Ranking the Studio Albums: Blackfoot (w/Martin Popoff) 

Shorty Medlocke was Rick's grandfather/adopted father. He was also the inspiration for Curtis Lowe when Rick played drums for LS before Blackfoot. Marauders is definitely my favorite. Send Me an Angel of Siogo sounds like Graham Bonnet Rainbow, love it.

“Flyin’ High”, “No Reservations” and “Marauder” are my favourite albums.

Love watching Martin during these videos....as Pete is talking he is sitting back in his chair politely, attentively listening...as soon as he gets the green light he reminds me of an 6 year old on Christmas morning getting permission from his parents to open his 1st package under the tree....he quickly bolts off screen to the right to grab his selection....classic 👍😂

I'm 18 and I love them.

Marauder definitely gets my #1 spot. Absolutely crushing and the best songwriting of their career. A perfect 5-star southern rock album.

Siogo is such an awesome album. Send me an Angel, Teenage Idol, Drivin Fool, are my favorites

Pete and Martin, thanks for another great southern rock band show. Glad Martin showed his book and talked about why it hasn’t been and probably won’t be updated. I tracked down and bought a copy in great shape during the last few months and enjoy it quite a bit. Others who enjoy southern rock that have not read the book would find it to be a great read as well. My choices at the top are similar to those discussed so not repeated here. Thanks again for your co-captained shows and another thanks to Martin for such a great resource to read.

The sheer number of videos just dazzles me. Martin's insights are always greatly appreciated.

Pete, loved this one, possibly the best concert of my life ever. Newcastle Mayfair U.K 1980, recording Highway song live, was in the audience for Howay the lads and at the end had to go hunting for my watch and my left training shoe and walk 10 miles home happy.

Thanks for this, I love Blackfoot

My favorite Blackfoot album is Tomcattin. Really enjoying the channel I found you through Guitar Hack. Thank you for giving Southern Rock some love it’s refreshing 🤘

Blackfoot is such a great band that is criminally overlooked. I hung out with a guy who would play their tunes before went out to to party and it set the mood perfectly. Fox Chase, Train Train... Before that as a kid I went into a record store that was closing and bought Marauder on 8-Track for $1 based on the cover alone. Rattle Snake Rock 'N' Roller was an instant fave, but Diary Of A Working Man is probably their opus, in my opinion. Thank you SO much for reviewing these albums.

A great conversation here! Thanks very much. Marauder was always my favourite.

Hi Pete! I didn't know Blackfoot until this show. But now i listened Marauder. It's a great album, and the " Searchin'" is a brilliant song. I start to get to know the whole catalog. Thank you for the experience!!!

another great show . We are lucky to have u and martin

First band I ever saw live. They opened for AC/DC on the 1980 Back In Black tour. Great live band, always thought they were somewhat underrated. Tomcattin', Strikes & Marauder, all solid Southern Rock albums. Highway Song-Live one of the best live albums I own.

Great show, I picked up a couple of Martin’s books recently, they are excellent.

1) Strikes 2) Tomcattin 3) Marauder Haven’t checked out the others. Great coked up live energy video floating around you tube during their heyday. I believe it’s from Sweden.Fantastic live band.

I was at the show at Newcastle Mayfair when they recorded "Howay the Lads" for the live album, totally spontaneous. One of the best gigs ever, still waiting for my royalties :-(

Thanks for introducing me to these guys Pete. I found mint LPs of Tomcattin’ and Marauder. Heavy metal southern rock, great stuff!

Great vid guys,as usual.Im really enjoying this.🤘I got that SouthernRockGuide by Martin.Essential book for SR.Ive found a lot of classics from it.

The song "Teenage Idol" (from 1983 "Siogo") is one kick ass song!! Q106 FM WJHQ in Jackson, Michigan played that song during the Summer of 1983!!!

Popoff's remarks are counter to me, and i side with Steven Wilson in my music taste: "Happy music makes me miserable, while miserable music makes me happy". Great show, as usual.

Never got to see Blackfoot! I did get to see Southern Rock Revival at planet Hollywood in Nashville! I sat right in front of the speakers! In front of the stage Saw Blackfoot guitar player and guys from other bands they put together a great southern rock band! Ricky Medlock was in the crowd. There was a guy from the Outlaws a guy from Hatchet I think. I got an Autographed photo of the band after the show! I still have it! The Blackfoot Guitar player was amazing he had that aggressive style all the poses and everything like the old days! he stole the show his Les Paul sounded amazing.

