Shane’s Music Challenge: GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS – 1985 – Maverick

Shane | 19 January 2014 | Reply

GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS – 1985 – Maverick

Handsome George Thorogood was riding high after scoring a big hit with the title track of his fourth album, Bad To The Bone, when he went into the studio to cut his fifth collection of reworked blues classics and blue collar hard rockin’ boogie stompers.

Maverick proved to be an even bigger hit for Thorogood & his Destroyers, riding a wave off the success of Bad To The Bone and their relentless touring schedule.

He’d go on to have bigger hits with arguably lesser songs, but the likes of Gear Jammer, Willie & The Hand Jive (his only single to crack the US Billboard Hot 100) and the shot of whiskey classic I Drink Alone remain FM radio favourites.

Thorogood was one of the few international acts to make repeated arena tours of Australia in the 80’s, and his shows were always fun, though I recall always taking umbrage that he would go on and on about rocking til midnight, then finish at 10:30 on the dot…

With songs like I Drink Alone and One Bourbon, One Scotch & One Beer, it was easy to get the urge to enjoy a few refreshing beverages before a Thorogood show, though things went awry once. Wazoo & I had a plan: knock off work at lunchtime, workout at the gym, then have a few drinks before heading in to see Thorogood at the Perth Entertainment Centre. Great plan… until the B52’s and beer chasers and bourbons all added up to not being able to remember much of the gig itself, apart from being on someone’s shoulders for part of the encore. A bouncer shone a light in my face and made the normal, bouncery, ‘please get down now, Sir, and enjoy the rest of the show’ face. I couldn’t quite hear him above the noise, but I’m pretty sure that was the gist of it all… So I let go – and floated gently to the ground like a sack of spuds. OOF! And ouch. Great gig though, what I can remember of it…

Key tracks: Gear Jammer & Willie & The Hand Jive are rightly still fan favourites, but for my money it’s the boozey classic I Drink Alone that wins the race. Long Gone, Dixie Fried and Crawling King Snake are all personal favourites too, Thorogood’s slide guitar picking ringing out above the Destroyers tighter-than-tight boogie as they bring their own classy style to a mixture or bar band, country, R&B, blues & rock n’ roll.

8/10