King of the Delta Blues Singers

Robert Johnson

I think of The Heavy as kind of like apex rock. They’re what happens when talented musicians, cognizant of their entire history, invoke damnation on what would be genre definition and simply make “rock and roll” without more restrictive category. Apex rock would be termed, I believe, the logical conclusion of rock and roll.

If The Heavy are apex rock, then Robert Johnson, more than anyone else, is their opposite number. Robert Johnson is the seed, the sparking act, the beginning of the story. He called his music the blues, which is correct. That said, if he needs to be included in the genre of rock and roll, then he’d be proto rock to The Heavy’s apex rock. He is the logical beginning to the story that has, so far, reached a semi-conclusive middle in The Heavy.

Listening to Robert Johnson with an open mind is odd. It’s a little like listening to demo sessions to everyone else. Because if they didn’t themselves hear Robert Johnson, you can bet all you have that your favorite musicians spent a lot of time listening to someone else who counts Robert Johnson one of their creative gods.

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