''Shake Your Money Maker'' (also stylized as ''The Black Crowes Present: $hake Your Money Maker'') is the debut studio album by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

the Black Crowes The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1984. Their discography includes eight studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer Geo ...

, released on February 13, 1990 on

Def American Recordings American Recordings (formerly Def American Recordings) is an American record label headed by producer Rick Rubin. The label has featured artists such as Slayer, the Black Crowes, ZZ Top, Danzig, Trouble, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, The Mother Hi ...

. It is the only album by the band to feature guitarist

Jeff Cease The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1984. Their discography includes eight studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer Ge ...

. The album is named after a classic blues song written by

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

. The Black Crowes have played the song live many times over the years, but it is not included on this album. ''Shake Your Money Maker'' peaked at No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' 200, and two of its singles, " Hard to Handle" and "

She Talks to Angels "She Talks to Angels" is a song by American rock band the Black Crowes. It is the eighth track on their first album, '' Shake Your Money Maker'' (1990), and was the fourth single released from the album in 1991. The song reached number 30 on the ...

", reached No. 1 on the

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart. "

Jealous Again ''Jealous Again'' is a 12" EP that was the second release by American hardcore punk band Black Flag and the third-ever release on SST Records. History Although eventually released as a 12" 45 RPM extended-play, ''Jealous Again'' was initially ...

", "

Twice As Hard "Twice As Hard" is a song by the American southern rock band The Black Crowes. From on their first album, '' Shake Your Money Maker'', the song was released as a single in 1990 and reached the 11th position in the Mainstream Rock charts. A music v ...

" and "Seeing Things" were also charting singles in the United States. ''Shake Your Money Maker'' is the Black Crowes' best selling album, having sold more than 5 million copies.Curtis, Gregory (January 30, 1997)
"''The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion'' , Album Reviews"

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

. Retrieved March 22, 2012. On January 8, 2021, the Black Crowes announced that a 30th anniversary edition of the album would be released on February 26, 2021. The new version contains the original tracks remastered in addition to three previously unreleased songs, outtakes, two demos from the Mr. Crowe's Garden era, and a live performance set recorded in 1990 at Center Stage in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. Previously unreleased track "Charming Mess" was released on the same day as the announcement.

Background and production

Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson had formed Mr. Crowe's Garden in 1984. In 1988

George Drakoulias George Drakoulias (born 1965) is a Greek-American music producer and a former A&R executive at the American Recordings label. He is often considered a protégé of Rick Rubin. Drakoulias grew up in Syosset, New York, and attended Syosset High Sc ...

saw the band at a show they did in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and had them signed to

Def American American Recordings (formerly Def American Recordings) is an American record label headed by producer Rick Rubin. The label has featured artists such as Slayer, the Black Crowes, ZZ Top, Danzig, Trouble, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, The Mother Hips ...

the same year; they changed their name to the Black Crowes shortly after. The recording sessions began in the summer of 1989 in

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, with Drakoulias producing the album. Some tracks include retained songs from the Mr. Crowe's Garden era such as "Could I've Been So Blind" and "

", whose riff had been written years ago by then-17 year old Rich Robinson with lyrics written by Chris, which were inspired by a heroin-addicted girl he "kinda knew" in Atlanta.Archived a
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and th
Wayback Machine
The band also chose to record a cover version of Otis Redding's " Hard to Handle", which would prove to be their breakthrough single. Four music videos for "

", "

", "Hard to Handle" and "She Talks to Angels" were filmed to promote the band and the album, and subsequently aired on MTV.

