Who IS King Of The Blues?!

Shane Smith

my nominees....
-B.B. King:cool:
-Clapton:cool:
-The Ice Man Albert Collins :cool:
-Gary Moore :mad:
-Stevie Ray Vaughan

few others;
-Gallagher
-Hendrix
-Page
-Albert King
-Robert Johnson
-John Mayall
-Santana

anyone else? don't have to be anyone technically superior, in fact most blues greats hardly played at all;)

would love to hear some recommendations too, have blues addiction....

Zaph

Jimi Hendrix

No Muddy Waters, Lead Belly, Lightning Hopkins, Howlin' Wolf, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Little Walter, Willie Dixon? And they're just the obvious ones that spring to mind. Of the choices on offer I have to go with Robert Johnson.

A good recommendation is the 5cd set "Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues", which has much of the music from his US tv series. It starts off at the very eariest stuff and comes right up to date. If you're into really old-style, historical blues, although judging by the choice on the poll I suspect you're not, try and track down any Alan Lomax recordings you can (Tower had some in the past). He's the guy who first recorded Muddy Waters (who is essential listening) and recorded a lot of prison work gang songs, similar to what you see at the start of "O Brother, Where Art Thou". What Lomax recorded is essentially the origin of the blues.

Doctor J

Albert King, he was a god to the gods of blues

Ancient1

I don't think i can single out one player from that list...

But some of the Titans (of electric blues) are Jimi, Albert Collins, Albert King, Freddy King, BB King, Robert Cray, Johnny Copeland and, of course, the great great great SRV.

My favourite (i don't like using the loaded term "best") is SRV. He kills me like no other maestro listed above and makes my balls jangle (thanks for that immortal phrase, Doc ) - he was pure, unadulterated passion - like Jimi. Although Jimi was wild, uncontrolled and uncontrollable, SRV was a bit more disciplined in his approach.

Absolutely essential listening: Albert King and SRV, "In Session", and Albert Collins, Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland, "Showdown!".

Doctor J

Ancient1 wrote:

(thanks for that immortal phrase, Doc )

Stole one of your lines in return

Ancient1

I bet it's the creme of profanity

Doctor J

Naturally, I edited all the swearing out

juno75

Absolutely essential listening: Albert King and SRV, "In Session"

Yeah thats a great album, I never heard of it and found it for 6 euro odd in HMV.

I love the pep talks with Albert and Stevie between the tracks.

I agree with the ball jangle thing, Stevie was the man for that.
It comes down to 'standing on the sholders of giants'

Stevie was obsessed with Albert and got a lot of Flack in the early days for just being an Albert King impersonator. He was but he added so much to it.

If you need a crash course in Blues Guitar learn some of stevies licks becasue you are learning BB, Freddie King,Albert King etc etc all at the same time

What was that Dennis Leary Line -

'You mean Stevie Ray Vaughan is dead and we cant get Jon Bon Jovi in a helicoptor?'

SRV's albums are great but you really need to watch him live to get what he had. El Mocambo (most intense strat abise I ever saw) and Live in Japan are awsome.

Must stop gushing now....

Ancient1

Damn, haven't seen Live in Japan yet....is that an official release?
Must get it! As for El Mocambo, i watch religiously as often as i can (whenever the missus is out ). Live from Austin is a great DVD too.

I love the pep talks with Albert and Stevie between the tracks.

That's just amazing - and when you think about the fact that Stevie was still very shy and holding back.........the master and the disciple
Albert already knew at that stage that Stevie has not only been heavily influenced by him, but that he incorporated many of Albert's techniques into his own playing and mastered them - Albert basically "passed the torch", as it was written in the liner notes.

Also, you should watch A Tribute to SRV - Bonnie Raitt, BB King, Dr. John, Robert Cray, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Vaughan, dunno if i missed anyone out, but you can only imagine what goes on..

