Now I Got Worry

Like your drunk neighbors are having open mic night

Wow it’s rare that I hate something instantly. This accomplished that feat.

When this album was generated to me, I got worried. This Jon Spencer Blues Explosion sounded like a genuine curiosity. Regardless of the rather opaque looking album cover, there was this thought that the album may be a hodgepodge of 90s indie excess of the worst kind. Thankfully, I had nothing to worry about. This album is rather awesome, with its erratic, jam band oddball eccentricities being put to great usage throughout its fitful 45 minutes. Give this one a listen, it may or may not be to one's taste but, when experienced, it's a plentiful time spent.

Still wild-out white boy blues and funk elements but trading in quirky playfulness for reckless abandonment. I like this album but it seems a little more self-aware cool than the loud and proud dorkiness that really captured me with Orange. Still a very fun record. I spent a lot of time with it.

haha ok this is a hot ol load of Gen X shit right here! I gotta give it a 2/5 just for being so boldly awful, but I do actually really hate it

A disaster. While I enjoyed some of the guitar licks, they are wasted on these poorly written songs. The whole thing just comes off immature. As if the band was simply trying too hard to be weird and different to grab attention from the public. It is a disgrace to put albums like this next to the greats on the list, no matter how good some musicians are individually.

This is balls on toast. Hard pass.

This might be fun (one time) as a live show but it doesn't translate well on record. His voice sounds like a bad Elvis impersonator doing Billy Idol. It seems like they are trying to cross to many genres at once but don't connect with any of them, it doesn't work. I can hear some Jack White/LZ in there but it would be at their worst (give me Jack White anytime). This one goes nowhere for me. 1.5 out of 5, so should I give it a 1 or a 2?

This was stuck to my CD player when it came out, apparently at the start of my second year in university, though I could swear it was in the first. JSBE had played one of the best rock shows I’d ever been to at UMIST two years before, making me snarling loyal to the band. I enjoyed this record, but would’ve played it a lot even had I not. After listening the shit out of it for a few months, or maybe the year, I moved on to other records, and have played it rarely since - this was the last JSBE record I bought in the week of release. Almost 30 years on, I still like it, and find myself predicting the riffs, textures and garagey-guitar sounds just before they reach my ears. I remember Simon Reynolds comparing the relationship of JSBE and The Jesus Lizard to the great rock bands of the 70s/60s as akin to that of Tarantino to Peckinpah - this post-modern art can look nice, but where's the flair, the excitement of the new, the innovation? A contemporary issue of Melody Maker drew a line from Shellac to Lenny Kravitz via JSBE. Both arguments troubled me as much as they entertained me. But the experience of hearing this post-modern artefact from the mid-90's is a happy one: what I feared might be schtick is a work of love towards the components: big, buzzing hooks, queasy melodic runs, hypnotic blue repetition, and gigantic drumming. I've just bought the deluxe version. The instruments sound great: Russell Simins one of the most fun drummers I've ever seen, and the record is a potpourri of thick and warm guitar growl and wobble. Spencer's rambling is unironically silly, and the yelps are those of an intelligent man trying to have fun. Awkward, irritating to many - clear from most of the other reviews here - loveable to me. Hard to speak of tunes around this record, as its more a collection of riffs and textures, a murky party record that has me move my shoulders up and down as I type, which is about as extreme as my dancing has been of late. I’ve a lovely memory of my dad poking his head into my bedroom as I was putting this on, and wincing in retreat to the opening scream of “Skunk”. Four, and not just out of sentiment. I am happy that I played it twice because I wanted to, rather than out of duty... To the Effort!

Chicken Dog!

At least it lets you know right up front that the entire album is going to be awful.

Don’t advertise the blues if you aren’t playing the blues.

This jumped back and forth between annoying and awesome like 15 times. The annoying was VERY annoying, but it's probably harder to make an awesome song than an annoying one so I will bump it up half a star. 3.5 stars

Noped out partway through the 4th song. It just sounded like noise to me. I guess I just don't get it...

Yeah, this is cool and intense. Orange is better though.

Solid record. Fun to listen to.

Who would've thought that the band that wrote Bellbottoms, a song I enjoy immensely, would write other songs that I enjoy immensely. I can hear so many influences in bands I like coming out of this album - BDoD, VU (inspired by), Autolux even. A great modern garage rock LP

Just way too much

Stopped listening after two and a half songs. Distracting noise. Can't work with this playing.

did not make it though one song

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen…Right now, I got to tell you about the fabulous, most groovy…JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION! While I probably would’ve chosen 1994’s “Orange” over this record (mostly due to personal preference), “Now I Got Worry” is more raw and aggressive than its predecessor: a gloriously ramshackle blast of furious blues-based garage rock. If you can’t handle that (and it seems quite a few of you can’t, based off of your reviews), I don’t know what to tell you…the band is called The Jon Spencer *Blues Explosion* and that’s exactly what this record is. Would you prefer a more polished explosion or something? Maybe a nice, tidy explosion for your sensitive pallet?

