Muddy Waters

Rock & Roll Hall of Famer

Category: Performer

Inducted: 1987

Inducted by: Paul Butterfield

Nominated: 1986   1987

First Eligible: 1986 Ceremony


Inducted into Rock Hall Revisited in 1989 (ranked #1 in the Influences - Rock Era category) .

R.S. Top 500 Albums (?)RankVersion
The Anthology: 19474832020
The Anthology (1947382012
Folk Singer2822012
At Newport 19603482012

R.S. Top 500 Songs (?)RankVersion
Mannish Boy (1955)4252021

Essential Albums (?)WikipediaYouTube
At Newport 1960 (1960)
Folk Singer (1964)
Hard Again (1977)

Essential Songs (?)WikipediaYouTube
Rollin' Stone (1950)
Rollin' and Tumblin' (1950)
Hoochie Coochie Man (1954)
I Just Want to Make Love to You (1954)
Mannish Boy (1955)
Trouble No More (1955)
Forty Days And Forty Nights (1956)
Got My Mojo Working (1957)
Rock Me (1957)

Muddy Waters @ Wikipedia



Comments

4 comments so far (post your own)

My all-time favortite Muddy Waters song is easily Gypsy Woman. That opening piano solo from Sunnyland Slimm is just killer and totally fits the story of the song. Muddy's haunting, forceful vocals and down-home phrasing contribute greatly to this song's excellence. The call-and-response sequence between the electric guitar and the piano that takes place between 1:21 and 1:56 is just out of this world, proving the musical prowess of both Slim and Waters. Together, they create a hard-driving, bluesy sound that puts the listener in the mood and makes him/her feel as though they are right in the Delta.

Count me as a hater of Electric Mud. Chess Records really started running off the rails when they matched Muddy and Howlin' Wolf with younger, more psychdelic-influenced musicians. The overbearing drumming, Hendrix-esque guitar gimmickery, and discordant-sounding arrangements do not serve classics like Mannish Boy, I Just Want to Make Love to You, and I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man well. Waters himself gave the best review of this misguided concept album when he referred to it as "dogshit" in his autobiography The Mojo Man. Chess Records' similar experiment with Howlin' Wolf was likewise a failure, as the psychedelic sludge drowns out Wolf's powerful vocals far too much. Wolf said it best when he told Pete Cosey "Why don't you take them wah-wahs and all that other shit and go throw it off in the lake — on your way to the barber shop?" (This exchange is recounted in James Segrest's and Mark Hoffman's excellent Howlin' Wolf biography Moanin' at Midnight). If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf were two originals that will always remain among the vanguard of great bluesmen and women. I'd say that my favorite bluespeople are Waters, Wolf, Louis Jordan, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Big Joe Turner, Big Mama Thornton, and T-Bone Walker. All legends. Clapton, Page, and their ilk can all go take a long walk off a short pier. Pseudo-blues will never compare to the Delta, Texas, harmonica, jump, piano, urban and other true styles of the greatest form of music ever created. However, Stevie Ray Vaughan came the closest of the rockers to being a true bluesman.

Posted by Zach on Thursday, 08/8/2013 @ 18:51pm


Zach
I agree he is the bluesyest I love his music

Posted by Happy on Thursday, 08/8/2013 @ 19:52pm


A post-WWII Chicago blues scene without the contributions of Muddy Waters would be unthinkable. He was the one of the most important blues singers to emerge in the post-WWII blues genre, transforming the acoustic blues sound into an electric urban sound at a critical time in the blues scene.

His musical legacy, especially the songs he made in the 50s are some of the finest treasures of music in this century. Besides Robert Johnson, no other blues singer or guitar player is more important in the history or development of the blues then Muddy himself.

A singer without equal, a gifted songwriter and an able guitarist, Waters also linked the Mississippi Delta country blues with the urban Chicago blues. He brought his first electric guitar in 1944 and completely revolutionized the blues with the songs he started recording in 1948.

His amplified group featured him on vocals and slide guitar, another guitarist, bass, drums, piano and harmonica. The Muddy Waters Blues Band had all the earmarks in terms of size, volume, and power the great rock bands would later inherent and perfect.

Muddy's audience continued to grow after his electrifying performance of "Mannish Boy" with The Band and Paul Butterfield on harmonica on The Last Waltz which was an unforgettable highlight of the show.

Aside from his musical legacy, Waters also nurtured a huge respect for the blues as it's most commanding figurehead. The Band's Levon Helm said that Muddy Waters "taught us to put things into context, to be respectful, and to be serious about our music as he was. He showed us that music was a sacred thing."

Muddy Waters remained active until his death from a heart attack in 1983.

The real question with Muddy Waters' influence isn't who was influenced by him, but who wasn't influenced by him? Guitarists and groups from Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton to The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin have drawn from Waters' guitar prowess and his vocal range. Just take a listen to Robert Plant's singing or Clapton's guitar riffs and you can hear Muddy Waters.

Personally, I like Muddy’s music because of his gruff vocals, his powerful guitar playing, his backing band and some of his songs are some of the purist sounding blues I’ve heard.

Posted by Andrew on Sunday, 02/2/2014 @ 20:58pm



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Future Rock Legends is your home for Muddy Waters and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, including year of eligibility, number of nominations, induction chances, essential songs and albums, and an open discussion of their career.


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