In the late ’60s and early ’70s the American Midwest was one of the world’s hottest markets for rock music, and the region’s musicians responded by forming an ever-changing succession of blues-rock outfits. One that slipped down the memory hole for me was Frijid Pink, a Detroit band that caught the wave in 1969 with this heavy, Vanilla Fudge-tyle remake of “House of the Rising Sun,” an old folk tune that had been a hit for Eric Burdon and the Animals earlier in the decade.
There are earlier recorded versions of the song, but this one by Roy Acuff back in 1938 gives a good idea of what it sounded like before it got the rock ‘n’ roll treatment.