There's an interview bit with Eric Clapton, and he's describing the first time he heard SRV play on the radio. He was listening to a tune off David Bowie's Let's Dance album, and when he heard the guitar playing, he brought the car to a halt and said: i have to find out who this guitar player is. Not later, not tomorrow, NOW.

Shane Smith

Eric Clapton

zaph wrote:

If you're into really old-style, historical blues, although judging by the choice on the poll I suspect you're not...

now that's a silly assumption, u can only fit 10 names in the Polls and i tried to cover what others would say. I *love* the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, also big into John Lee Hooker, BB King & Clapton.

I'm personally not a major Rory Gallagher fan, maybe in time...

Got Stevie Ray Vaughan DVD in Montreux '82 & '85, probably a bit ahead of his time but great blues man...

Also into Gary Moore, but not his '80's heavy rock

But to suggest I'm not "into old-style historical blues" is not true by any means! Remember we're talking about the coveted title of "King Of The Blues" I think I'd go for B.B. King above all others, dunno why he just stinks of the blues;)

juno75

Live in Japan -

I think its offical, the case looks legit. Some german company I never heard of distrubutes it. The footage quality is pretty dodgy but thats not really the point!
he is playing clean and sober and you can tell, its a bit tighter over all.
He comes out smoking a big curvy pip a la Albert King, which looks dead cool with stevie's fashion 'sense'

One thing I love in the Japan vid is he uses all his main strats rather than sticking to No.1 (he does uses that baby a lot but snaps a few strings)

Tribute Vid sounds good, cheers, did not hear about that one

I remember Clapton saying at a stevie gig one time that he just had to leave and go back to the hotel half way through the set becasue he was getting depressed with an inferority complex!! May be a myth but sound true.
Clapton is a dude but nothing on SRV

I think I'd go for B.B. King above all others, dunno why he just stinks of the blues

Buddy Guy said every guitar should hav BB's name on the headstock becasue of his influence. He is still gigging ffs!!
I love his style but its quite easy to learn (essential for Blues studants tho) and he basically does not play chords. How does he write such great songs only playing lead?!!

Ancient1

He comes out smoking a big curvy pip a la Albert King, which looks dead cool with stevie's fashion 'sense'

lol, i have to see that...you just have to love the man!

I remember Clapton saying at a stevie gig one time that he just had to leave and go back to the hotel half way through the set becasue he was getting depressed with an inferority complex!! May be a myth but sound true.

There is some truth to that - not the bit about him leaving the set though - but i cant exactly remember his words. It's on that Tribute DVD. It's eye-opening really, when you see Clapton (speaking with so much authority) saying how Stevie would just literally fill the room with his personality, his music and his playing, and how it was hard not to feel like running away from that and feeling inferior.

Even BB King (if i remember correctly, or whas it Albert?) is quoted as saying somewhere: "I would describe him as a guitar master. He made up his mind that the guitar wasnt gonna master him, he was going to master it - and he did just that".

Zaph

Jimi Hendrix

Shane Smith wrote:

zaph wrote:

If you're into really old-style, historical blues, although judging by the choice on the poll I suspect you're not...

now that's a silly assumption, u can only fit 10 names in the Polls and i tried to cover what others would say. I *love* the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, also big into John Lee Hooker, BB King & Clapton.

I'm personally not a major Rory Gallagher fan, maybe in time...

Got Stevie Ray Vaughan DVD in Montreux '82 & '85, probably a bit ahead of his time but great blues man...

Also into Gary Moore, but not his '80's heavy rock

But to suggest I'm not "into old-style historical blues" is not true by any means! Remember we're talking about the coveted title of "King Of The Blues" I think I'd go for B.B. King above all others, dunno why he just stinks of the blues;)

I didn't mean it as a criticism, so sorry if I came across that way. I was just commenting on the choices you had in the poll, which has a definite bias towards more modern blues, whereas if I was putting up the same poll I'd have a lot of the early guys in it. That diversity is really what makes the blues so great..

Velvet Vocals

Albert Collins

What about the Queen of the Blues????
Peggy Lee?
Janis Joplin?
Etta James?

