Hard To Handle Remedy Jealous Again The Black Crowes

Hard To Handle Album: Shake Your Money Maker (1990)
Remedy Album: The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (1992)
Jealous Again Album: Shake Your Money Maker (1990)
by The Black Crowes

Hard To Handle was originally recorded by Otis Redding, who wrote it with Allen Jones and Al Bell. It was the only cover song on The Black Crowes debut album, which sold over five million copies.

Running a compact 3:08, The Black Crows turned Hard To Handle into a rocker, using guitars instead of horns and extending the song from Redding's 2:18 original.

Hard To Handle was The Black Crowes' third single, following "Twice As Hard" and "Jealous Again." It made #45 in the US in December 1990, as the group was rapidly gaining momentum. After "She Talks To Angels" hit #30 in May 1991 - over a year after the album was released - "Hard To Handle" was reissued, this time going to #26 and becoming the highest-charting single for the band on the Hot 100. The group had been together for five years before signing a record deal with Def American, which prepared them well for the onslaught of success. Their live act had already been honed, and many who saw them remained lifetime fans as they became more of a jam band.

In an interview with Black Crowes lyricist/frontman Chris Robinson, he explained: "'Remedy' is a song that essentially is about freedom. We were into the whole idea that the 'war on drugs' was just silly - it was this asinine concept to me and millions of other people. So that song to me is about freedom, plain and simple, just put in a Rock & Roll framework."

A track from the second Black Crowes album, this was their last song to make the Hot 100 - a surprising development considering they charted three songs from their first album and had a lot of radio support. As the band moved forward, the focused more on their core fanbase (the "connoisseurs" as Chris Robinson calls them), which circumscribed their popular fortunes.

The pro-marijuana stance the band espouses in Remedy is something they played up around this time. To help promote the album, they appeared on the cover of High Times magazine, played the Atlanta Pot Festival, and had signage at their concerts with marijuana leaves.

"Jealous Again" was the first single from The Black Crowes, released in 1990 after the band had been around in some form for six years. It was written by Rich and Chris Robinson, the brothers who lead the band. Rich is the guitarist and Chris the lead singer, but they collaborate on both music and lyrics.

The song reflects their time on the road, pushing forward as they pursue their rock and roll dream ("Singing songs, ain't got no regrets"). They seem to be addressing a girl, letting her know there's a lot they had to sacrifice, and acknowledging that life with an aspiring rock star isn't always easy.

"When you're a kid and you're in a rock band, that's your life, and there are a lot of walls put up for you to bust through," Chris Robinson said. "We really weren't an angst-driven band, but on the early Black Crowes records you feel our youthful exuberance."

The Black Crowes were often compared to The Rolling Stones, and Jealous Again is a big reason why. The Robinson brothers admit that it's inspired by the 1972 Stones song "Tumbling Dice."

"We stepped into a new place on 'Jealous Again,'" Rich told Guitar Player magazine. "We were going for a 'Tumbling Dice' thing. I remember writing the intro, putting the song together with Chris, and bringing it to rehearsal, where everyone got it. The first time we played it live was opening for Drivin' N Cryin' in Nashville."

Jealous Again got The Black Crowes off to a flying start. Rock stations were quick to add it to their playlists, excited to have some new blood in a genre that was still dominated by acts that were big in the '70s like Aerosmith, Rush and ZZ Top. And this was Southern rock (the band is from Atlanta), more boogie than grunge, which was making a big push.

The band followed "Jealous Again" with "Twice As Hard" and their cover of "Hard To Handle," then with the touching ballad "She Talks To Angels." All of these songs were part of their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, which went on to sell over 5 million copies in America.

The band released a no-frills video for Jealous Again, directed by Pete Angelus, who worked on many of those Van Halen and David Lee Roth videos that were all over MTV in the early years. The Black Crowes had a distinctive look, with flowing shirts on their surprisingly skinny frames. Like their sound, this was also reminiscent of '70s rockers like The Rolling Stones.
Another "black" band beat them to the title: Jealous Again is the name of a 1980 EP by Black Flag.