As George Thorogood himself once put it, “I guess a good song is a good song is a good song, you know?” And what we have here is a collection of hard-stompin,’ party-down, good songs—all penned by Mr. Thorogood himself. Scheduled for release on April 15, 2022, the aptly named album The Original George Thorogood brings together the best from the rock and roll heart and fevered brain of George Thorogood and his unstoppable, longtime band, The Destroyers. The Original George Thorogood will be released on CD, digitally, and in two vinyl LP configurations, including black vinyl and, for the ultimate collector, a limited-edition Translucent Orange LP.
“It’s easy to write a song, difficult to write a good song, and even harder to write a great song,” Thorogood says. “It strikes home that I have the ability to write some pretty great songs, and there’s a real sense of achievement to that.”
In the late ’70s, Thorogood’s badass vocal delivery and grindhouse slide guitar rocketed the Destroyers onto the charts, with two platinum and six gold albums to their credit. Over the course of his 20-album career, Thorogood has won acclaim as an inspired interpreter of timeless classics by masters like Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, and Hank Williams. But all along the way, he kept honing his own songcraft.
The Original George Thorogood is a celebration of Thorogood as a tunesmith. The album features rock radio blockbusters like “I Drink Alone” and “Rock and Roll Christmas,” as well as Thorogood’s mega-hit, “Bad to the Bone,” which celebrates its 40th Anniversary this Fall. The latter song has been featured in numerous hit movies, from Terminator 2: Judgment Day to The Muppets, and TV shows including “Married… With Children,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” and “Miami Vice.”
For Thorogood – currently touring with The Destroyers on their acclaimed Good To Be Bad: 45 Years Of Rock Tour – as well as for his millions of fans, The Original George Thorogood is a welcome reminder that the pen can be as mighty as the guitar. “You try to spread yourself out as a songwriter,” says George, “and I’ve always tried to do my best. We’ve been playing a lot of these songs for a long time, and some haven’t been performed live at all. I hope fans are surprised by the ones they’ve never heard before.”
The Original George Thorogood also showcases the range of Thorogood’s output, with tracks like the tour de force truck drivin’ anthem “Gear Jammer,” the heartfelt country ballad “Oklahoma Sweetheart,” and the previously unreleased “Back In The U.S.A.” Additionally, hard-hitting barnburners like “I Really Like Girls,” “If You Don’t Start Drinkin’ (I’m Gonna Leave),” and “You Talk Too Much” are served up with classic Thorogood swagger and tongue-in-cheek panache.
It’s all here. And it’s all mighty good Thorogood. Or as the man himself once put it, “There is no doubt in my mind who is Number One. I have always been Number One.”
Since 1976, George Thorogood & The Destroyers have sold over 15 million albums, built a catalog of classic hits, and played more than 8,000 ferocious live shows. They broke records with their 50 Dates/50 States Tour, delivered landmark performances at Live Aid and on SNL, and became mainstays of radio, MTV, and stages worldwide for more than two generations. Through it all, they’ve remained one of the most consistent – and consistently passionate – progenitors of blues-based rock in pop culture history. Thorogood & The Destroyers indeed remain unstoppable. With more than 20 studio and live albums to their credit, the band has achieved Platinum and Gold success with eight. In the past few years alone, the band released a top-selling limited edition 7″ single for Record Store Day and saw the re-issues of their legendary Bad To The Bone, Born To Be Bad, and Greatest Hits: 30 Years Of Rock albums on 180-gram colored vinyl. Thorogood himself received the 2018 B.B. King Award from The Montreal International Jazz Festival, and his solo debut Party Of One – which critics called “brilliant” (Spin), “electrifying” (Guitar Player), and “chock full of classics” (Music Connection) – became George’s fastest-selling disc in over 20 years. In 2020, Epiphone created the George Thorogood’ White Fang’ ES-125TDC premier signature model guitar, and George Thorogood & The Destroyers Live In Boston 1982: The Complete Concert was also released. An album that Classic Rock said, “may well be one of the great live albums, entirely superb and a master class in live performance.”
The Original George Thorogood CD Tracklist
Bad To The Bone
I Drink Alone
Gear Jammer
Born To Be Bad
If You Don’t Start Drinkin’ (I’m Gonna Leave)
Back In The U.S.A.**
Rock And Roll Man
You Talk Too Much
Miss Luann
Back To Wentzville
Rock And Roll Christmas
Oklahoma Sweetheart
Woman With The Blues
I Really Like Girls
** New Song
