Style and Influence
The release of Born Under a Bad Sign in 1967 "would change the face of American music, modernizing the blues". "'It was the great divide of modern blues, the point at which the music was rescued from slipping into derivative obscurity'". Part of the album's success has been attributed to Booker T. and the MGs who "gave his blues a sleek, soulful sound gave King crossover appeal". Four of the album's songs became modern blues classics: "Born Under a Bad Sign", "Oh Pretty Woman", "The Hunter", and "Crosscut Saw" (although an older song, it was given a new treatment by King). Together with "Personal Manager" and "Laundromat Blues", they "form the very foundation of Albert King's musical identity and legacy". The title track was one of the last songs by Stax to feature the imprint "Produced by Staff"; future songs were later attributed to the writers.
Albert King's guitar work on the album "directly influenced legions of guitar players who studied its every subtlety and nuance" and was "profoundly influential, not just in blues, but in rock & roll". Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan have acknowledged King's influence; indeed, some of their guitar solos are close approximations to those found on Born Under a Bad Sign.
Read more about this topic: Born Under A Bad Sign
Famous quotes containing the words style and, style and/or influence:
“I am so tired of taking to others
translating my life for the deaf, the blind,
the “I really want to know what your life is like without giving up any of my privileges
to live it” white women
the “I want to live my white life with Third World women’s style and keep my skin
class privileges” dykes”
—Lorraine Bethel, African American lesbian feminist poet. “What Chou Mean We, White Girl?” Lines 49-54 (1979)
“I am so tired of taking to others
translating my life for the deaf, the blind,
the “I really want to know what your life is like without giving up any of my privileges
to live it” white women
the “I want to live my white life with Third World women’s style and keep my skin
class privileges” dykes”
—Lorraine Bethel, African American lesbian feminist poet. “What Chou Mean We, White Girl?” Lines 49-54 (1979)
“The purifying, healing influence of literature, the dissipating of passions by knowledge and the written word, literature as the path to understanding, forgiveness and love, the redeeming might of the word, the literary spirit as the noblest manifestation of the spirit of man, the writer as perfected type, as saint.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)