enthusiastic about it. This record, the second from Nine Inch Nails, was essentially my initiation into the genre.

Industrial music was defined by the AllMusic database and website as "the most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music." It is a genre  that draws on, as the name suggests, harsh, mechanical and industrial sounds, blending them with avant garde experimental electronic noise. The pioneers of this provocative and transgressive cacophony was  the British group Throbbing Gristle, which coined the term along with the release of its first full-length record, The Second Annual Report, in 1977.

The Second Annual Report album cover from Throbbing Gristle

Although influential, Throbbing Gristle and other bands inspired by the industrial movement appealed to a niche audience and, unsurprisingly, their jarring, unconventional work did not enjoy mainstream success. However, that changed in the early 1990s with the hybrid genre of industrial metal and the emergence of bands that included Ministry, Rammstein, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie and Nine Inch Nails. Each had platinum-selling discs.

A collage of band logs from successful industrial metal bands of the 90s.

The Downward Spiral from Nine Inch Nails (often abbreviated to NIN, with the second N stylistically reversed) was by far the most successful record of its type. It was certified 3x platinum in Canada (300,000 units sold) and 4x platinum in the United States (four million sold).

The Downward Spiral was a concept record, detailing the protagonist's self-destructive plummet from misanthropic despair to suicidal ideation. The concept of a "downward spiral" was, prior to the album's release, an established clinical phenomenon in psychotherapy. It occurs when "negative emotions narrow one's attention and cognitive understanding of life's circumstances. This, in turn, initiates a spiral of emotional and physical changes which alter an individual's perception of their reality."

In a way, the “spiral” is an example of perpetual self-fulfilling prophecy. An individual loses his job and is unable to provide for his family. Understandably, he feels useless and inadequate. These feelings impact his ability to sleep, eat and socialize, consequently impacting his ability to secure gainful employment. Pushed deeper into depression, he begins to withdraw from friends and family. The cycle can persist without professional intervention and suicide is possible.

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. If you experience such feelings,

contact a professional (Dial or Text 9-8-8).

I'm not sure why the ‘90s featured so many depressing and tragic themes in pop culture. Industrial metal was only one form of entertainment rife with themes of nihilism, angst and hostile social critique. It was a time of grunge music and the ironic thrift store "anti-fashion" mentality that was spawned. Even the most popular movies were bummers as they tackled grim disaster themes (Titanic, Twister); the holocaust (Life Is Beautiful, Schindler's List); mental breakdowns (The Fisher King, Girl Interrupted, Fight Club); social lassitude (Slackers, Clerks); and crazed serial murders (Kalifornia, Natural Born Killers). Regardless, I watched every flick -- sometimes more than once.

The soundtrack to Natural Born Killers featured the song Burn from
Nine Inch Nails.

I suspect there were many factors – political, economic, technological and cultural –that contributed to the general sense of disillusionment that many people felt toward mainstream institutions as the millennium drew to a close. I'm sure sociologists have examined the causes far better than I could here. However, I admit getting caught up in that general malaise. Perhaps it was  a byproduct of transitioning through my late-twenties into my early thirties.

Me aged 29 in the summer of 1994 , at a road hockey tournament

in Victoria Park, London, Ontario.

When I think back on who I was at that time, it feels less like nostalgia and more like imagination. I'm really not sure who that guy was -- the one who worked in a bar, lived with roommates and borrowed industrial metal cassette tapes from kitchen chums. Relistening to The Downward Spiral certainly brought back a few emotions, fortunately, they were a mix, and some were even jovial -- particularly remembering Jeff Nisbet and his unabashed enthusiasm for music and hockey.