The Emergence Of Blues Rock –
Blues Rock in the UK
While blues music was not that well known to white audiences during the 1940’s and 50’s in the United States, Europe was a different story, thanks largely to smaller blues record labels like Chess Records which found broad market penetration in many European countries. In the United Kingdom, the burgeoning rock and roll movement was influenced by the blues directly through touring American blues musicians.
Artists like Big Bill Broonzy, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Muddy Waters toured the lucrative British market in the 1950’s, introducing the United Kingdom to American Delta Blues. Starting in 1962, the popular American Folk Blue Festival introduced British youth to artists like Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson.
The first shows in Manchester and London were attended by many fledgling British musicians who would later spearhead the British Invasion such as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood and Eric Burdon. In many ways the British Invasion of the 1960’s was fueled by the blues.
Young British musicians were enamored with the music of the touring American blues artists, and they in turn added their own touches to their reinterpretation of America blues blended with rock and roll bringing it full circle back to the United States with the popularity of bands like the Rolling Stones, Cream, the Animals and Led Zeppelin.
In 1954 two jazz musicians who shared a love of American blues, Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies, formed a duo that began playing in some London jazz clubs. In 1961 they officially formed their band Blues Incorporated, which included singer Long John Baldry, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Charlie Watts. They launched a regular rhythm and blues night at the Ealing Jazz Club where soon to be famous performers such as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton would sit in with them.
The importance of the rise of blues rock in the UK cannot be understated. The British Invasion in the 1960’s was fueled by many of the early adherents of blues rock and was crucial to reintroducing the blues to a more global audience. Bands like the Yardbirds, the Rolling Stones and others enjoyed immense success and inspired the next generation of blues rock bands. Even Jimi Hendrix broke big in the UK before finally finding success in the United States. Hendrix moved to London in 1966 and had three top ten hits there before his triumphant return to the United States in 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival.
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers
John Mayall was also critical in the development of blues rock in the UK. His seminal band, the Bluesbreakers was a hatchery for some of the most accomplished blues rock guitarists of the 60’s and 70’s including Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor. His Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton debut album (sometimes referred to as the “Beano” album) from 1966 was indispensable in setting the framework for the guitar-centric sound that characterizes blues rock. In many ways, the Bluesbreakers go beyond being an early influence in the development of blues rock – they helped shape the sound, trained some of the key musicians in the movement, and defined the direction of this subgenre of music.
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones were among the most successful bands that dabbled in the blues. Named for a Muddy Waters song by band founder Brian Jones, they had their origins from the open blues sessions at the Ealing Jazz Club in London.
Enamored with the music of Waters, Robert Johnson, Jimmy Reed and other legendary bluesmen, their earliest albums included covers of classic blues tunes. Although they moved toward a more pop oriented sound in the mid-1960’s, they returned to blues rock whole-heartedly with the release of Beggars Banquet in late 1968. Their next three albums (Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street) set the standard for blues rock in the 1970’s.
While staying faithful to the blues, the Stones infused a freshness to that foundation, making it palatable and relevant to modern listening audiences. Their recording catalog is filled with stellar takes on blues classics like “Love In Vain”, “Stop Breaking Down” and “You Gotta Move”, as well as blues originals (see in particular “Stray Cat Blues” or “Ventilator Blues”).
The Yardbirds
Aside from the Stones, one of the most important bands in the emergence of blues rock was The Yardbirds. The Yardbirds are probably best known for introducing the world to guitar legends Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, all of whom played in the band at various points.
Succeeding The Rolling Stones as the house band at the famous Crawdaddy Club in Richmond just outside London, the Yardbirds initially were deeply influenced by the blues and performed covers of classic blues songs by Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Bo Diddley, and Sonny Boy Williamson II. With guitar virtuoso Clapton joining them in 1963, they recorded two blues singles before scoring a major hit with the pop oriented “For Your Love.”
This move toward a more commercial sound hastened the departure of Clapton, who was a blues purist, and he was eventually replaced by Beck. They continued to be successful despite lineup changes until the band finally segued into what became Led Zeppelin under the guidance of Page.
The Animals
More than most of the other bands that spearheaded the emergence of blues rock, The Animals perhaps best exemplified the style of Chicago Blues, with a raw gritty sound that fused the blues, rock, folk and soul.
