Influenced by blues legends like Hammond and Hound Dog Taylor, Thorogood formed the Destroyers and released four albums before inking a deal with EMI that catapulted the outfit into the mainstream. In 1982, Bad to the Bone, both LP and single, enjoyed crossover success with the help of regular rotation on MTV. Other memorable highlights for the raucous combo came with guitar-driven covers of John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, Hank Williams, and Chuck Berry tunes.
While Thorogood’s self-penned tracks have done well enough, it was David Avery’s “Get a Haircut” that climbed highest on the Billboard charts, checking in at No. 2 in 1993. Ultimately, the band’s semi-raunchy, road-rebel-styled singles became bar-music staples, with sales boosted by the biker community — a crowd courted by Thorogood long before last year’s Ride ‘Til I Die. And this year’s collection of the act’s biggest baddies, Greatest Hits: 30 Years of Rock, is packed with all the memorable — if often formulaic — cuts loved by fans old and new. Have “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer,” when Thorogood and company destroy the House of Blues this Tuesday. We’ll drive.
This article appears in Nov 24-30, 2004.