Humble Pie is often overshadowed by bands like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and Queen, but they were a considered a “supergroup” when they formed in 1969– fronted by Steve Marriott from the Small Faces and Peter Frampton from The Herd. Their first 2 albums are a mixed bag, but by the time they signed with A&M Records in 1970 they had refined their style down to a bluesy, hard-rockin’ sound. Rock On (1971) was their most successful album to date and features “Stone Cold Fever“, which is itself a stone-cold classic.
“Stone Cold Fever” (Steve Marriott, Peter Frampton, Greg Ridley, Jerry Shirley) Copyright 1971 Unart Music Corp (BMI), UMG Recordings, Inc.
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TRANSCRIPT:
I’ve got a Stone Cold Fever, but I don’t need no doctor! Welcome to the “I’m In Love With That Song” Podcast. I’m your host, Brad Page. In each episode of the show, I pick one of my favorite songs and we explore it together, looking at it from every angle, trying to get a handle on what makes the song work, and why do I like it so much? Musical knowledge or experience is not a prerequisite here. We don’t get technical. This show is for anyone who loves music.
This episode, we’re taking another look at one of the best hard rocking bands from the 1970’s, a band that’s kind of overlooked now. They’ve been overshadowed by groups like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Queen… those all became iconic bands, but for a while there, Humble Pie was right up there with them. This time out, we’re digging into a song that’s one of their classics, from a pivotal album in their career. This is “Stone Cold Fever” by Humble Pie.
Humble Pie were somewhat of a supergroup when they formed in 1969. Steve Marriott had been the front man for the Small Faces, and Peter Frampton was the breakout star from a Band called The Herd. They got together and formed a new band with Greg Ridley on bass– He’d been playing with Spooky Tooth– and a young drummer named Jerry Shirley. He was only about 17 when he joined Humble Pie.
Now we’ve discussed Humble Pie, and the Small Faces. on this show before, so I’m not going to rehash everything again, you can go back and listen to those episodes. But essentially, both Marriott and Frampton wanted to be taken more seriously as musicians. They were tired of being perceived as pop stars, so Humble Pie was their shot at credibility.
They signed with Immediate Records and released their first album, “As Safe As Yesterday Is”, in August 1969. Interestingly, one of the earliest uses of the term “heavy metal” appears in a review for this album. I don’t think anybody today would describe this album as anything close to “heavy metal”. In reality, this record is kind of a mixed bag with some rockers, but also some bluesy numbers, acousticy folk, and even a touch of post-psychedelic rock.
Their second album, “Town And Country”, was released just a few months later, in November 1969. This one was more acoustic than the first album, but Immediate Records was in financial trouble and they quickly went bankrupt. So this album, “Town And Country”, was never even released in the US at the time.
After the collapse of Immediate Records, they signed a new deal with A&M Records, and the band refocused. Most of the acoustic stuff was gone. They developed a harder, heavier sound and they concentrated on the American market, determined to break through here. Their first album for A&M, which most people in America thought was their first album period, was just called “Humble Pie” and came out in July 1970. It features a great version of the Muddy Waters classic “I’m Ready”.
They continued to refine their sound, and in March 1971, they released their strongest, most successful album yet, “Rock On”. There’s a half-dozen rock-solid songs on this album, including “Stone Cold Fever”. Most of the tracks on “Rock On” had been part of their live set for a while, so they’d worked out all of the kinks and they were well rehearsed by the time they hit the studio to record this album.
The album was produced by the band along with Glynn Johns. All four band members share songwriting credit on “Stone Cold Fever”. The song was performed by Peter Frampton on guitar and backing vocals, Greg Ridley on bass and backing vocals, Jerry Shirley on drums and Steve Marriott on guitar, harmonica, keyboards and lead vocals. The track begins with the guitar riff– and what a great guitar riff this is. It’s played by Peter Frampton in the left channel.
After two times around, the rest of the band starts coming in, including Steve Marriott’s guitar in the right channel.
They add these little trills to the guitar riff. Marriott does it first in the right channel, and then Frampton adds a harmony to it.
Let’s back it up a bit and we’ll play into the first verse. It’s an interesting vocal sound on this track. I used to think that they just used some heavy slapback echo on the vocal to get that sound, but now, listening to it more closely, I think that Steve Marriott actually double-tracked his vocal; he sang it twice. So, the natural inconsistencies in any human performance keep the tracks from sounding 100% identical, which produces the sound we hear on the final mix.
