As we wrap up Black Crowes Week in celebration of the band’s newest album, it’s worth rewinding to 1995—when The Black Crowes were riding “high” after the release of Amorica. The band had already played plenty of unusual gigs over the years, including massive festival crowds at Monsters of Rock, but few settings felt quite as strange as this one.
This performance of “High Head Blues” on the British TV program The Word in 1995 is a fascinating oddity. Instead of the smoky, swaggering Southern rock atmosphere the Crowes usually thrived in, the stage looks more like a surreal mash-up of Club MTV and an Austin Powers dance party. Surrounding the band are dancing blondes, shirtless male models, and a colorful club aesthetic that feels completely out of step with the Crowes’ gritty vibe
Somehow, the band powers through it, delivering the song with their usual intensity—even if the setting feels like the band was eye-rolling their way through it all.