Oh THIS is where that whole thing started...Good thing Jack White spends so much time giving credit where it’s due or else...wait...what?

This is the kind of music I'm doing this for. Completely unexpected and very interesting.

32 tracks...... I can't stand phony over the top singers. But I love a good "Yeah" or yell in the middle of my grooves. Sometimes I feel like this guy is like a caricature of a Rock Genius. But it might be his lyrics, or that voice that is giving me pause. But by the end I was enjoying myself. I really enjoyed the band for sure, will definitely have this on in the background of a BBQ. distortion out of 5

Incredibly unique, for better or for worse. Sometimes it comes across as groovy hi-volume punk rock with an Elvis Presley inflection, and sometimes it comes across as white people making noise for the sake of it. I can see why people would dislike it for the latter, but the former is just too intriguing for me to not enjoy. Album just kinda chugs along though, taking no time to let you digest the previous song as it hurls you into the next, and then the one after that. Herein, it makes for mainly nonsense and I can't help but shake that this sort of music is mainly built for a live crowd to just go buck wild, with little semblance of a setlist, opting for just "vibeS" (except the vibes are loud, crazy, and energy that are all off the charts).

The beginning scared the shit out of me I thought Annemarie was being axed murdered downstairs. After finding out she was not being axed murdered and I had listened to about 20 more minutes of this album it gave me the urge to go on an axe murdering spree just to make sure that no one else on my street would ever have to listen to this album.

Piss off Jon Spencer. You can't just screech into a mic and call it music. Also 1h20m of this bullshit is about 45 minutes too much. Why do you think people want to listen to over an hour of garbage noise? Piss off.

Terrible

Reasonable songs length, reasonable album length. Seemed promising...However, the very first noise you hear on this album is screaming. Not cool. Couldn't listen to the whole thing. It made my ears hurt.

White noise. Atrocious!

I really liked it, it is raw, energetic, it blends garage rock, blues, and punk, I really recommend it.

This is exactly what I like. Raw and chaotic rock music. I love the madness in it

There's a trip down memory lane, although I knew the albums either side a bit better. Sort of midway between The Cramps and The White Stripes. Nice to see from the reviews that they still upset a few people but you've lead a sheltered life if you think this is white noise.

One hell of a fun album. Greasy, messy rock and roll. I have their album Acme, but this sounds quite different. Compares at times to The Cramps. Garage rock at its best. 4 🌟

Mon compagnon d'écoute, l'inevitable Robtupperwear m'avait pourtant prévenu: cet album est extremement dangereux. C'est néammoins empli de curiosité que je me dirigeais en cette matinée vers mon compte Spotify, pour lancer l'album du denommé Jon Spencer. D'entrée de jeu, nous avons affaire à un imposteur - l'album ne contenant pas la moindre trace de blues. A la place, un cri strident s'echappe de la bouche de Jon a intervalle irregulier, ce qui rend l'écoute pour le moins désagréable. Pour le reste, un simple album de rock underground sans aucun intérêt, une sorte de Minutemerde en un peu moins pire. Un 2 néammoins, car nous avons déjà vécu bien pire dans cette fabuleuse épopée.

This is just noise and screaming.

This was m, quite possibly the least enjoyable time i’ve ever had listening to an album

I did not like this very much.

Nope, this is not the one

Quit listening

nob

I absolutely love this one. It's like being punched in the face by blues, and I mean that as a very strong compliment. I do kind of get that that's just not going to be everyone's cup of tea. I'd probably be reluctant to play this one for many of my friends. But tell me that you love this and we can definitely hang out. It's abrasive, noisy, challenging and completely free. Add in a video directed by Weird Al Yankovic (!) which is bizarre and fun. The many bonus tracks are a bit of a slog though. The 45 minute audio assault is plenty on its own. It's great, but needs space to breath again after it. Otherwise, this album was great.

For the first album of this project, it was a lot better than I expected. This is definitely a sound that I would listen to. I enjoyed their song in Baby Driver ("Bellbottoms") and I didn't expect them to go so hard in this album. Will definitely be checking out some of their other songs. As for this album, I enjoyed many of the songs. The songs are quite cathartic, I enjoy a singer who has a powerful voice. The songs are very "grungy". They sound quite unpolished and noisy, but in a very good way. I also very enjoyed the Radio ad's included in the album. I am a sucker for "spoken songs" or just straight up "voice clips". I ended up saving "Judah Love Theme", "Sticky", "Love All Of Me", and "Skunk". But I imagine I will add more as I listen to this album again.

