Blues Battle: John Lee Hooker vs. Howlin' Wolf

[bobthedrummer]

Poll question: Blues Battle: John Lee Hooker vs. Howlin' Wolf

John Lee Hooker link
http://w1.191.telia.com/~u19104970/johnnielee.html

Howlin' Wolf link
http://www.howlinwolf.com/


This is basement blues. Deep, deep stuff.

Who would you prefer to listen to right now?

[jpgray]

1. I like John, but Chester is the man (nt)

[bobthedrummer]

4. Tonight I voted for John Lee Hooker.

Tomorrow it could very well be Howlin' Wolf!
:smoke:

[bubblesby2002]

15. Me too

John Lee is my favourite.:smoke:

[bobthedrummer]

17. "Crawling Kingsnake"!

:smoke:

[flamingyouth]

2. Gotta go with Wolf

We named our late cat Chester after him.

[NightTrain]

3. No question: Wolf!

John Lee made some great records, but Wolf had the voice, y'all!

[bobthedrummer]

5. They both had voices, man!

Even though nobody was as primal as The Wolf, I gave the edge of musicianship to John-BOOGIE!:bounce:

[bobthedrummer]

6. "Mama, mama, mama, mama-talk to your daughter for me"

vs.

"I'm leaving you woman, before I commit a crime"

[NightTrain]

8. "Mama, Talk To Your Daughter" was J.B. Lenore.

Now, there's a sadly forgotten blues great!

[bobthedrummer]

10. John Lee covered it , but, credit goes to J.B.

He covered it great! That's the blues!

[Kenneth ken]

7. Built For Comfort

definitely Mr Burnett.

I AM the back door man

[lucidmadman]

9. I asked my baby for some water...

...but she gave me gasoline...

Is anyone here old enough to remember, like me, when The Stones and Howlin' Wolf were on Shindig?

[bobthedrummer]

11. Yep. I'm 54, ask me anything-lol

a boomer!

[lucidmadman]

14. Cool! I'm 52...

...that was a great era in popular music on 'top 40' am radio. Chuck Berry was still having hits, there were cross-over hits like Slim Harpo's 'Baby,scratch my back'. Stax/Volt records. Nawlins records. The second generation 'British invasion' bands like The Yardbirds, Them, The Who, etc. It was quite a mix then amidst all the usual shmaltzy pop junk...

[bobthedrummer]

16. Chuck Berry tunes pretty much were the soundtrack of early school age

for me , man! Although back then true Country&Western music was a staple of home.
Hank Williams, George Jones, Johnny Cash, Bob Willis, Hank Snow, Marvin Rainwater, Lefty Frizell, Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline...:hi:

[bobthedrummer]

12. I usually go with the Chicago Blues. Willie Dixon gave the Wolf

such fantastic tunes!

But "House Rent Boogie"-WOOHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[rhino47]

13. Crying wolf

but give me the 3 kings too

[bobthedrummer]

18. Well now it's almost tied!

I'll bet it's those Australians that get here about this time, they're voting now.
:smoke:

[bobthedrummer]

19. One thing is for sure-both of these artists were highly influential

to a lot of today's musicians all over the world.

[bobthedrummer]

20. Bedtime kick-it's all tied up now--see ya later

[bobthedrummer]

21. I'm back and even though there's been four more votes cast-it's tied

dead even!

[bif]

22. Explain this to me about John Lee Hooker

Why was he considered a Detroit bluesman when he lived most of his life in Chicago?

[bobthedrummer]

24. And he was born in Mississippi, raised in Tennessee

for a while he was " the boogie man"...

[bobthedrummer]

23. Here is a real Howlin' Wolf link-the one I put in the first post was an ad

I was high last night, but that's no excuse. Sorry:smoke:

Howlin' Wolf
http://www.furious.com/perfect/wolf/

[livetohike]

25. Now I'll be humming/singing John Lee Hooker songs all day!

But that's a good thing :-).

[bobthedrummer]

26. A very good thing indeed!

:hi:

[livetohike]

27. Thanks for reviving some good memories :-)

It's March 1975 (wow, almost 30 years ago!). I'm at a great blues concert in a crowded old movie theater in Pgh.

The line up:

John Lee Hooker
Junior Wells/Buddy Guy
T-Bone Walker (I think it was one week before he died)
Bobby Blue Band

It was standing room only. Lots of smoke and great blues. Sigh....

[bobthedrummer]

28. T-Bone Walker gave John Lee Hooker his first electric guitar.

What a show that must have been!

[Kat45]

29. Saw John Lee Hooker play in a small club in the '80s.

It was a great show.

[mitchum]

30. Howlin' Wolf is the greatest singer who ever walked the earth...

everyone else is battling for second place

[Zinfandel]

31. I saw them both, Wolf at the Avalon and John Lee at the Fillmore...

I like them both very much.

But it was Howlin' Wolf who really knocked me out!

[bobthedrummer]

32. When I was about four or five we lived in Oakland

but we moved back to Wisconsin, lucky you in the Bay.
:hi:

[Redleg]

33. Both great but how about Muddy?

Gotta love that stuff...

[LWolf]

34. John Lee Hooker.

Love 'em both, but I got to see Hooker live, so I'm a little biased.

[Whitacre D_WI]

35. Wolf, Wolf, Wolf.

Other than Wolf, I really don't like anything calling itself "blues" that was recorded by anyone who started playing after about 1930.

The whole "Chicago Blues" scene was a travesty, IMO. Much like disco destroyed R&B by making it all about the beat instead of the vocalist; Chicago blues did the same thing to the great American folk blues tradition -- the singer doesn't matter, the lyrics don't matter, all that matters is having someone who can play a really ripping guitar solo.

But Wolf was still the star. Even though he played with guitarists like Buddy Guy, Wolf was the star. Wolf made blues records that were about the SINGER and the SONG rather than some guitar solo.

Wolf belongs in the same pantheon as Skip James, Blind Willie McTell, Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, and Charley Patton.

I do like Hooker better than a lot of those electric "blues" wankers that came later (SRV, solo Clapton, crap like that), but he ain't no Wolf.

[bobthedrummer]

36. I disagree with your criticism of Chicago Style Blues-my personal

favorite style--they amplified everything and really brought out the best in each other.

Chess Records helped, too.