The last great 12-bar blues was...?

My pick: "Mother," by the Police (1983).

Tracy Chapman gave it a good shot with "Give Me One Reason," but she couldn't close the deal.

Kelsey Grammar - "Theme from Frasier" (1993)

lock thread

dunno how to answer the question though. do you mean the last great 12-bar blues to chart, the last great 12-bar blues to sound more-or-less contemporary in a pleasing way, or just something great by our personal standards? Rory Block is still a powerful blues singer and guitarist in the present day, but stylistically she's stuck in the '30s, and she certainly doesn't have a shot at a major stardom, if she ever did.

I suppose I meant to chart, or to at least to break out of the "blues" label in the public consciousness.

Used to be that just about all rock was 12-bar blues, and now hardly any of it is. I guess I'm trying to find the end of that particular transition.

My pick: "Mother," by the Police (1983).

Robert Cray killed himself today just so he could spin in his grave. RIP.

Young Guns 2 OST

Oasis' 'Shaker Maker' is not the answer to this question, though Noel Gallagher said it was

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiuorrXsngM

"Hello Operator"

trying to think of any current pop with the classic 12-bar structure, but the only thing that springs to mind is Duffy, and that's so faux-retro that I kinda feel it doesn't count.

"Have a Talk With God" from Stevie Wonder's "Songs In The Key Of Life" album sounds quite good, largely because of the arrangement.

^^ is great, but 34 years ago? Surely something more recent?

U Got The Look. of course.

not that 1987 is current duh. but it's better than pissing Duffy.

better than dissing Puffy

I'm not very good at music theory, so can you explain me what makes "U Got the Look" blues? It doesn't sound like blues to me.

clearly confusing it with the deftly executed turnaround in Roxette's "The Look"

"Have a Talk With God" from Stevie Wonder's "Songs In The Key Of Life" album sounds quite good, largely because of the arrangement.

So good that Beck ripped it off verbatim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQVeCxtuP14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su5sTlQLAzc

'm not very good at music theory, so can you explain me what makes "U Got the Look" blues? It doesn't sound like blues to me.

― Tuomas, Tuesday, 18 May 2010 14:08 (30 minutes ago) Bookmark

ha, yes it is a stretch, really, to call it blues, but it does follow the "classic" 12 bar blues chord structure

12 bars? Yeah, that's about how many I've played blues in. ;-)

Bob Dylan, "Highlands."

Prince's "Bob George" is definitely 12-bar blues.

i mean, it's a little dumb to say "X was the last great 12 bar blues". i mean, i'm sure somewhere last night on Earth some band somewhere was on a hot streak and it took flight....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/music/joe-louis-walker-has-never-stopped-playing-the-blues/2016/01/07/3968301e-afdd-11e5-9ab0-884d1cc4b33e_story.html

Joe Louis Walker belongs to a lost generation of blues performers. He was too young for Muddy Waters’s and Buddy Guy’s era of classic electric blues; now 66, he’s too old for the revival being led by Gary Clark Jr. and Derek Trucks. Walker made his best music in the ’90s and ’00s, when few folks aside from hard-core fans were paying attention to the blues, but those recordings are still waiting to be discovered, and he’s still on the road playing those tunes.

I think I have heard him, but I don't remember for sure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb05wrBVFUU

https://communityrecords.bandcamp.com/track/ovlov-the-great-ohmu

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1a/12_bar_blues_weiland.jpg/220px-12_bar_blues_weiland.jpg