The Black Crowes amorica. (1994)
I think we take nostalgia for granted these days.\xa0 At one time, pioneer music makers created a brand new style that would spark a revolution in the music industry and in popular culture overall.\xa0 That style would be copied and improved on and then be ubiquitous.\xa0 By typical lifespan burnout, it would eventually burn out and be replaced by the next fad or style.
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\r\nTrust me, no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people.
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\r\nBy the time the 90\u2019s rolled around, our society burned thru 4 decades of constant shifts in popular styles in music, and by that point the idea of nostalgic parody became in and of itself a style of its own.\xa0 Think B-52\u2019s as a perfect example of that concept, although Weird Al Yankovic created his own style thru masterful parody all by himself.\xa0
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\r\nIn 1990, a group out of Atlanta called The Black Crowes hit the scenes with a truly iconic album, Shake Your Money Maker.\xa0 A callback to classic blues mixed with soul inspiration from 70s rock gods like Faces or The Rolling Stones, the entire album\u2019s tracklist reads like a greatest hits album, highlighted by a revamped rocking version of Otis Redding\u2019s Hard To Handle.\xa0 They even mixed in their reworking of 80s ballads with She Talks To Angels, and suddenly these guys were giants on rock radio.
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\r\nTwo years later, they followed up with their sophomore album, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion which was just as popular but had double the musicality and skill.\xa0 It was the very first album in history to feature four separate #1 hits on the rock charts.\xa0 Everything these guys touched turned to gold.\xa0 Suddenly, they were rock cornerstones for their generation playing their version of inspired rhythm and blues southern rock that was all but dead up until that point.
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\r\nLed by brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, the group then set out to create their masterpiece album.\xa0 However, as brothers are sometimes apt to do, Chris and Rich began fighting for creative control, both in the studio and in physical altercations.\xa0 That dynamic of strife coupled with personal crisis created a toxic environment.\xa0 The final product was a commercial failure but one of the most brilliant albums of our generation.