Release and reception

When the album came out in February 1990, critical reception was mostly favorable. ''

'' gave the album three out of five stars, and its readers and critics voted the Black Crowes "Best New American Band" in 1990; the band appeared on the cover of the magazine's 605th issue (May 1991) following their firing from the

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound ...

tour in March that year. The issue's interview of Chris and Rich Robinson compared the band to 1970s acts, with journalist

David Fricke David Fricke is an American music journalist who serves as the senior editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, where he writes predominantly about rock music. One of the best known names in rock journalism, his career has spanned over 40 years. I ...

explicitly citing

Faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

and

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

and Rich Robinson mentioning

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

.''What's So Bad About The Black Crowes?''
at the ''Rolling Stone'' website's archives.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album four out of five stars, praising Rich Robinson's guitar playing and Chris Robinson's "appropriate vocal swagger". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' gave it a B+ and stated, "The Black Crowes are to the early Rolling Stones what Christian Slater is to the young Jack Nicholson: a self-conscious imitation, but fine enough in its own right. Authentic bluesmen these Crowes will never be, but their sheer energy earns 'em the right to trash it up." "Hard to Handle", "Jealous Again" and "Twice As Hard" broke into the Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, respectively reaching the first, fifth and eleventh position. By the end of the year, ''Shake Your Money Maker'' had sold one million copies and eventually sold two million more, thus receiving triple platinum certification. In 1991, "She Talks to Angels" and "Seeing Things" respectively reached the first and second position of the Mainstream Rock Tracks charts.

Track listing

30th Anniversary Edition

Notes * "Live Too Fast Blues/Mercy, Sweet Moan" follows the bonus tracks on the 1998 reissue of the album. * "Live Too Fast Blues/Mercy, Sweet Moan" does not appear on digital or streaming versions of the original album, thus cutting the track listing down to 10 songs. * The bonus tracks were originally part of the recording sessions at Soundscape Studios in Atlanta.

Personnel

The Black Crowes * Chris Robinson – vocals *

Rich Robinson Richard Spencer Robinson (born May 24, 1969) is an American musician and founding member of the rock and roll band the Black Crowes. Along with older brother Chris Robinson, Rich formed the band in 1984 (originally called ''Mr. Crowes Garden'' ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

– guitar *

Johnny Colt Johnny Colt (born Charles Brandt; May 1, 1966) is an American bass guitar player who formerly played with the southern rock bands Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Black Crowes. Music career From 1989 he was the original bassist for The Black Crowes which ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Steve Gorman Steve Gorman (born August 17, 1965) is an American musician and sports talk radio host. Gorman is best known as the former drummer of the American rock and roll band The Black Crowes He spent time as the drummer for British rock band Stereophoni ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Additional personnel * Laura Creamer – background vocals *

Chuck Leavell Charles Alfred Leavell (born April 28, 1952) is an American musician. A member of the Allman Brothers Band throughout their commercial zenith in the 1970s, he subsequently became a founding member of the band Sea Level. He has served as the pri ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, organ *

Brendan O'Brien Brendan O'Brien may refer to: *Brendan O'Brien (bishop) (born 1943), Roman Catholic archbishop of Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Brendan O'Brien (cricketer) (born 1942), Irish former cricketer *Brendan O'Brien (journalist), senior Irish journalist on R ...

– "a potpourri of instruments" ;Production *

– producer *

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popula ...

– executive producer (credited on the sleeve only after the album became successful) *

Pete Angelus Pete Angelus is an artist manager who has worked in the music business since 1975. During his career, he has worked with Van Halen, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Slash, Hall & Oates and has managed The Black Crowes The Black Crowes are an Amer ...

– personal manager * Dave Bianco – remixing on "Twice As Hard" *Alan Forbes – artwork, art direction, design *

Greg Fulginiti Gregory Fulginiti (born February 13, 1951 in Cape May Court House section of Middle Township, New Jersey) is an American recording and mastering engineer. Fulginiti grew up in Wildwood, New Jersey and graduated from Wildwood High School in 1969 ...

– mastering *Tag George – assistant engineer *Michael Lavine – photography *Ruth Leitman – photography, cover photo *Lee Manning – assistant engineer, mixing, mixing engineer *Brendan O'Brien – engineer, mixing *Leon Zervos – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shake Your Money Maker (Album) The Black Crowes albums American Recordings (record label) albums 1990 debut albums Albums produced by George Drakoulias Albums produced by Rick Rubin