Help me find some good blues-rock songs

December 10, 2007 7:06 PM

Can you think of any other blues-rock songs with the same rhythmic pattern as Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" and ZZ Top's "La Grange"?
posted by BradNelson to media & arts (11 comments total)

Boom Boom by John Lee Hooker

Funny you posted this -- I heard "Spirit in the Sky" today and realized how much I hate that song, in particular Norman Greenbaum's incredibly white interpretation of the blues rhythm you mentioned.
posted by dhammond at 7:11 PM on December 10, 2007

Memphis Tennessee by Chuck Berry
posted by Sara Anne at 7:15 PM on December 10, 2007

"Hot For Teacher" by Van Halen has the same John Lee Hooker riff as La Grange.
posted by sourwookie at 7:21 PM on December 10, 2007

Bad Seed by Metallica is syncopated like that, strumming between the beats.
posted by Khalad at 7:34 PM on December 10, 2007

Tom Petty's "Saving Grace"

The Four Horsemen "Nobody said it was Easy"

Not blue's rock at all: Dio's "Holy Diver"
posted by davey_darling at 8:29 PM on December 10, 2007

Help Me - Sonny Boy Williamson II
Green Onions - Booker T. and the MGs
Shake Your Hips - Slim Harpo (and the Rolling Stones)
posted by timeistight at 8:54 PM on December 10, 2007

I would call that rhythm "boogie".

For blues-rock, definitely Canned Heat's On The Road Again.
posted by alb at 5:19 AM on December 11, 2007

"Electric Worry" by Clutch.
"One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" covered by George Thorogood. John Lee Hooker original, right?

Here are a few ditties that have a much heavier version of that rythym, but you can hear blues roots (somewhere under the screaming, hehe). These probably won't appeal to ears born after 1975, so fair warning. I said "probably".

"Thumb" by Kyuss.
"Eyes of the South" by Down. At least the intro and the verse.
"Methamphetamine" by Eyehategod.
posted by disaster77 at 7:32 AM on December 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

hmmm....I think (but I'm not totally sure) that everyone above ripped off all of that from Bo Diddley (minus John Lee Hooker and Sonnie Boy Williamson).

Try to find a track called Bring it to Jerome, or just "Jerome"...let me know if I'm right.
posted by sully75 at 11:31 AM on December 11, 2007

Not blues rock but using that riff - OOH LA LA by Goldfrapp
posted by canoehead at 8:19 PM on December 11, 2007

Canned Heat and the Chipmunks - The Chipmunk Song

Merry Christmas, y'all!
posted by hydrophonic at 10:56 AM on December 24, 2007