Rude Mood
Encyclopedia
"Rude Mood" is the sixth track on Stevie Ray Vaughan
's debut album Texas Flood
. It is a blues
shuffle instrumental in 4/4 (common time) and played at an extremely quick 264 beats per minute. It is noted for being very technically challenging.
The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
in 1984
but lost to Sting's "Brimstone and Treacle".
song called "Hopkins' Sky Hop". Vaughan played this song in several live performances including Live at Carnegie Hall and can be seen on the DVD Live at Montreux 1982. There are also versions where he uses an acoustic guitar instead of his characteristic Stratocaster, and it was said that some nights he would take it notably faster or slower than the recorded studio version.
The song starts out with the main riff
introduced by the guitar; the bass notes are played quickly with muted notes in between, resulting in a swung feel. The bass guitar and drums are introduced after the introduction, establishing the beat that continues to the end. The song can be broken up into many sections, separated by each 12-bar blues progression, with most sections ending in the same fashion as the beginning riff.
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stephen Ray "Stevie Ray" Vaughan was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan and frontman for Double Trouble, a band that included bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton. Born in Dallas, Vaughan moved to Austin at the age of 17 and...
's debut album Texas Flood
Texas Flood
Texas Flood was released on June 13, 1983, with two singles released from the album—"Pride and Joy" and "Love Struck Baby". "Pride and Joy" peaked at #20 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. "Texas Flood" was nominated for Best Traditional Blues Performance and "Rude Mood" was nominated for Best...
. It is a blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
shuffle instrumental in 4/4 (common time) and played at an extremely quick 264 beats per minute. It is noted for being very technically challenging.
The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance was an honor presented to recording artists for quality instrumental rock performances at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
in 1984
Grammy Awards of 1984
The 26th Grammy Awards were held on February 28, 1984, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1983...
but lost to Sting's "Brimstone and Treacle".
Origin and structure
"Rude Mood" is a take-off of a Lightnin' HopkinsLightnin' Hopkins
Sam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas...
song called "Hopkins' Sky Hop". Vaughan played this song in several live performances including Live at Carnegie Hall and can be seen on the DVD Live at Montreux 1982. There are also versions where he uses an acoustic guitar instead of his characteristic Stratocaster, and it was said that some nights he would take it notably faster or slower than the recorded studio version.
The song starts out with the main riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
introduced by the guitar; the bass notes are played quickly with muted notes in between, resulting in a swung feel. The bass guitar and drums are introduced after the introduction, establishing the beat that continues to the end. The song can be broken up into many sections, separated by each 12-bar blues progression, with most sections ending in the same fashion as the beginning riff.