Formed in Newcastle in 1962, their early set lists included blues standards, including songs by notable American blues artists like Jimmy Reed and John Lee Hooker. It was likely the voice of front man Eric Burdon that made The Animals stand out from other British bands at that time. Burdon’s deep, compelling voice has often been compared to legendary blues artists like Waters and Hooker. Although the original version of The Animals was short-lived, they continue to influence many contemporary blues-rock artists.
The Small Faces
The importance of The Small Faces to blues rock can be found in their position as one of the key bands in the British Mod movement and how they popularized a raw, rhythm and blues sound among British youth. Led by the gritty yet soulful vocals of Steve Marriott, the Small Faces combined rhythm and blues, soul and pop encapsulated within a basic blues rock riff structure.
While not as steeped in the blues as other early blues rock bands, their influence is more subtle and indirect. One need only listen to their cover of Muddy Water’s “You Need Loving” to realize the origin of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.” Both the heavier tone, and even more directly, the bluesy, sexualized phrasing of the vocals borrow openly from the Small Faces’ version of the song. Moreover bands/artists such as Aerosmith and Gary Moore have acknowledged their respect for the gritty power of the Small Faces’ sound.
Perhaps more importantly, the bands that spawned from the dissolution of the original group lineup in 1969 with the departure of Marriott had an even greater impact on the evolution of blues rock. Marriott formed Humble Pie with Peter Frampton from The Herd, a band many critics cite as an exemplary foundational blues rock band. When Marriott left, the remaining members of The Small Faces recruited singer Rod Stewart and guitarist Ronnie Wood from The Jeff Beck Group to form the rechristened Faces, who perfected the relaxed, bluesy pub-rock sound that characterized 1970’s blues rock.
Humble Pie
Formed in 1969 by Steve Marriott (Small Faces), Peter Frampton (The Herd), Greg Ridley (Spooky Tooth) and Jerry Shirley, Humble Pie initially leaned toward a more folk and blues orientation before the band was encouraged by their new label, A&M Records, to move toward a harder, boogie-driven blues rock sound.
Their 1971 album, Rock On, proved to be their most successful to date, and fully embraced the raw energy of blues rock. Humble Pie was also starting to gain a reputation as one of the best live bands on the music scene. Marriott’s expressive vocals and Frampton’s brilliance on lead guitar translated well to the stage, and that synergy was captured magnificently on Performance: Rockin’ The Fillmore, widely considered to be one of the best live albums ever recorded. Their live rendition of “I Don’t Need No Doctor” became the definitive rock version of the Ray Charles hit and was on heavy rotation for FM radio stations across the United States.
But as the album was climbing the charts, Frampton had already left the group due to creative differences with Marriott. His replacement, Clem Clempson, signaled a move to an even heavier sound, and the next album Smokin’ (1972), fueled by the singles “Hot ‘n’ Nasty” and “30 Days in the Hole”, became the band’s most commercially successful.
Although Humble Pie recorded several more albums over the next few years, Marriott had grown increasingly restless, and the band disbanded in 1975 due to creative differences. There were several attempts after that to revive the band, but they never again achieved the success they had in the early 1970’s. While Humble Pie had a relatively short peak period, their legacy remains as one of the definitive examples of early blues rock.
Fleetwood Mac
More well known for their later incarnation as a pop rock band, Fleetwood Mac began as a British blues band that performed Chicago style blues. Peter Green formed Fleetwood Mac after leaving John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers (where he had replaced Eric Clapton on guitar), taking along with him Mick Fleetwood, and later, John McVie from Mayall’s band, and adding slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer. They made their debut in 1967 at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor, UK, and released their self-titled first album in early 1968.
This early period Fleetwood Mac was critical in taking British blues rock from a marginal genre on the music scene to a mainstream phenomenon, with a fluid, refined tone that went beyond the raw power seen in many other blues rock bands. Green’s mastery of the guitar was central to their sound. Whereas other guitarists of the time relied on volume, speed and distortion, Green employed an emotive approach that relied on phrasing and melodiousness resulting in what B.B. King characterized as the “sweetest tone.”
The band achieved a level of popular success with such hits as the Green penned “Black Magic Woman” and “Oh Well”, but remained largely true to their blues roots, even recording a collaborative album, Fleetwood Mac in Chicago, with such blues luminaries as Buddy Guy, Otis Spann and Willie Dixon. Green’s mental health, however, had begun to decline, particularly after some experimentation with LSD. Green finally quit the band in 1970 shortly after recording his final song with the band, “The Green Manalishi”, and Fleetwood Mac slowly moved toward soft rock that made them immensely popular in the mid-1970’s.