So, let’s try to isolate each one of these vocal performances. Here’s the first one.
And here’s the second vocal.
Now, they sound pretty much the same when you listen to them in isolation, but if we can combine them together, you can hear how those slight differences between the two tracks provide the sound we hear in the final mix.
All right, let’s go back, put that all together, and hear that verse again in the final mix.
That leads us into a new riff. The first time through, Marriott and Frampton play it in unison. The second time around, Frampton plays a harmony which climbs with each cycle.
Next is a short harmonica solo played by Steve Marriott over the main riff. Also notice Jerry Shirley’s banging on a cowbell in the background.
Let’s go back and listen to the two guitars during that verse. They’re essentially playing the main riff, but each of them are playing it pretty loosely, improvising around it as they go along. They’re not trying to play it exactly or perfectly, and they’re not trying to match each other. This gives the recording a spontaneous live feel. Again, its Frampton in the left channel, Marriott in the right.
And that brings us to the second riff with the harmonica.
After that nice drum fill by Jerry Shirley– and remember, he was only about 19 when they made this record– that fill takes us into a jazzy section featuring a fantastic guitar solo by Peter Frampton. Frampton’s name doesn’t often come up when listing the great guitarists, but I absolutely think he’s one of the best. So, let’s hear just his guitar first.
Frampton is an incredibly tasteful player, and his jazz-influenced licks are really distinctive. There’s no one else who really plays quite like him. Now let’s hear how that solo works in the final mix.
Then we get a short harmonica break before the guitarists return with another riff.
The next riff is accentuated with some backing vocals. Let’s hear those backing vocals first.
And now let’s hear that in context.
“Stone Cold Fever” by Humble Pie.
“Rock On” was their best-selling album up until this point, but Peter Frampton was feeling frustrated. He was fine with the harder rocking material, but he wanted more than that, too. And he wanted to be more than just the guitar player; he wanted more opportunity to write and sing. And let’s face it, Steve Marriott was not the easiest guy to deal with. So later in 1971, just after they had recorded a live album, “Rockin’ The Fillmore”, Frampton left to pursue a solo career.
When “Rockin’ The Fillmore” was released, it became a big hit. It’s still the album that Humble Pie is most remembered for, and as Frampton watched his former band’s album climb the charts while he struggled to get his solo career off the ground, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d made a big mistake. But things worked out for him a few years later, though. That’s a topic for another podcast.
As we’ve mentioned on previous podcasts, Steve Marriott died tragically in a fire, in April 1991, age 44. One of the greatest vocalists of his generation.
Greg Ridley died in November 2003 from complications from pneumonia. He was 56.
Peter Frampton suffers from a somewhat rare progressive muscular disorder called Inclusion Body Mitosis. He initially announced his retirement from music, but he’s still been able to play, so he’s kept going. Above all, he is a true guitar player at heart, and he’ll play for as long as he can.
Jerry Shirley is still with us, and thankfully, as far as I know, he’s still healthy and still playing drums today.
Thanks for joining me here on the Pantheon Podcast network for this edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. If you’d like to support the show, and I hope you do, zip on over to oldglory.com and buy a t-shirt or two. They carry shirts and merchandise from all of our favorite bands, and if you’re like me, you can never have too many t-shirts. So support your favorite artists, wear their shirts with pride. And when you use our discount code, “lovethatsong”, you’ll get a nice discount and you’ll be helping out this show. That website is oldglory.com and the discount code is lovethatsong. Thanks in advance.
I’ll be back in about two weeks with a new episode, so I’ll see you then. In the meantime, catch up on all of our previous episodes– there’s over 180 of them now– on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, or find us in your favorite Podcast app.
Now go dig out some Humble Pie records and rock on with “Stone Cold Fever”.
RESOURCES:
Humble Pie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humble_Pie
Peter Frampton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Frampton
Steve Marriott
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Marriott
Rock On album
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_On_(Humble_Pie_album)
Glynn Johns
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyn_Johns
Rockin’ the Fillmore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_Rockin%27_the_Fillmore
Inclusion body myositis
https://www.mda.org/disease/inclusion-body-myositis
Immediate Records
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immediate_Records
A&M Records
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%26M_Records
Small Faces
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Faces
The Herd
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Herd_(UK_band)
Spooky Tooth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spooky_Tooth