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Colt1861Navy

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Re: Colt1861Navy post# 876

Monday, 07/15/2002 1:06:15 AM

Monday, July 15, 2002 1:06:15 AM

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Rock 'n' Roll Artists A-Z....George Thorogood and the Destroyers

http://www.gthorogood.com/

http://personal.inet.fi/surf/tjal/thoro/thoro.htm

http://www.euronet.nl/users/ndlanker/gt/

http://www.catalystclub.com//bios/thorogood_bio.html

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/default.asp?oid=2034

Born 24 Feb. 1950, Wilmington, Delaware, USA. White blues guitarist George Thorogood first became interested in music, notably Chicago blues, when he saw John Paul Hammond performing in 1970. Three years later he formed the Destroyers in Delaware before moving them to Boston where they backed visiting blues stars.
Thorogood played early in his career as an opener for Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers and was greatly influenced by them. Other musicians worth mentioning are John Lee Hooker (Thorogood has said that he is the best man to play with Hooker because they both play as "wrong"), Elmore James, Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.

The Delaware Destroyers comprised Thorogood (guitar), Michael Levine (bass), and Jeff Simon (drums). School friend Ron Smith played guitar on and off to make up the quartet. There was briefly another bass player, Bill Judefind. According to some sources the Destroyers played quite often like the Houserockers, without a bass player. In 1974 they recorded some demos in Boston which were later released in 1979 as an MCA ripoff-album called Better Than The Rest.

No record company was really interested in them, so they kept on playing blues in small clubs. It was not until hot July night in 1975 when diehard blues fanatic John Forward was looking for some live blues in Boston area. He decided to go to Joe's Place in Cambridge although he had never heard of George Thorogood and Delaware Destroyers who played there. He got extremely exited about them, named himself as Fan Number 1 and put them in touch with independent folk label Rounder.

They made their first album in 1975 but the album was not released until 1977 because of many different reasons. Some say that Thorogood was too "rocking" for folk label Rounder, but Rounder claims that they had no suitable photos for the album (!!). During recording sessions bass player Levine was fired or resigned and was replaced by Bill Blough.

After some good publicity about their first album, Thorogood & Destroyers released their second album in 1978. That got much more fame and made Thorogood & Destroyers known even here in Finland... The title track, a cover of Hank Williams' classic, was pulled as a single and recieved heavy FM airplay, helping the album to the American Top 40 and go gold.

Smith left in 1980 and was replaced by saxophonist Hank Carter. Carter, who lived in the same city as Thorogood, was considered as the toughest player in town (even tougher than Thorogood) and nobody had the guts to ask him to join The Destroyers until 1980. Carter accepted their offer immediately and is still playing with them after 17 years.

Thorogood, a former semi-professional baseball player, took time away from music that season to play ball but by 1981 was back in the fold as the band opened for the Rolling Stones at several their American gigs. The venues were unfamiliar to Thorogood as normally he shunned large areas for smaller clubs, even going to extent of playing under false names to prevent the smaller venues being overcrowded.

George Thorogood & Destroyers' famous tour in 1981 was called 50/50. That meant they toured 50 states in 50 days and played a gig in every one of them. No nights off!

After their third album in 1980 with Rounder they signed to EMI. Their final breakthrough album was in 1982 released Bad To The Bone. Song called Bad To The Bone got to the movie Christine and they made their first music video from that same song featuring Thorogood and Bo Diddley playing some pool. The title track of the album became their first major crossover hit, thanks to MTV's saturation airplay of the song's video. The album went gold and spent nearly a full year on the charts.

In 1985 Destroyers released their perhaps best selling album, Maverick. A song from that album, I Drink Alone, even got to the Don't Drink and Drive-campaign. In the same year they appeared at Live Aid playing with blues legends Albert Collins and Bo Diddley.

In 1986 EMI noticed how popular George Thorogood And The Destroyers really were and released a live album called simply Live. They have continued releasing albums after that every two years and their newest album is in 1999 released Half a Boy Half a Man.

Nobody seems to know anything about George Thorogood's personal life. He doesn't want to talk about it, claiming that he is a ageless man who enjoys rough life and endless touring. He is interested only in music, beer, whiskey, women and baseball. He understands someone writing about John Lee Hooker or James Brown - people who've made an incredible impact on music history. But the Destroyers? We're like a burger joint, he says. Then again, there's nothing wrong with selling cheeseburgers as long as they're quality cheeseburgers, he adds and says that's the way he thinks of the Destroyers.

After nine albums and more than twenty years of performing live, George Thorogood & the Destroyers are, for the most part, thc same band that played their first gig at Lane Hall, University of Delaware, on December 1, 1973. While many bands changed sounds as the music scene evolved, George and the Destroyers stayed the course. They knew who they were and they set out to tell the world about it.