Cream
Clapton formed the band Cream along with blues stalwarts Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker in 1966. Perhaps the first “supergroup” of rock and roll, Cream’s repertoire was deeply seeded in the blues. Although their career as a band was short, lasting only three years, they released four albums in that time span – Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears, Wheels of Fire, Goodbye – that changed the direction of rock music.
Their music catalog was comprised of new takes of blues classics like “Spoonful” and “Crossroads”, as well as original songs that shaped blues rock, like “White Room” and “Sunshine of Your Love”. Unlike many of the bands in the late 1960’s, Cream didn’t rely on the standard verse, chorus, short solo format of popular music during this time, but instead leaned heavily on their own virtuosity as musicians so that their live performances included a great deal of improvisation.
Long standing tension between Baker and Bruce led to the band’s breakup in 1968, although they did agree to a final album, Goodbye, and supporting tour. Cream’s legacy is in the way they transformed blues rock from a basic fusion of blues and rock to a high powered, virtuosic form of music. Their unique “heavy” sound set the stage for the hard rock and heavy metal that followed in the 1970’s, as bands like Deep Purple, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath all acknowledge the influence of Cream.
Jeff Beck Group
Shortly after leaving The Yardbirds in 1966, Jeff Beck formed his own band, recruiting relatively unknowns Rod Stewart (on vocals) and Ronnie Wood (bass and guitar) along with drummer Micky Waller. Initially refining their sound on the UK club circuit, they recorded their groundbreaking debut album Truth and embarked on a U.S. tour in the summer of 1968.
In many ways, this incarnation of The Jeff Beck Group was Led Zeppelin before we had Led Zeppelin (in fact some early reviews of Led Zeppelin’s own debut album compared it unfavorably to the Jeff Beck Group). Their sound fused blues and rhythm and blues, coupled with Beck’s innovative guitar playing, creating a new tone that was loud, aggressive and frequently experimental. Their sophomore album, Beck-Ola, introduced an even denser, distorted sound that became the blueprint for hard rock in the 1970’s.
Internal tensions led to Stewart and Wood leaving in 1969 to join the remnants of the Small Faces and forming the Faces. Bobby Tench was recruited to fill out the reformed The Jeff Beck Group in 1971, but this incarnation moved away from the blues and incorporated elements of jazz into their sound. The band was finally dissolved in 1972, with Beck moving on as a solo artist with a series of groundbreaking jazz fusion albums.
Led Zeppelin
Initially billed as “The New Yardbirds”, Led Zeppelin was born out of the need for guitarist Jimmy Page to fulfill the contractual obligations of The Yardbirds. Recruiting studio session musician John Paul Jones, and enlisting singer Robert Plant (and subsequently drummer John Bonham) on the advice of British singer Terry Reid, the band fused electric blues traditions with rock, creating a heavier, more experimental blues-rock sound that profoundly influenced later rock genres.
Particularly with their first four albums, they freely adapted (some might say “misappropriated”) the work of blues stalwarts like Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Howlin’ Wolf and Willie Dixon into hard rock anthems that added distortion and a hard rock pulse that departed dramatically from the shuffle feel of older blues. Led Zeppelin’s songwriting often involved collaging fragments of blues standards and transforming them into compositions that seemed new and fresh.
This is best exemplified by “Whole Lotta Love” which reworked the Dixon tune “You Need Love”, or “The Lemon Song”, which spun off Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor.” The band’s impact is evident in their influence on subsequent generations of hard rock bands. They further pushed the blues into the mainstream and became the benchmark for blues rock.
The Lasting Impact of Blues Rock
Blues rock served to bring classic blues traditions to new, younger (and international) audiences. Artists adapted the work of earlier blues musicians, most prominently Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, into louder, electrified formats that kept the core emotion and structure of the blues intact while making it commercially viable in the rock era.
Blues rock also established the electric guitar as a dominant factor in rock music. Techniques such as string bending, vibrato, distortion, and expressive soloing into regular use through players like Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy Page. These innovations shaped virtually every rock subgenre that followed and were direct influences in the development of the emerging categories of hard rock, heavy metal, and southern rock.
Blues rock was important because it preserved the emotional depth of the blues while transforming it into the driving force behind modern rock music, shaping its sound, technique, and global reach.
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