Thank you for Ranking the Studio Albums: Blackfoot (w/ Martin Popoff).🎤🎸🎵🥁

Thoroughly enjoyed this, hell yes!!!!!!!

Thanks Pete and Martin! Once again great episode of ranking the albums. Even I’m not sharing your guys opinion on Vertical smiles. For me 80’s Blackfoot was much more interesting and sticky than original blues rock Blackfoot. When it’s gonna be ranking the W.A.S.P. albums? My top 3 Blackfoot albums: 1. Siogo 2. Vertical smiles 3. Marauder

I was very fortunate to see them live 3 times. Twice in Belfast and once at the Monsters of Rock festival at Donnington. In their prime they were a truly great band. Just found my copy and the Medicine Man album was on the Music for Nations label here in the UK.

hey pete worked backstage for many years got to meet many rockacts ricky medlocke was one nice guy

I have Southern review by Martin. Definitely a great reference guide.

I saw them with Angel and Nugent at my first ever concert at the Randhurst Ice Arena in Mount Prospect, Il in 1976!

thanks guys i can't disagree with anything you said. I was very blessed to have crossed paths with Blackfoot in the 70"s my band got to open for them several times in San Antonio Texas. Great band .....great loss they did not stay together.

Awesome job Pete and Martin ! I immediately ordered a couple of the albums I was not familiar with. Martin mentioned the band Axe. How about a ranking of their albums. They just put a new album out last year called Final Offering that is fantastic ! Offering and Nemesis are classic . Thank you for these programs Pete ! Chez

I’ve been waiting for this.

Saw them live in Ohio 1980, great high energy show! Only down side was it was summer and the air conditioner was not working at the indoor venue, quite warm with standing room only crowd! Made event even more memorable 😎

Love the videos man🤘

This, I thoroughly enjoyed. The only one I do not have is the Ricki Medlocke/Blackfoot album. Luckily I bought the first 2 albums as imports to the UK and not a lot of people in Europe would have them in good condition. Siogo and Stripes are superb as is Marauder. I had no idea that Medicine Man was rare - Lucky me spotting that in the shops. Thank You chaps.

My first Blackfoot albums were strikes tomcattin and marauder my mom bought them at the drug store where we lived I was 4 years old I'm 48 years old now and those 3 albums are still my favorite. I didn't know for many years probably my late 20's that no reservation and flying high even existed. I enjoyed this video..

The “original” Blackfoot rocked live. Always felt that Rickey should have brought Gregg, Jackson and Charlie on Skynyrd Tours and allowed them to open up by pulling double duty. The fans would have loved a Lynyrd Skynyrd featuring Blackfoot show. On another note, have you covered “Collective Soul yet”? I saw them on NYE thinking I’d only be seeing a semi-classic rock band witha couple of good hits but I was blown away by just how many great songs they actually have....and even the new material proves they’re still a relevant band.

Lucky to see them live twice. Incredible live band.

Love Blackfoot. Seen them in the 80's. Great band live.

Great review, gents. Both of you seem to have the right idea, so I'm surprised neither of you put 'No Reservations' in your top three choices. Saw the band in concert at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, England in 1980. Great gig - great sound.

One of my top 5 live bands of all time. The 1981 tour of the UK was an absolute blast, the whole band were on fire and the UK crowd went along for the ride. My top 3 albums have to be Marauder, Strikes and Tomcattin’ and if I’m ever short of money I can always sell my Medicine Man for a few bucks apparently 😉

I saw Blackfoot here in the UK in either 2011 or 2012. It was Charlie Hargrett and Greg T. Walker with Skinny Molly's Mike Estes (also formerly of Lynyrd Skynyrd) and Kurt Pietro. It was a fantastic show and only is only cost about £15 for ticket. It was basically just a greatest hits set, but it was an honest rock 'n' roll night out. It is such a shame that Medlocke told them to cease and desist a couple of years later to replace them with his weird official tribute band

Been waiting for this. 6)Siogo 5)Strikes 4) Flying HIgh 3) No reservations 2)Marauder 1)TOMCATTIN. Even named my blog Tomcattin' Records.... Love this band so freakin much.