Back in those halcyon days, the band lived for and through the music, no u!terior motives whatsoever existed. To George Thorogood & the Destroyers it was about the lines of the interstate that rolled endlessly by through the windshield of the tour bus, not the riches of a 45RPM business that had transformed itself into an "industry" seemingly overnight. In fact, there were many tempting offers early on, but the band was wary of the crash-and-burn syndrome that afflicted so many who impulsively had jumped for the brass ring and opted for a more cautious course. They seized teir opportunity, methodically put tour after tour together, and are still going strong two decades later.

What has always been important to the Destroyers is the fact that everyone pulls together to make it happen. George Thorogood & the Destroyers approach their music in a workman like fashion. It's a job, pure and simple and they put all their effort into pleasing their working class fans who shell out their hard earned cash to have a good time. It's about everyone pulling together for a common goal. It's all about working together.

This record, therefore couldn't be more appropriately titled, George and the band wanted to make an album that captures the raw excitement of the live show. In chooslng to record this album llve, the gave themselves the opportunity to involve the fans who have provided the incentive and support to go on this long -- to push them to take the show over the top time and time again. Without these fans, the last twenty years would never have happened. This album then is all about the Destroyers and their fans working together to make it happen. George Thorogood & the Destroyers have always been about good times and having fun, and they've hit the mark with this record once again. As George gleefully shouts at the intro to the title track, "If you want to look up the definition of fun in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of this man...Mr. Elvin Bishop," whereupon the legendary guitarist joins the Destroyers in a spirited reworking of the Wilbert Harrison classic. As you'd expect, this collection contains some of the band's classic material, including "Get A Haircut," "Move It On Over" and "If You Don't Start Drinkin' (I'm Gonna Leave)," but it also takes some interesting departures, not least of which are "Johnny B. Goode" and "St. Louis Blues," both of which feature Johnny Johnson, Chuck Berry's keyboard player and collaborator. Johnny also contributes a haunting piano refrain on the title track and served as an instrumental catalyst to those tracks which were recorded in St. Louis at Mississippi Nights and in Atlanta at the Centre Stage Theatre. As proud as George Thorogood & the Destroyers are of their longevity and achievements, they'd rather be regarded, even after all these years, as a work in progress.

The Band

http://www.gthorogood.com/theband.html

George Thorogood and the Destroyers I (1973 - 1980)

George Thorogood - guitar/vocals - b. December 31, 1952, Wilmington, Delaware.
Ron Smith - guitar
Billy Blough - bass
Jeff Simon - drums

Albums:
"George Thorogood and the Destroyers" (1977)
"Move It On Over" (1978) - Single: "Move It On Over"
"Better Than the Rest" (1979) - reissued as "Nadine"
"Nadine" (1998) - reissue of 1979 album "Better Than the Rest"

George Thorogood and the Destroyers II (1980 - 1985)

George Thorogood - guitar/vocals
Billy Blough - bass
Jeff Simon - drums
Hank Carter - sax

Albums:
"More George Thorogood and the Destroyers" (1980)
"Bad to the Bone" (1982) - Single: "Bad to the Bone"

George Thorogood and the Destroyers III (1985 - Present)

George Thorogood - guitar/vocals
Billy Blough - bass
Jeff Simon - drums
Hank Carter - sax
Steve Chrismar - guitar

Albums:
"Maverick" (1985)
"Live" (1986)
"Born to Be Bad" (1988)
"Boogie People" (1991)
"Haircut" (1993)
"Let's Work Together Live" (1995)
"Rockin' My Life Away" (1997)
"Half a Boy / Half a Man" (1999)

Compilations:

"The Baddest of George Thorogood and the Destroyers" (1992)

Discography

Half a Boy Half a Man (1999)
Rockin' My Life Away (1997)
Let's Work Together Live (1995)
Haircut (1993)
The Baddest Of George Thorogood
and the Destroyers (1992)
Boogie People (1991)
The George Thorogood Collection (1989)
Born To Be Bad (1988)
Live (1986)
Maverick (1985)
Bad To The Bone (1982)
More George Thorogood and the
Destroyers (1980)
Better Than The Rest (1979)
Move It On Over (1978)
George Thorogood and the
Destroyers (1977)

http://www.gthorogood.com/discs/discs.html

Tour Pics

http://www.gthorogood.com/tour.html

News

http://www.gthorogood.com/news.html

Interviews

http://www.gthorogood.com/interview.html

Tour Dates

http://www.gthorogood.com/calendar/dates.html

Lyrics

http://personal.inet.fi/surf/tjal/thoro/lyrics.htm



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