Electric Mud

In 1968, eager to appeal to psychedelic rock fans, Chess Records urged Muddy Waters to expand his audience by making a heavy rock record. Backed by members of the Chicago soul-rock band Rotary Connection, Muddy turned out an album full of crunching, distortion-soaked riffs and big, booming beats. Not only did it achieve its aim in boosting Muddy\'s profile, it proved influential to a new generation of musicians. Most of the tracks are hard-rocking revamps of classics from his existing repertoire (\"Mannish Boy,\" \"The Same Thing,\" etc.) but he also amps up The Rolling Stones\' \"Let\'s Spend the Night Together.\"

This album marks what could probably be considered the nadir of Muddy Waters' career, although at the time it did sell somewhere between 200,000 and 250,000 copies, a lot for Waters in those days.