The group originally formed in 1985, playing its first gigs in Dallas's Deep Ellum neighborhood. Its current members are Jim "Reverend Horton" Heath on guitar and lead vocals, Jimbo Wallace on the upright bass, and Scott Churilla on drums. Through relentless touring and a manic stage show, they have established themselves as one of the most popular underground acts in America. Their sound is self described as "Country-fed punkabilly." Their music is a mixture of country, punk, big band, swing, and rockabilly, all played loud and energetically with lyrics that are often very humorous.
Jim Heath played in a cover band called Southern Comfort with friends from Corpus Christi Ray, his high school, before attending the University of Texas at Austin in the fall of 1977. At UT, he often entertained friends and dormmates and was often found playing in the stairwells at Moore-Hill Dormitory late into the night to avoid disturbing the sleep of roommate Harold Shockley, now a Corpus Christi banker. Jim left school in the spring to join up with a touring cover band by the name of Sweetbriar. Three years later, former dormmate David Livingston, now in his senior year of school and at home visiting family, saw a familiar face on stage and reunited with Jim. David told Jim stories of the punk music scene in Austin and the acts playing at venues like Raul's and Club Foot. Once, while home on another visit, David took Jim to a Dallas rock and roll venue, The Bijou, to see an act called The Cramps. After the show, there broke out a punks vs. rockers brawl in the parking lot. While Jim and David escaped any involvement in the scuffle, Jim later claimed to have had an epiphany on that evening. Always a fan of blues and honky tonk, Jim returned the favor by taking David and his wife, Ellen, to see The Blasters in Dallas at a venue known as the Hot Klub and Jim's love for roots rock took over from there.
Jim had married a former bandmate from Sweetbriar, and together they had a child. Together they decided that the rock-and-roll lifestyle was over and that it was time to have real jobs. Around 1985, Jim was known as "Jim the Sound Guy" by those who frequented two warehouses that by night became music venues, Theater Gallery and The Prophet Bar. Jim used the old Sweetbriar PA system to earn from $20-$50 per night for extra money, running sound for bands such as the New Bohemians, End Over End, Shallow Reign and Three On A Hill. One night during a lull, Russell Hobbs, one of the original Deep Ellum visionaries and proprietors of these venues goaded Jim into getting up to play. He played alone, tearing through a version of "Folsom Prison Blues" that is now so familiar to millions of Reverend Horton Heat fans around the world. Throughout the song, Hobbs hooted and shouted out, "Go Reverend". Jim decided then and there to form a band and came up with the name Reverend Horton Heat, as an ode to Johnny Horton, using the shortened version of his last name, Heath. The late nights and the fact the Jim was now playing in a band and his wife and former bandmate was not took its toll on the marriage and she soon left with their child and dog. Jim's feelings upon the loss of his family are well documented in the song, "Where In The Hell Did You go With My Toothbrush?". The Jimi Hendrix poster mentioned in the song was on the back of a door that Jim used for a practice room in the house he shared with his wife and child. The dog's name really was Smokey.
About this time, David and Ellen moved back from Oklahoma City, where they had been since graduating from UT. David began to book gigs for Jim and his new band, and their refeshing sound and raw live performance quickly won over the local music scene. Jim drew crowds to brand new music venues, playing three nights a week at Froggy Bottoms in the then brand new West End and assured a quick start to Club Dada, the first "for profit" bar in Deep Ellum by playing every night for the first two weeks that it was open. David continued to work with Reverend Horton Heat until 1989, when his own new family and day job required all of his attention, and Jim needed a real manager who could get him out on the road and into the studio. Jim and David remain close friends today, and a song that they co-wrote together back in the '80s, "Liquor, Beer and Wine", appeared on 1994's "Liquor In The Front".
Check out the [url=http://[officialsite]www.victorymerch.com/store/reverendhortonheat]Reverend Horton Heat merch store.
This artist is also on Last.fm as: 'The Reverend Horton Heat'
Baddest Of The Bad
Reverend Horton Heat Lyrics
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Since you've been gone,
The baddest of the bad,
Since you've been gone.
I lay around here
And I just drink beer
The baddest of the bad,
Everything is bad including me,
But being bad is good policy,
It protects me from your past,
'Till your memory's gone at last
Everything is bad including me.
Young girls and gin may be the cure,
Young girls and gin may be the cure,
I'm talking just as good as you stay pure,
Young girls and gin may be the cure.
I'm the baddest of the bad
Since you've been gone,
The baddest of the bad,
Since you've been gone.
I lay around here
And I just drink beer
The baddest of the bad,
Since you've been gone.
The baddest of the bad,
Since you've been gone.
The baddest of the bad,
Since you've been gone.
The Reverend Horton Heat's "Baddest of the Bad" is a song that talks about a man who has become "the baddest of the bad" since his lover has left him. He spends his days laying around, drinking beer and feeling awful. The song expresses a feeling of bitterness over a lost love and the difficulty of getting over it. The singer acknowledges that he is in a bad place and that everything around him is bad too, but he finds comfort in being bad as it protects him from the memories of the past.
The lyrics are symbolic in nature, as drinking beer and chasing young women are not constructive actions, but rather a façade that will eventually lead to more harm than good. The reference to young girls and gin as the cure is a possible reference to seeking solace in vices as a way to get over a heartbreak. But ultimately, the song is about the bitterness of losing someone and the difficulty of moving on.
Overall, "Baddest of the Bad" is a song that speaks to the experience of a broken heart, illustrating the pain and the seemingly endless wait for time to heal all wounds. However, the song also carries with it a warning about the dangers of bad habits as a way to cope with loss.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm the baddest of the bad
I am the epitome of bad and have made it my identity.
Since you've been gone,
Ever since you left me,
I lay around here
I don't do much these days except for one thing.
And I just drink beer
I pass my time by consuming alcohol and avoiding my emotions.
Everything is bad including me,
Since you left, everything in my life has been tainted with misery and I see myself as part of the problem.
But being bad is good policy,
Despite my self-awareness, embracing my bad side is the only way to survive without you.
It protects me from your past,
Being bad shields me from memories of our relationship that I don't want to confront.
'Till your memory's gone at last
I will continue being bad until I can forget you entirely.
Young girls and gin may be the cure,
I am trying to move on by indulging in temporary pleasures.
I'm talking just as good as you stay pure,
I don't believe there's anything wrong with my behavior, especially compared to those who pretend to be morally superior to me.
The baddest of the bad,
I am still the baddest even though you're gone.
Since you've been gone.
Your absence has only made me worse.
The baddest of the bad,
Even without you I continue to claim the title of baddest.
Since you've been gone.
Your impact on me is evident in everything I do.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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