Boom Boom (John Lee Hooker song)
"Boom Boom" is a song written by American blues singer and guitarist John Lee Hooker and recorded October 26, 1961. Although it became a blues standard,[3] music critic Charles Shaar Murray calls it "the greatest pop song he ever wrote".[4] "Boom Boom" was both an American R&B and pop chart success in 1962 and a UK top-twenty hit in 1992.
The song is one of Hooker's most identifiable and enduring songs[5] and "among the tunes that every band on the [early 1960s UK] R&B circuit simply had to play".[6] It has been recorded by numerous blues and other artists, including a 1965 North American hit by the Animals.
Releases and charts[edit]
When "Boom Boom" was released as a single in April[1] or May 1962,[2] the song became a hit. It entered the Billboard Hot R&B Sides chart on June 16, 1962, where it spent eight weeks and reached number 16.[12] The song also appeared on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number 60, making it one of only two Hooker singles to enter the broader chart.[13] It was included on the 1962 Vee-Jay album Burnin' as well as many Hooker compilations, including John Lee Hooker: The Ultimate Collection.
Two years later, in 1964, the song made a brief appearance on the chart in Walloon Belgium, which at the time did not rank positions.[14] In 1992, after being featured in a Lee Jeans commercial, the "Boom Boom" reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart.[15] It also appeared on charts in New Zealand (number 24 in 1992)[16] and France (numbers 45 in 1993 and 87 in 2013).[17]
Hooker recorded several later versions. Following the success of the Animals' version, Hooker re-recorded the song in 1968 for Stateside Records as the B-side of "Cry Before I Go" under the longer title "Boom Boom Boom". He reworked the song as "Bang Bang Bang Bang" for his Live at Soledad Prison album, as a South Side Chicago street musician in the film The Blues Brothers (but the song itself is not included in the film soundtrack), and as the title track for his 1992 album Boom Boom with Jimmie Vaughan.[18]
"Boom Boom"
Big Head Todd and the Monsters version[edit]
American rock group Big Head Todd and the Monsters recorded "Boom Boom" for their album Beautiful World (1997).[27] Group bassist Rob Squires described the recording session: "Hooker has just this incredible presence. He walked into the room and literally everyone was intimidated including our producer and the people who work in the studio."[28] Beginning with the television series debut of NCIS: New Orleans in 2014, a portion of Big Head Todd's version has been used as the opening theme.[29]
Recognition and legacy[edit]
In 1995, John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll".[30] It was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 2009 in the "Classics of Blues Recording" category.[7] A Detroit Free Press poll in 2016 ranked the song at number 37 in "Detroit's 100 Greatest Songs".[31] Rolling Stone magazine ranked Hooker's version at number 463 on its 2021 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time",[32] down from number 220 on its 2004 list.[33]