The best rock and roll has always been made by rugged, and sometimes ragged, individuals—musicians so strong, willful, and full of rebel spirit there’s only one word to describe them: badasses. Their iconoclastic natures empower them to change the course of the music. It also makes them outlaws. Some live to tell, others don’t, but they all earn their place in history.
ROBERT JOHNSON
Before you protest that he was a bluesman, consider what we know about Johnson’s flashy performing style, his quicksilver slide and melody playing, his superfly threads, and his way with the ladies. Ol’ RoJo was a rock star, baby—a Delta Jimi Hendrix so far ahead of his era that “Sweet Home Chicago” has never left the blues canon (although it’s probably time that it did), and his “Cross Road Blues” became a staple of ’60s rock when pop culture finally caught up with his high-flying coattails.
Johnson’s lifestyle caught up with him one night in 1938 at a juke joint outside of Greenwood, Mississippi, when a jealous husband fatally poisoned him. Thus he became the founder of rock’s notorious “27 Club,” whose members include Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, the Minutemen’s D. Boone, and Kurt Cobain—all of whom died at that age. It’s a first Johnson undoubtedly would have preferred to skip, but proof that being a badass sometimes comes with a heavy price.
JERRY LEE LEWIS
Goodness gracious, if there’s still a whole lotta shakin’ going on in Jerry Lee Lewis’ Nesbit, Mississippi, home, it’s likely the bones of the skeletons in his closet.
During his early career heyday at Sun Records, Lewis became the first white performer to embrace the use of sexual double entendre that was popular in African-American R&B. But Lewis was badass for more than that chicken in the barn and those great balls of fire he had the guts to sing about.
Nobody played with such pure frenzy. For Lewis, pounding his piano was an act of demonic possession—literally. He believed his music was a direct affront to God, yet kept right on doing it. Whether defying God is badass or a mortal sin depends on your religious convictions. And speaking of convictions, Lewis’ arrest record contains a banner year. In 1976 he was tagged for drunk driving in Memphis on November 11, only to reappear later that night outside the gates of Elvis Presley’s Graceland, brandishing a pistol and demanding to see the King. Also in ’76, he was booked for firing his pistol at a bottle, missing and hitting his bass player—nearly making his nickname "the Killer" literal.
Lewis’ personal life has been struck by various tornadoes. On December 12, 1957 he married his 13-year-old cousin Myra Gale Brown. It was his third marriage—the second, to Jane Mitcham, took place 23 days ..............................................
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