I hate news like this, the other day, my wife asks me if I had heard anything about the drummer from NRBQ dying. I was like Tom Ardolino? No way! But it was true, Tom Ardolino had passed away at 56 … I was just introducing my nephew to their music over the New Year’s holiday, and didn’t expect to hear this.
I first heard NRBQ from a cassette tape that I found at my parent’s house. It probably belonged to one of my older brothers, but was left when they had moved out.
I had read about this band for years, but never actually heard them. When I first played the tape, I was hooked, by the catchy originals, great covers, and sense of humor, all topped off with fabulous musicianship. There was Terry’s unique keyboard style, Big Al’s guitar, and the rock steady rhythm section of Joey’s Danelectro bass and Tommy’s drums holding it all together. Now I know there were other members before, and after, but for me, that IS the NRBQ lineup. They never made it big because they were too hard to pigeonhole. I mean how do you market a band that covers Johnny Cash AND Sun Ra, that play songs like” Howard Johnson’s got his Ho-Jo working”, or “R.C. Cola and a Moon Pie”? They’ve been called “The World’s Greatest Bar Band”, and they sure earned the title, playing rock and roll, blues, jazz, pop, rockabilly, and everything in between for more than 40 years (20 years with my favorite lineup), and never having a hit or making it big.
A couple of years ago, I was looking for NRBQ videos on the Internet, and there wasn’t a whole lot, now there’s some great stuff out there. Where to start with all of this music, well how about we let the boys introduce themselves,
Here Comes Terry
I Got a Rocket in my Pocket
Ridin’ in My Car
Little Floater
Get Rhythm
Me and the Boys
Late 1980s band interview Part 1
Late 1980s band interview Part 2
This little post doesn’t even mention some of the other things that they did like having wrestler Captain Lou Albano as a manager, blowing up a New Kids on the Block album, exploding Cabbage Patch Kids on stage, and writing songs for Spongebob Squarepants.
When I watch those videos, it looks like they were having a lot of fun on stage, and I just love watching them play. Check out how Tom holds his sticks when he plays, (Rocket in my Pocket around 3:47 -3:54, Get Rhythm at 2:23)
Although Tom’s gone, Terry is still touring with a new revamped NRBQ.
For more on NRBQ, check out,
Wow missed this post for some reason when I was reading, strange to think the music was so young to me and a part of it is already gone.
ReplyDelete