George Thorogood

Template:Guitarist infobox George Thorogood (born December 31, 1951) is a blues-rock performer from Wilmington, Delaware. He was raised on Clearview Avenue in Naamans Gardens, a suburb of Wilmington, Delaware. During this time he went to Brandywine High School.

Career

Thorogood cut his debut album titled Better Than the Rest in 1974, and released it that same year. In 1976, he recorded his second album, the eponymous George Thorogood & The Destroyers with his band, The Destroyers (sometimes also known as The Delaware Destroyers or simply GT and D) and issued the album in 1977. Thorogood released his next album titled Move It On Over in 1978 with The Destroyers, which included the hit "Move It On Over" in 1978. "Please Set A Date" and "Who Do You Love" both followed in 1979. In the late 1970s, Thorogood created and played on a semi-pro baseball league team in Delaware. He was the second baseman and was chosen rookie of the year in the league. Soon after this achievement, The Destroyers forced him to quit playing the sport. In the 1970s, George and the band were based in Boston.

George and the Delaware Destroyers were friends with Jimmy Thackery and the Nighthawks. While touring in the 1970s, the Destroyers and the Nighthawks happened to be playing shows in Georgetown (DC) at venues across the street from each other. The Destroyers were engaged at The Cellar Door, the Nighthawks at Desperados. At midnight, by prior arrangement, while both bands played the same song ("Madison Blues") in the same key (E), George and Jimmy left their clubs, met in the middle of M street, exchanged guitar cables and went on to play with each other's bands.

George and the Destroyers are also notable for undertaking a vigorous touring schedule after appearing throughout the Rolling Stones tour in 1981. After two shows in Boulder, Colorado, George and his band flew to Hawaii and played for only one night. The next night they appeared in Alaska for one show. The following day the band flew to Washington State, met their roadies who had their Checker car and a truck, and continued a one show per state tour for all fifty states in exactly fifty nights. In addition, they played Washington, DC on the same day that they performed a show in Maryland.

During the 1980s, and 1990s, Thorogood recorded some of his most well known works, "Bad to the Bone" (used during the bar scene in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the comedy Problem Child, in the opening scene of John Carpenter's Christine, during many episodes of the TV sitcom Married with Children, during the intro to the movie Major Payne, the song is also featured in the game Rock 'n Roll Racing), "I Drink Alone" (from his Maverick album), "You Talk Too Much", and "If You Don't Start Drinking, I'm Gonna Leave".

Discography

Studio albums

• (1974) Better Than The Rest
• (1977) George Thorogood & The Destroyers
• (1978) Move It On Over
• (1979) Better Than The Rest. Rerelease by MCA
• (1980) More George Thorogood & The Destroyers
• (1982) Bad to the Bone
• (1985) Maverick
• (1986) Nadine
• (1988) Born To Be Bad
• (1991) Rockin' My Life Away
• (1991) Boogie People
• (1993) Haircut
• (1999) Half A Boy/Half A Man
• (2003) Ride 'Til I Die
• (2003) Who Do You Love?
• (2006) The Hard Stuff

Live albums

• (1986) Live
• (1995) Live: Let's Work Together
• (1999) Live In '99
• (2004) 30th Anniversary Tour

Compilations

• (1992) The Baddest of George Thorogood and the Destroyers
• (2004) Greatest Hits: 30 Years of Rock
• (2007) Taking Care Of Business - Double CD Of Ride 'Till I Die(With 2 Bonus Tracks) & 30th Anniversary Tour

External links

• George and the Destroyers official website
• Review: The Hard Stuff