Fact #172609
When:
Short story:
Muddy Waters releases a new album, Electric Mud, in the USA on Cadet/Concept Records. Using members of Rotary Connection as his backing group, Waters was attempting to fuse blues with psychedelia.Full article:
Marshall Chess [Chess Records] : When Electric Mud came out I had a very good group of radio people and sent it around. My alternative guys. And they all got on it heavy. So the album took off and blew up. I think we shipped 100,000 units in the first month. It was the biggest album Muddy had ever had.
And everyone loved it, including Muddy. We were in the record business and we liked that it was selling, ya know. Forget about the music it was just about sales. Then this guy in Rolling Stone does an article, and the headline says, 'Worst Blues Album Ever Made.' And, at that time Rolling Stone was the bible of these alternative guys. And the airplay stopped overnight and so did the sales. That was the end, man. But it never stopped being a cult record.
Worldwide. I've been noshing on the road and people have come up to me saying 'It's the greatest and I love it.' Miles Davis said it blew his mind. Guitarist Pete Cosey told me, and because of that album he became Miles' electric guitar player during the rock era. You can call him. Peter told me that Miles just loved it and also mentioned that Miles had a hair dresser, who was also Jimi Hendrix's hairdresser, and they all played another cut from Muddy's After The Rain album, which was the second album with the same band, and that Hendrix would play that before he went on stage. The hairdresser told Pete and he told me.
And this century, Chuck D really cited the album. Martin Scorsese got the commission to do a blues series for PBS-TV, and hired a director, Marc Levin, who called me up 'cause he picked Chicago Blues. 'I can't do the movie without you. Will you help me?' 'We went to lunch. Why not. Sure.' He wanted to know some ideas and I told him I'd sleep on it.
Two days after that I get this anonymous e-mail. 'Dear Mr. Chess, You may not know me. My name is Chuck D. I was the lead singer and founder of a group Public Enemy. I want you to know that for years, and I've wanted to tell you, that for years, that your album, Electric Mud is one of the most influential albums in hip hop and turned me on to all blues. It was my entry. The greatest.' I forwarded that email to the movie director and that's how it happened. We put the band together from that album to record with Chuck D. That's how it happened.
I've always loved Electric Mud and have been defending it from day one. Here's the true Electric Mud story. I produced it. I recorded it and promoted it. At that time I was very aware and very on top of alternative FM radio. I drove across the United States, visiting FM DJ's like Tom Donahue and Bobby Mitchell in San Francisco. I'd meet all the DJ's at radio stations in Los Angeles like KMET-FM and KPPC-FM and meet all these people. And these guys would be smoking joints on the air and they'd take an album right from your arm and play it immediately five times on the air!
(Source : not known)
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And everyone loved it, including Muddy. We were in the record business and we liked that it was selling, ya know. Forget about the music it was just about sales. Then this guy in Rolling Stone does an article, and the headline says, 'Worst Blues Album Ever Made.' And, at that time Rolling Stone was the bible of these alternative guys. And the airplay stopped overnight and so did the sales. That was the end, man. But it never stopped being a cult record.
Worldwide. I've been noshing on the road and people have come up to me saying 'It's the greatest and I love it.' Miles Davis said it blew his mind. Guitarist Pete Cosey told me, and because of that album he became Miles' electric guitar player during the rock era. You can call him. Peter told me that Miles just loved it and also mentioned that Miles had a hair dresser, who was also Jimi Hendrix's hairdresser, and they all played another cut from Muddy's After The Rain album, which was the second album with the same band, and that Hendrix would play that before he went on stage. The hairdresser told Pete and he told me.
And this century, Chuck D really cited the album. Martin Scorsese got the commission to do a blues series for PBS-TV, and hired a director, Marc Levin, who called me up 'cause he picked Chicago Blues. 'I can't do the movie without you. Will you help me?' 'We went to lunch. Why not. Sure.' He wanted to know some ideas and I told him I'd sleep on it.
Two days after that I get this anonymous e-mail. 'Dear Mr. Chess, You may not know me. My name is Chuck D. I was the lead singer and founder of a group Public Enemy. I want you to know that for years, and I've wanted to tell you, that for years, that your album, Electric Mud is one of the most influential albums in hip hop and turned me on to all blues. It was my entry. The greatest.' I forwarded that email to the movie director and that's how it happened. We put the band together from that album to record with Chuck D. That's how it happened.
I've always loved Electric Mud and have been defending it from day one. Here's the true Electric Mud story. I produced it. I recorded it and promoted it. At that time I was very aware and very on top of alternative FM radio. I drove across the United States, visiting FM DJ's like Tom Donahue and Bobby Mitchell in San Francisco. I'd meet all the DJ's at radio stations in Los Angeles like KMET-FM and KPPC-FM and meet all these people. And these guys would be smoking joints on the air and they'd take an album right from your arm and play it immediately five times on the air!
(Source : not known)