Bloggerhythms

Piano playing, rock pioneer Larry Williams (1935 -1980) is virtually forgotten today except by the dwindling number of people who know him through The Beatles. Williams won his fifteen minutes of fame in 1957 and 1958 by taking Little Richard Penniman's place at Specialty Records after the star quit rock 'n roll to become a minister. Specialty put a lot of work into grooming Williams to sound as similar to Little Richard as possible because of the potential they saw in him and because their big time cash cow was no longer on the label's roster. In relatively quick fashion Williams scored two gold records with "Short Fat Fannie," and "Bony Moronie." "You Bug Me Baby" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" also charted but, unfortunately, his success in America didn't last. However, his career in the United Kingdom was a bit more enduring. There, he was popular enough to heavily influence the rockers of the original British Invasion. John L...

Al Kooper had already established himself in the music business in several ways by the time he organized the eight piece horn-rock outfit, Blood, Sweat, and Tears. He was a member of Bob Dylan's controversial band that went electric at Newport. He was an imporatant member of The Blues Project and the composer of Gary Lewis and The Playboys' hit, "This Diamond Ring." So, when BS&T's debut album, Child Is Father To The Man , was released in 1968 no one was surprised that, despite poor sales, it became one of the classic records of the late 60s. Kooper's love of big band trumpeter Maynard Ferguson was the motivation behind his desire to form a rock band with a jazz aesthetic. The unit he assembled included a bunch of virtuosos and many went on to long, productive careers in the music business after their BS&T gig came to an end. Kooper, the primary composer, lead singer, and keyboard player for the new group, brought in his former...

A few years back Bloggerhythms posted a series on guilty pleasures . The posts make the point that we all have a few of these personal gems hidden away in or hearts, even if our heads won't allow us to admit it, while at the same time we all have a list of artists we are supposed to admire but can't. So today, as a followup to those little treatises, I give you five legendary musicians who don't deserve the love so many people heap upon them. Stars you are allowed to hate, and you know who you are Yoko Ono and Michael Bolton, are not included on this list. James Brown The man had tons of hits but every single one of them was exactly the same song. They all featured tuneless, staccato horns bleeping in the background, one note rhythm guitar playing, and wailing vocals. It seemed as if Brown laid down one arrangement on tape for his first record and sampled it for every other song he ever released. All he did was scream, sweat, and spastically spin his body around. ...