Boom Boom

"Boom Boom" was born out of John Lee Hooker's frustration with a habitually late bartender at the Apex Bar in Chicago. Hooker would say, "Boom boom, you're late again." Taking that phrase into the studio, Vee-Jay records backed him with a staggering lineup: members of Motown's legendary house band, the Funk Brothers, including pianist Joe Hunter and saxophonist Hank Cosby. They organized Hooker's usually erratic timing into a tight, explosive stop-time arrangement. The result was one of Hooker's biggest crossover hits that practically forced the Animals to cover it during the British Invasion.