Strikes sold a lot because "Train, Train" and "Highway Song" got tons of airplay, and Blackfoot was touring ruthlessly for a few years then and after. Saw them 3 times in late 70's- '80 including the Strikes tour, which was excellent. I like the deeper cuts off of Strikes like "Run and Hide", the Blues Image cover, "Pay My Dues", "Baby Blue", "Left Turn On a Red Light", and covering a song by the great band Spirit was a good choice.

Great as usual

Great Lists ans Great Discussion! LOVE Blackfoot! Siogo and Vertical Smiles are good for the time but to me The Trilogy of Strikes, Tomcattin' and Marauder are my #1 lol.. I couldn't pick just one! then would be Medicin Man then No Reservations and Flying High... i need to listen to ALL these again!

My absolutly lovely BLACKFOOT-Album is "Medicine Man". So nice, so powerful! Only wonderful!

Jakson told me one night that he wasn't going to play Pop songs so that's why he left! After Vertical Smiles. Love him and miss hearing from him!

Hey Martin. I totally agree on Siego and always kinda thought that was due to Hensley's involvement, as he is such a tunesmith wizard. ( Just like Peter said moments later) I've always favoured Ken and his massive influence as the main songwriter in Heep, and he also had that melodic pop sensibility that I can detect on this particular Blackfoot album, that can be traced all the way back to Firefly by Uriah Heep, I think. This is such a big mystery (as is his surprising involvement in this band) that I wished I had asked him about but it slipped my mind.

Discovered them when Siogo came out so I never knew them as a southern rock band back then. Haven't really heard much of their older stuff but I definitely need to hear Marauder, Tomcattin' and Strikes.

"No Reservations" will always be my favorite.

Great band saw them in the early 80s at capitol theater in passaic nj with krokus and quite riot still remember it

Blackfoot est un super groupe.Highway Song Live est un album LIVE fantastique.Siogo et Vertical Smiles sont 2 excellents albums.Pas un seul mauvais morceaux sur ces 2 albums.

Great band back in the day. They blended in really well into the NWOBHM scene along with Anvil, Y&T and The Rods.

Was looking forward to this one. Great live band saw them steal the show from the headliners many times back in the day. Agree with your choices except for Vertical Smiles anything with the legendary Ken Hensley on it can’t be that bad. Martin which Axe album do you recommend? Thanks

I've only owned "Strikes", which never did that much for me (other than "Train, Train" and HS). Checking out "Marauder" now, and it's great.

Ricky told me that he always considered Skynyrd and The Brothers, Southern Rock. And he he considered Blackfoot and Hatchet "Southern Metal"

I'm sorry I didn't see this until today and your rankings and comments are great! On No Reservations, the reason that Jak got sole writing credit is because Rick was in a publishing dispute with Skynyrd at the time. It was holding up the album release, so he left his name off so that the album could go forward. Interesting, huh? Shorty was Rickey's grandfather, but he and his wife raised Rick. My favorites will always be: 1. Tomcattin'; 2. Strikes; and 3. Marauder. I love Tomcattin because it is all just in your face. The songs are memorable, fairly short and they worked perfectly live! There was nothing better than seeing that band at that time! Until you saw them live, you probably didn't appreciate how great Jak and Charlie were. Charlie was being pushed out during SIOGO, and he quit and had his playing erased for Smiles. Although he never got writing credits, Charlie contributed a lot, which surprised me when I first saw them. Still, their demise after Smiles was certainly just burnout and probably partying! I haven't listened to those first 2 albums in so long, I couldn't rate them now, but I remember liking them. I just pulled them out to listen again. I also like the two albums with similar looking covers, but they're really Medlocke albums to me. Rick Medlocke and Blackfoot is totally awful to me! I got what Rick was doing with the "new" Blackfoot in trying to create a tradition. The guitarist, Tim Rossi, is excellent and exciting to watch. However, that entire band is doing something else now and they've been replaced. I think that experiment will be over soon. In 2016 at a Skynyrd show, Rick asked if I was going to come to NYC to see him play with Blackfoot. I knew nothing about it, but of course I said I would. I took my 28 year old son who had known Rickey for years, but only as a member of Skynyrd. He was blown away when Medlocke walked onstage about half way through the show and played & sang those great songs like we all remember and like I never expected to hear again. It was fantastic, and we hung around after the show just listening to Rickey telling old stories. It was a good night! I think the best Blackfoot show I ever saw was in 1980 in Chicago. I was going to see The Who and had no idea who the opening act was. I found out it was them about 20 minutes before they started, and they just tore through a 45 minute set of old stuff and Tomcattin material that hadn't been released yet. It was a perfect show, ending with Highway Song, dedicated to Skynyrd, and played like their stuff always worked best, live! I've always loved that song, particularly the opening notes. The live album definitely needed to be a double. They wanted to have the standards (blues tunes), but it eliminates room for the stuff their audience expects. Thankfully, they did a ton of radio broadcasts, and you can find them, along with the official double CD of live material that came out over the last couple of years. The material is great, but I could probably have done a better mixing job! Thanks again for this!