I've been listening to this since high school. I love the energy and chaos of this record. I'm not sure if this is the best JSBX record but it's the one I listen to the most. Also the video for Wail is still a good time.

Ripping punk with a blues bent. It's a wild combination but it really works. The first 5 seconds let you know exactly what to expect with such an amazing scream.

Sounds like a punk band that was trained on the blues and sometimes more like a blues rock band trained on punk. Either way, it’s awesome. This has got to be one of Jack White’s favorite bands. Sounds like the sort of thing that could have influenced The White Stripes. I get a kick out of the songs where the vocals have an Elvis warble on them. Very fun. But they don’t overdo it. There’s plenty of good shouting and wailing too. This is one powerhouse of an album. Brilliant stuff.

I was concerned this was gonna be like some Brian Setzer shit, but actually this kinda rules. It reminds me of something like Gun Club or The Cramps. Punk blues is good. 3.75/5

I think this deserves a 4. There is lots of invention and experimentation happening here, both in terms of the playing and arranging, and also in the studio work. It's playful and exuberant but also I think the end result is pretty good. I think I will put this on again some time. A good record from a band I never heard of until this listen.

Great album, but no idea why this one has been include instead of the one before: consensus album Orange, which is definitely 5 star and was a bit hit at the time with lots of buzz.

Noisy AF but completely exhilirating

I really enjoyed this. Dunno when I'd go back go it but a great example of something you might only hear because of this list. Absurd. Ecclectic sound. Definitely not for everyone but very fun.

the name is a bit of a red herring. this was far better than the white man does delta blues i was expecting.

Well fuck my bleeding ass harder than you ever have before, it's only me old mate Jon Spencer with one of the greatest pieces of music to ever penegrate my hairy hoop. Fuck me. Fuck everyone.

Dirty mutant blues n' roll.

45 Minutes of absoloute chaos, I absolutely loved it. I have crossed paths with TJSBE (as I assume fans call them) many times over the years (notably of course from Baby Driver) but never sat down to listen to them, despite knowing it would be my kind of thing. But that's what projects like this are all about right, to help you get round to all these artists and I'm so glad I did with this one. There's a lot of good riffery and songcraft in here, its just hidden behind the noise on purpose and strung together in a way which is a hell of a brave move to make and one I respect immensely. The songs are short and never outstay their welcome and the amount of influences on show are staggering. This is great stuff. 4/5

I've never really explored JSBE. Every once in a while I hear one of their songs and think "damn, why didn't I ever listen to these guys." This whole album was like that.

I almost made the mistake to rate this album a 1 by just listening the screaming of the first song but, i always like to give another chance before the rating and was not disappointed. This is surely not a gold record in the sense of lyricism by any means but, it's still a fun experimental rocking live sounded type of record. Never heard of this band before in my life but i'll definitely give this more listens in the near future.

Raw garage-rock, sounded a lot like The Stooges and bands of that ilk. Really lively and exciting sounds, plenty of punk attitude and cool guitar and I like his singing style. I would love to mosh to tracks like 'Wail' in a club. Some of the experimental tracks are interesting but unnecessary and make the album a bit too long. On the whole though, some great stuff, I really enjoyed it.

Loved it. Nothing to worry about, explosions can sometimes be a good thing!

weird but good!

I've been waiting to get this album since I saw it was in the bottom ten of the entire book for a while. Not trying to be contrarian, but I really enjoyed this. This album is some dirty blues. I can see how it would be abrassive to some, especially on the first few tracks, but once you get into the madness, it's easy to get lost in. Favorite tracks: "Chicken Dog", "Hot Shit", "R.L. Got Soul"

Now I Got Worry Never really jived with JSBX although on paper there should be a lot I like. I get what they are going for with the edgy and frenetic garage rock/soul/rnb, but the wiriness does make it feel rather disjointed and it doesn’t work consistently enough to make it a truly satisfying listen. It does grow on you and there are some definite highlights, Wail, Fuck Shit Up and Love All of Me are good and the one-two of Chicken Dog and Rocketship is great. I love Rufus Thomas and having a ‘proper’ singer pulls Chicken Dog together brilliantly, the riff and groove working in unison well. Can’t Stop has a nice rhythmic propulsion and Eyeballin is good too. I like the RL Got Soul riff as well. I like the drummer and the guitars have some great moments, and I know his vocal style is their sound, but sometimes I wish he’d go somewhere other than the Elvis impersonation or the distorted scream. When he does sing more conventionally, as on Rocketship, it’s good. I think you have to acknowledge that they have influenced quite a few indie rock bands after them, but there are bands that do this kind of bluesy garage rock better, like the Black Keys and White Denim, who I presume were very much influenced by JSBX, but who manage to harness everything with a bit more care and craft. Really it's an album of moments and intent and attitude rather than a fully successful artistic statement. Two feels too low, and it at least tries to be interesting, so I’ll go 3. 📿📿📿 Playlist submission: Chicken Dog

The reviews made me a little nervous, it’s definitely weird, but I kinda dug it

Not bad punk, but as always, exhausting.