Zaph

Jimi Hendrix

And don't forget Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday

Nichololas

Rory Gallagher

Where do you guys get SRV videos? Been a fan for a while but havent noticed any videos around. Although this reminds me that I still have that Hendrix dvd lying around somewhere.

SRV
Hendrix
Joplin (since i'm not familiar with any other female bluespeople)

Velvet Vocals

Albert Collins

zaph wrote:

And don't forget Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday

Totally!!! I smell a new post thread coming on....

Ancient1

Enlil_Nick wrote:

Where do you guys get SRV videos? Been a fan for a while but havent noticed any videos around.

You can get them from play.com for a very decent price.

Remember to buy in sterling from them, not Euros, coz they tend to mark up a bit...just use xe.com to do the conversion.

And remember - boycott HMV!

Shane Smith

Eric Clapton

ha dunno when the last time I was in HMV! Is that place still goin!


I got SRV Live in Montreux '82 and Gary Moore Live in Montreux '90 from Amazon.co.uk but there's loads of those sites with every CD you could ever want but could never find in Eire

New nominee for King Of The Blues...
Homer Simpson "Born Under A Bad Sign" on The Simspons Play The Blues LP

Ancient1

Poppa Chubby, anyone?

He's good, very good.

stagolee

Jimi Hendrix

a few of my favourites:
howlin wolf
john lee hooker
leadbelly
robert johnson

and of course my very favourite:
mississippi john hurt (thats him down there in my sig )

seeing as people were mentioning the oh brother where art thou soundtrack ill have to put in that i really like "hard time killing floor blues" by chris thomas king. im more ino the old style acoustic bluse really but ive got a soft spot for bb king, went to see him at a free concert in college green years ago, great gig

Shane Smith

Eric Clapton

http://www.worldblues.com/bbking/prairie/influenc.html

makes me feel kinda

DublinWriter

Robert Johnson.

End of debate, thank you all very much for coming along, nothing to see here anymore.

None of the forementioned would be even in the running if it wasn't for Mr.Johnson.

Shane Smith

Eric Clapton

actually Robert Johnson probably was the original....

But riddle me this!

It is widely considered that most modern day popular music (Rock especially) derived from the Blues, this includes Soul, Pop, Rock n Roll, Reggae etc.

It is widely considered that Robert Johnson was arguably the most influential blues man.

It is widely considered that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads to become what he was.

So by this process, its Devil > Robert Johnson > Blues > Popular Music

Therefore, one could suggest all popular music was created by the Devil himself!!!!

stagolee

Jimi Hendrix

im not sure but i think leadbelly was around before robert johnson or was at least a very early contemporary of his.
robert johnson learned the blues from charlie patton and willie brown who were both very well respected delta bluesmen. he was also greatly influenced in his style by son house who was a big name in blues circles but the blues only started being recorded in the late twenties which was robert johnsons heyday which is why the "father of the blues" tag isnt entirley acurate, he didnt just make up the blues by himself.
but for a guy that only lived to the age of 27 and only recorded about 29 songs he made a huge impact on the blues and music as a a whole.

EDIT:and of course there is mississippi john hurt who would have been around about the same time if not a little earlier and taught himself to play the guitar hence his very distinct style (bah! cant beleive i forgot to mention him hes right there in my sig)

Ancient1

Let's keep this casual, there's no need to nitpick.

But if you want to nitpick, then try and fit Big Bill Broonzy into the equation and then get back to me.

StevieG

Jimi Hendrix

Robert Johnson

rattboy

The King Of The Blues? What a stupid poll

Zaph

Jimi Hendrix

Well please enlighten us as to what sort of better poll you would like to see, O Wise One.

rattboy

One that doesnt narrow down an entire genre to one person, which is just pointless and irrelevant.

Zaph

Jimi Hendrix

There are polls for everything these days - you could argue that a poll for the best film/band/footballer/whatever, are equally pointless and irrelevant, but so what, it's only a bit of fun and it gets people talking about their favourite musicians.