Chris Robinson Says Black Crowes ‘Don’t Know S— About Music’

Black
Crowes
frontman

Chris
Robinson
has
given
a
surprising
assessment
of
his
band.

“We
don’t
know
shit
about
music,”
the
rocker
firmly
declared
during
an
appearance
on
the

Broken
Record
podcast.
“We
didn’t
learn
music…
I
don’t
read
music.

Rich
doesn’t
read
music.”

While
Robinson
noted
that
other
musicians
“do
the
fuckin’
math,”
he
argued
his
band
has
found
success
by
focusing
on
the
emotion
of
songs,
rather
than
the
technicalities.

READ
MORE:

Black
Crowes
Albums
Ranked

“We
know
what
it
feels
like
and
we
know
what
sounds
right,
and
then
you
keep
doing
that,”
the
singer
explained.
“Of
course,
through
that
your
vocabulary
is
bigger.
But
we
maybe
are
using
different
words
than
people
who
are
more
knowledgeable
about
the
inner
workings
and
mathematics,
the
arithmetic
of
music.
It’s
something
that
has
escaped
us.”

The
Black
Crowes’
Songwriting ‘Magic’

In
discussing
the
Black
Crowes’
songwriting,
Robinson
detailed
the
chemistry
between
he
and
his
brother
Rich.

“It’s
kind
of
magic
when
a
song
happens
out
of
the
blue.
One
minute,
there’s
nothing,
one
little
thing
like
this,
and
then
I
get
an
idea,
and
then
that
changes
what
Rich
is
doing,”
the
singer
explained.
“And
then
it’s
all
dictated
by
whatever
the
vibe
is
that
Rich
plays
me.
There’s
an
emotional
ingredient
to
what
he
plays
me,
like
our
probably
the
most
famous
song
as
‘She
Talks
to
Angels’.
He
wrote
that
song.
He
was
very
young
with
the
riff,
and
then
we
probably
didn’t
get
to
it
‘till
like
a
year
later.”

READ
MORE:

Top
10
Black
Crowes
Songs

Ultimately,
Rich’s
music
put
Chris
“in
a
place
to
write
a
song
with
that
kind
of
dark,
romantic,
melancholy
imagery.”
Released
in
1991,
“She
Talks
to
Angels”
reached
No.
1
on
the
Billboard
Mainstream
Rock
chart
and
No.
30
on
the
Hot
100.

More
recently,
the
Black
Crowes
released
their
latest
album,


Happiness
Bastards,
in
March.
The
band
recently
began
a

headlining
tour
that
runs
through
the
summer,
then
later
in
the
year
they’ll
open
for

Aerosmith
on
their

rescheduled
farewell
tour.