All bands are influenced by other bands and artists. The Black Keys are no different. They sit within a broad blues legacy where to cover and re-interpret standards and licks from other artists is to pay an artistic tribute. It’s not a question of ripping off or copying; to think like this is to simplify and generalise.
In paying tribute, a band might take a riff and build upon it; they might treat a hook with their own equipment in turn changing the sound; they might take a lyric and re-write it whilst retaining a song’s musicality. The Rolling Stones effectively built a career on it, but they also added much to that tradition and to particular songs. A good example of this by The Black Keys would be Thickfreakness vs I Cried Last Night by Junior Kimbrough.
Robert Quine, guitar legend, once said to his cousin Dan Auerbach, “Everything I do is just a variation on Chuck Berry.” He was, of course, joking. But Dan might say the same thing about Junior Kimbrough, Howlin Wolf, Mississippi Fred McDowell, T-Model Ford and Muddy Waters to name a few.
Pat and Dan have always been very upfront about their musical influences from their earliest interviews. The influences are there so there’s no point in denying them for the band, it’s, in a sense, a matter of paying respect to markers on a journey:
Auerbach’s musical taste leaned more toward the blues than rock ’n’ roll. “I would raid my father’s record collection,” Auerbach says. “He had a lot of old blues albums — like Son House, Robert Nighthawk, Junior Kimbrough, and T-Model Ford — so I was into that stripped-down blues thing. I really got into it,” he adds. “I was just in my own little world with this blues music. And that’s pretty much what I got obsessed with. But my dad also had a lot of Motown, like Otis Redding, shit like that that definitely influenced me. Definitely.”
The Junior Kimbrough influence has been well documented elsewhere. Dan has consistently acknowledged the influence that soul singers like Curtis Mayfield had on the recording of Brothers. Less well known is Muddy Waters influence on the band. Yet if you were to re-listen to Muddy Waters’ Electric Mud album you understand how the idea of taking traditional sounds and letting the influence of technology distort and re-invent a sound can be so appealing to a band like The Black Keys’. Electric Mud’s electrified psych-blues sound was radical for its time: it re-created a blues sound and artist into something recognisable but different. You could perhaps say the same thing about aspects of Brothers and how The Black keys’ have transformed many of the songs they have been influenced by.
If anything it’s important to remember that what in turn makes The Black Keys identifiably their own band and sound is that they take their influences, tip their hat to them, and then sound like something that is essentially themselves. It’s a point Mark Neill, Brothers sound engineer, has previously pointed out on this site, regarding the Mambo Sun vs Everlasting Light tracks, which bears repeating since it could be said about any of the songs noted below:
It’s in the tradition of the late-Sixties feeling. It reminds me of the best things that you would ever like about a T-Rex record – over three records worth you would pick all these little aspects you liked. But it doesn’t sound like any one song. It doesn’t really have a time stamp on it, it’s pretty timeless.
Listen to these earlier releases by artists who have influenced The Black Keys’ and The Black Keys’ own recordings. What other songs have been missed?
Mambo Sun vs Everlasting Light
Listen to T Rex's Mambo Sun here Listen to The Black Keys' Everlasting Light hereShe’s Long Gone vs She’s Alright
Listen to Muddy Waters' She's Alright here Listen to The Black Keys' She's Long Gone hereBusted vs Skinny Woman
Listen to RL Burnside's Skinny Woman here Listen to The Black Keys' Busted hereThickfreakness vs I Cried Last Night
Listen to Junior Kimbrough's I Cried Last Night here Listen to The Black Keys' Thickfreakness hereHold Me In Your Arms vs I’m In Jail Again
Listen to Mississippi Fred McDowell's I'm In Jail Again here Listen to The Black Keys' Hold Me In Your Arms hereThe Moan vs Poor Boy
Listen to Howlin' Wolf's Poor Boy here Listen to RL Burnside's Poor Boy here Listen to The Black Keys' The Moan hereIf You See Me vs Sugar Farm
Listen to T Model Ford's Sugar Farm here Listen to The Black Key's If You See Me hereHat tip to forum members mdevans and Delta King for drawing attention to these songs.
Related posts:
- The Black Keys: Rarities, Un-Released, B-Sides
- MP3: The Black Keys’ Radio Recordings 2007-2008
- Blakroc: Instrumental Versions
- The First Songs On The Black Keys’ Albums
- The Black Keys and Blakroc Mash Ups
Want to discuss The Black Keys with other fans? Check out The Black Keys Fan Lounge Forum here
Hey– Just like to add that Howlin’ Wolf’s “Moaning at Midnight” draws more from The Moan, especially the main riff its pretty close.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMGvXoitlLI
Love both songs! Cheers!
Wow those are pretty good comparisons…
Forgot to mention the beauty to the blues, is it’s formation (e.g. guitar chords such as 1,4,5 or hang on the 1) The foundation is set and it’s up to the individual artist to make something creative and inspiring out of it. But if you don’t, it can be pretty bad
excellent post.
wow, i never realised how close to the original some of those songs were. theres bein influenced n theres nabbin a riff :S ha awesome that its all kosher though.
Good job, here! At working just now listening to Brothers and the first thing I thought on “She’s long gone” is “She’s alright, she’s alright, she’s alright”- Muddy. Aside from a minor change to the bassline, it’s an obvious homage, right down to the tone/distortion. Electric Mud and the Wolf influences are quite obvious when other song titles are “Black Mud” and “Howlin’ for You”.
Sugar Farm by T-Model Ford had to have inspired If You See Me
Really great post. You did some good research here. Thank you for sharing.
Fred Mcdowells Ethel Mae blues also features the hold me in your arms riff.
Also Fred Mcdowells baby please don’t go, sounds like keep me.
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[...] is the first track on the demo, Cryin’ Won’t Make Me Stay. It would later re-emerge as Busted musically based on the song Skinny Woman by RL Burnside but here using the lyrics to Cryin’ Wont Make Me Stay by RL Burnside. It also has 240 Years [...]
I found a big similarity in “Howlin for you” and a song done by the cramps called “I was a teenage werewolf”. The guitar chords and sound of the songs really make you think of the one another when you hear them. Both wonderful songs, and as a fan of The Cramps, It would be a plus if The Black Keys actually did use teenage werewolf as an inspiration.
yeah, cool. might file under ‘inspired by’ in some way
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