The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

When listening to The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, there’s never any doubt about who you’re hearing. And that’s both a function of Spencer’s tendency to shout-out his group’s name like a wrestling-ring announcer, and of their unmistakeable mix of juke-joint blues, raw punk power, gritty grooves, and sex-machine bravado. Formed in 1991 after the implosion of Spencer’s previous group, New York garage ghouls Pussy Galore, the trio of Spencer, second guitarist Judah Bauer, and drummer Russell Simins made it their mission to rehabilitate the wild, feral spirit of the blues in a post-classic-rock world. But their music swiftly turned more accessible and adventurous: Albums like 1994’s Orange and 1998’s Acme hotwired their X-rated riffs to funky drum breaks like The Rolling Stones remixed by Beastie Boys. The Blues Explosion went on hiatus in 2005, at which point successors like The White Stripes were importing Spencer’s mojo into the mainstream. A post-2010 comeback campaign yielded two more reliably raucous albums before Bauer’s health issues sidelined the band for good in 2016. However, a prime placement for their soul-revue signature “Bellbottoms” in Edgar Wright’s 2017 action-comedy Baby Driver gave the band a major post-breakup streaming boost, introducing a new generation to the primal pleasures of howling out “Bluuuuuuuuuues Explosion!”