George Thorogood - The Original George Thorogood

As George Thorogood himself once put it, “I guess a good song is a good song is a good song, you know?” And what we have here are 14 hard-stompin,’ party-down, good songs—all penned by Mr. Thorogood himself. Scheduled for release on February 18, 2022, the aptly named album The Original George Thorogood brings together the best from the rock and roll heart and fevered brain of George Thorogood and his unstoppable, longtime band, The Destroyers. The Original George Thorogood will be released on CD, LP, and digital versions. “It’s easy to write a song, difficult to write a good song, and even harder to write a great song,” Thorogood says. “It strikes home that I have the ability to write some pretty great songs, and there’s a real sense of achievement to that.”

In the late ’70s, Thorogood’s badass vocal delivery and grindhouse slide guitar rocketed the Destroyers onto the charts, with two platinum and six gold albums to their credit. Over the course of his 20-album career, Thorogood has won acclaim as an inspired interpreter of timeless classics by masters like Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, and Hank Williams. But all along the way, he kept honing his own songcraft.

The Original George Thorogood is a celebration of Thorogood as a tunesmith. The album features rock radio blockbusters like “I Drink Alone” and “Rock and Roll Christmas,” as well as Thorogood’s mega-hit, “Bad to the Bone,” which celebrates its 40th Anniversary this Fall. The latter song has been featured in numerous hit movies, from Terminator 2: Judgment Day to The Muppets, and TV shows including “Married… With Children,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” and “Miami Vice.” For Thorogood – currently touring with The Destroyers on their acclaimed Good To Be Bad: 45 Years Of Rock Tour – as well as for his millions of fans, The Original George Thorogood is a welcome reminder that the pen can be as mighty as the guitar. “You try to spread yourself out as a songwriter,” says George, “and I’ve always tried to do my best. We’ve been playing a lot of these songs for a long time, and some haven’t been performed live at all. I hope fans are surprised by the ones they’ve never heard before.”

The Original George Thorogood also showcases the range of Thorogood’s output, with tracks like the tour de force truck drivin’ anthem “Gear Jammer,” the heartfelt country ballad “Oklahoma Sweetheart,” and the previously unreleased “Back In The U.S.A.” Additionally, hard-hitting barnburners like “I Really Like Girls,” “If You Don’t Start Drinkin’ (I’m Gonna Leave),” and “You Talk Too Much” are served up with classic Thorogood swagger and tongue-in-cheek panache. It’s all here. And it’s all mighty good Thorogood. Or as the man himself once put it, “There is no doubt in my mind who is Number One. I have always been Number One.”

1. Bad to the Bone

2. I Drink Alone

3. Gear Jammer

4. Born to Be Bad

5. If You Don't Start Drinkin' (I'm Gonna Leave)

6. Back in the U.S.A.

7. Rock And Roll Man

8. You Talk Too Much

9. Miss Luann

10. Oklahoma Sweetheart

11. Rock And Roll Christmas