Garage Sale Vinyl 8-Track Edition: Blackfoot
Strikes / Atco / March 1979
by Christopher Long
Music trends, they come and they go. Some, more gracefully than others. But a strong case can be made that the Southern Rock genre has aged as nicely as that super-fine 50-something divorcée with the bouncy blonde ponytail and the pastel pink leggings who jogs past my place on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Usually around 9:35. But rarely after 9:50. And it doesn’t take much more than a casual glance at the current Americana, roots, and alt. country scenes to spot the ongoing stylistic ripples, first stirred by the original Southern Rock pioneers of the late ’60s and early ’70s.
In a barroom brawl between the baddest bruisers of the day: The Allmans, Skynyrd, Tucker, ARS, the Outlaws, Hatchet, Barefoot Jerry, and the CDB, or whoever else you wanna throw into the mix, safe money says Blackfoot comes out bloodied, yet victorious, every time.
After slogging through the trenches for a few years, in various configurations and under several different names, Blackfoot dropped their debut LP, No Reservations, in 1975, followed by the sophomore set, Flyin’ High in 1976. Neither record garnered much attention. However, in 1979, album #3 would make Blackfoot legendary.
Straight out the gate, from prominent record store displays to heavy FM radio airplay, Strikes refused to be ignored. The eye-catching rattlesnake selfie pinned to a vivid red and orange background on the front cover was as badass as the black and white band photo on the back cover. Simply put, Strikes was a cool record — a record that you had to have.
With the craze beginning to cool, many Southern Rock bands at the time were telling audiences in magazine interviews and album liner notes that they were different, more hard rock than southern rock. But Blackfoot showed the world that they weren’t like the other boys through the arena caliber crunch and unapologetic cock rock swagger of Strikes. Truth be told, for my merry crew of teenage misfits, in 1979, Blackfoot stood nose-to-nose with any of our other heavy rock cassette kingpins, including Van Halen, KISS, and the Nuge. BTW, onstage, Blackfoot was an even more ferocious force.
The powerhouse vocals of frontman Rickey Medlocke were gloriously spectacular. And the ball-busting guitar riffage of Medlocke and Charlie Hargrett, 69-ing Greg T. Walker’s booming basslines was indecently superb. However, it was the brutal kick and snare attack of drummer Jakson Spires that pleaded guilty to the majority of the aural assault charges. The opening track, “Road Fever,” proves my point perfectly.
While the covers of Spirit’s “I Got a Line on You” and Free’s “Wishing Well” were both noteworthy standouts, it’s the Medlocke / Spires-penned “Left Turn on a Red Light” and “Run and Hide” that serve as two of the most effective itch scratchers, in terms of song crafting, storytelling, and melody.
Strikes would ultimately achieve platinum status, largely due to the success of the record’s two now iconic Top 40 hit singles: the harmonica-fueled barn burner, “Train, Train” and the epic, “Highway Song.” I certainly did my fair share to bolster those seven-figure sales stats over the years, as I’ve owned Strikes multiple times on LP, CD, and iTunes formats. I scored my most recent vinyl copy a little over a year ago from a used joint in Florida for the absurd price of $12. Look, it was in pristine condition, so don’t judge me, man. But I’ll always cherish my original vinyl copy that Jakson Spires autographed for me back in 2001.
It’s kinda wacky, but despite the fact that Strikes is one of my all-time favorites, I wasn’t prodded to include it in this series until just recently, when I spotted a copy on 8-track at Marley’s Music in Biloxi, Mississippi, for a buck!
5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Strikes Track List
SIDE ONE
1. Road Fever (R. Medlocke, J. Spires) – 3:07
2. I Got a Line on You (R. California, Hollenbeck) – 3:17
3. Left Turn on a Red Light (R. Medlocke, J. Spires) 4:35
4. Pay My Dues (Blues Image) – 3:03
5. Baby Blue (R. Medlocke, J. Spires, C. Hargrett) – 2:33
SIDE TWO
1. Wishing Well (T. Yamauchi, P. Rodgers, S. Kirke, P. Kossoff, J. Bundrick) – 3:11
2. Run and Hide (R. Medlocke, J. Spires) – 3:24
3. Train, Train (S. Medlocke) – 3:32
4. Highway Song (R. Medlocke, J. Spires) – 7:31
