The greatest blues album of all time, according to Joe Perry
As the guitarist for Aerosmith, Joe Perry is responsible for some of the biggest riffs in classic rock history. He wrote the anthemic guitar lines for hits like ‘Dream On’ and ‘Walk This Way’, leading the way in the 1970s as the music began to merge away from rock and roll and into something more gritty yet glam. But, like all guitar greats, Perry has a thorough education in the legends that came before him and all the earlier genres that contributed to rock music. In particular, he celebrates the impact of one blues legend.
There would be no rock without blues, and there would have been no Aerosmith if it hadn’t been for the vital work of blues acts decades before. It’s all one long and grand lineage. What started out as country music slowly morphed into rhythm and blues, and from there came the more seductive and tough blues sound, which directly led to rock and roll. That’s precisely why acts like the Beatles or The Rolling Stones so regularly covered blues tracks from black American artists especially, paying their respects to the artists that made it possible for them to emerge.
Perry is aware of that history, too. He grew up on a diet of classic rock and roll outfits. As he was learning to play guitar, he was obsessed with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Stones, and the Yardbirds. “This band called the Yardbirds had a sound like I had never heard before. They had guitars that sound like nothing I’d ever heard before. The Stones were pushing the edge with distorted guitars. That was a big influence on me,” he said, discussing their impact on his knowledge of where his instrument could go.
But no one can leap into the future of effects and details without learning the basics first, and the basics of rock and roll always comes back to blues.
When it comes to his favourite blues record, he picked out Howlin’ Wolf’s The Chess Box. The 1991 compilation record features his most defining hits and finest moments as both a vocalist and a guitar player.
“Howlin’ Wolf has one of the most distinctive voices ever, a sound that is so on the edge and out of control and incredibly timeless,” Perry said. “’Back Door Man’ is probably my favorite off this collection; it’s got a weird loping, strange rhythm to it that I love.”
But mostly, Perry understands Howlin’ Wolf’s vital position as a true pioneer. “Howlin’ was part of that whole Chess Records group—Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon—who were all in each other’s bands in that era when Chicago blues took a leap from the acoustic Delta sound to the rockin’-the-blues-with-electricity,” he explained. His crowd’s early adoption of electric guitars pushed the world of blues music closer to the rock we know today.
Perry isn’t the only one to celebrate the influence of Howlin’ Wolf. Brian Jones considered him a major inspiration, as did Jim Morrison. He’s the true grandfather of the riff, with Perry being simply one of many disciples.
