John Lee Hooker: Boom Boom

Did the British bands who discovered rhythm and blues in the 1960s rip off the Black American artists who originally played it?

That's not how the John Lee Hooker website sees it:

When the young bohemian artists of the 1960s “discovered” Hooker, among other notable blues originators, he found his career taking on a new direction. With the folk movement in high gear, Hooker returned to his solo, acoustic roots, and was in strong demand to perform at colleges and folk festivals around the country. 

Across the Atlantic, emerging British bands were idolizing Hooker’s work. Artists like the Rolling Stones, the Animals and the Yardbirds introduced Hooker’s sound to new and eager audiences, whose admiration and influence helped build Hooker up to superstar status. 

By 1970, Hooker had relocated to California and was busy collaborating on several projects with rock acts. One such collaboration was with Canned Heat, which resulted in 1971’s hit record Hooker ’n’ Heat. The double LP became John Lee Hooker’s first charting album.

It may later have been about money, but the British bands who played Hooker's songs first did so because they loved the music. Try a 15-year-old Steve Winwood singing Dimples.

In his White Bicycles ("I was there, and I do remember") Joe Boyd describes a concert at the Hammersmith Odeon:

This was middle America's worst nightmare: white teenage girls screaming ecstatically at Chuck Berry.

He noticed a familiar figure looking on:

I blurted out "That's John Lee Hooker." The girls around me started yelling, "John Lee? John Lee? Where? Where?" I pointed towards the wings. They started chanting, "We want John Lee, we want John Lee" and were quickly joined by half the hall - hundreds of kids.

Boyd goes on:

In that moment, I decided I would live in England and produce music for this audience. America seemed a desert in comparison. These weren't the privileged elite, they were just kids, Animals fans. And they knew who John Lee Hooker was!

No white person in America in 1964 - with the exception of me and my friends, of course - knew who John Lee Hooker was.