Really enjoyed chunks of this - some brilliant guitar but found it dragged a little - there’s an amazing 10 track album in here - a very very strong ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall a pretty cool Punk hip hop fusion album that has some cool moments, but not really and big hits. I do like this album, but don't think it is upper echelon worthy of all the other great albums out there.

skunk foht schomol mitme afoch huuuere unchillige schrei ah okay? aber de song isch recht geil. identify isch huuere churz punk time geil. wail geils riff und sehr geile strophengitarre. wail banger moll. fuck shit up chli weird? 2 kindsa love intressante giti sound? aber jo ähm wa love all of me hani nöd so gfühlt. Chicken dawg isch defür recht e cools riff und sehr geili gitarresounds. ok cant stop isch en echte blues firefly child findi de best bis etz glaub d gitarre isch no cool. eyeballin findi mässig geil. s isch s ganze album bis etz afoch chli komisch ahgressiv und chli z wenig hooks und songs. conclusion: ich bin definitiv kein noiserock guy und das isch keis guets album.

Congratulations to The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion! An album has to be exceedingly bad for me to prefer Christmas music and you have done just that. 1 star or F-.

Was Yoko Ono the inspiration?

Just couldn't get into it. I'm not sure how this is a must-listen.

Enfoiré

Yuck. Just a noise!

Unlistenable.

What an incredible album! This artist creates a sonic overload experience in their recorded work, something typically experienced only in live music. Maybe this album is not as diverse as the other album on this list, but this is by far my favourite!

Good stuff.

Loud and hard

Ok that was fun as hell. Wild garage blues rock, I guess you'd compare to like a drunken, coked-out White Stripes cover band at points, it's all over the place. Noisy and lo-fi, it's unhinged rock music which is exactly how rock music should sound like.

BOOM

I like the energy here. Madness combined with noisy guitars.

perfect album

This was great! Loved it!

Some very bluesy wailing delivered with a lot of force-bordering-on-abuse. I guess I was feeling musically masochistic, because much to my surprise I found myself really enjoying this album.

An unexpected treat. It's raw and chaotic, with bits of Iggy Pop and Captain Beefheart pulsing throughout. I saw the low reviews and feared the worst, but this was a belter.

so cool

Another surprise home run that makes me so glad I started this project! I had heard of this band before, but somehow never listened to them. I don't know exactly what I *thought* they were, but it certainly wasn't the awesomeness that I just had the pleasure of hearing! This album is searing, aggressive, technical, and so damned fun. it starts with a weird, primal scream and gets weirder from there. At no point did I ever *really* know what I was listening to, it's so unique and unlike anything else I've heard. Although I could definitely hear the blues inspired riffing in the guitars, this album is more unabashed in-your-face rock than anything else. An easy 4.5 stars, a hidden gem, and one of the most pleasant surprises I've had in the 80+ albums I've reviewed

Good but not groundbreaking.

This is an awesome blending of genres. It has elements of punk, blues, jazz, even some 90s hip-hop beats and record scratches. It makes me want to hear more by this artist.

Aaahhhhaaaaahhhh! Top album from begin to end. Love the energy, the variation, the combination of modern blues, straight rock and noise, the length of songs (usually 3 minutes maximum, no 20 minutes phychedelic stuff). Clear that he liked the same Industrial/Punky/Bluesy stuff I do and he combines it in a really good album Chicken Dog, the fun song Fuck Shit Up and the frightening Sticky (reminds me of the Deaf album by Foetus, DIY music!) my favorites.

unhinged, experimental, and fun

Big fan of JSBX since high school when I bought an LP of "Orange" cause Beck was on the track "Flavor" and was blown away by the rest. Ended up seeing them multiple times in concert, and you better believe they were great live. This album is like the apex of their creative peak from Orange through Acme, where they really started blurring genre barriers and experimenting more in the studio. It kinda surprises me there's so much disdain for this album on here, when the line between this and The White Stripes, etc. is absolutely clear. Yeah, it's a ton more aggressive and chaotic, but those are good things in my book when it comes to rock n roll.

belbottom! belbottom! belbottom!

5 stars!! Fucking LOVE this album! Jon Spencer at his best! There is not a bad track on this record!

I WILL ALWAYS 5 STAR JSBE

This needed a bit of time to settle in but holy moly it's worth preserving. Big Presidents of the US, Beck, kinda chaotic QOTSA, Dave Graney energy.

Fucking great album!

Første møte med dette bandet — wow!!

10/10 One of the best modern rock bands

Wow! Awesome! High energy!

Interesting alternative. Like gorillaz, but earlier

Wow. Esto se siente vivo.