I actually saw Blackfoot in 95 and they played rare appearance in Huber Hts Ohio. at the club Breakers that once existed. Have ticket stub bought at show with my brother and I actually went to. Opening acts more localized of Eric Hilgeford and The Magic and Linden Davis Group. Got few pictures of band, and gotten cassette of Medicine Man that I love as good album. Cheers guys.🎶🎸🎤💖

What a fucking great band. My favorite albums by then are Strikes, Tomcattin, and Marauder. Jackson Spires was one of the best drummers in the Southern Rock genre.

Blackfoot toured Tomcattin’ in 1980 in support of the Scorpions’ Animal Magnetism. I saw them at the legendary Hammersmith Odeon. It was my first live gig; fantastic!

Blackfoot is that one band I have that none of my friends know about and i’m like “what !? You don’t know Blackfoot, man you’re missing out !”

Good Morning the best Blackfoot tune

Jackson Spires told me several great stories over the years, one was they thought it was hilarious that people assumed SIOGO was an Indian word, in fact it's an acronym for Suck It Or Get Out, the girls on the tour bus, Jackson also showed me his picture on back cover of VERTICAL SMILES he's wearing a cowboys jersey holding a beer, & GETTING A BLOW JOB! thus the girls head in photo!!!! Never noticed until he pointed it out! Jackson Spires R.I.P Kind & generous man.

That line up led by Medlocke. Phenomenal. Just a hard driving rock band. Weren't going to fill stadiums but playing smaller halls or opening for bigger stadium acts you knew you were going to rock. Medlocke and a black Les Paul and Hagrett with a gold top is an image I can easily recall.

Saw Blackfoot supporting the Scorpions in I think 1979-80. Can’t remember much about the scorps set however Blackfoot is still the loudest gig I ever went to. They were also so heavy, the bottom end was incredible. Fav albums are Tomcattin, Marauder, Strikes and Siogo in that order. Meant thanks for this excellent video as always

I just bought the 5 album package classic album series. 3rd to 7th albums included

1- Siogo 2- Marauder 3- Strikes 4- No Reservations 5- Medicine Man 6- Tomcattin' 7- After The Reign 8- Vertical Smiles 9- Southern Native 10- Flyin' High 11- Rick Medlocke& Blackfoot

Awesome shirt Martin

Blackfoot is probably my favorite Southern Rock band, despite the fact that I call them Hard Rock/Heavy Metal instead. Regardless of what I call them, I love their music. Anyways, here’s my list: 7. Vertical Smiles This album is the only one I actively dislike out of what I’ve heard. It’s just not Blackfoot to me, trying too hard to be mainstream. Also, Blackfoot without Charlie isn’t Blackfoot in my opinion. Thankfully, it’s an outlier. 6. Siogo I don’t dislike this album, but I don’t like it too much either. I know Ken Hensley is on it, and since he’s one of my favorite keyboardists, I should like this album, right? Eh, not really. The style of the album is not what I want from Blackfoot. It’s not bad, and I’d like it more if Blackfoot’s name wasn’t on the cover. But it’s not a true Blackfoot album to my ears. 5. Flyin’ High This is where the albums get really good. I love all of Blackfoot’s first five albums. This album is fairly heavy, it’s got great guitar work and vocals from Rickey Medlocke, kinda showing what was to come on the next few albums. Flyin’ High is only at number 5 because I’m just not as familiar with it as I am with the others. Still a fantastic album, though. 4. No Reservations Another amazing, underrated album. I put it above Flyin’ High because 1) Shorty’s on the album with the song “Railroad Man,” and 2) the main riff in “Big Wheels” is one of my favorite guitar riffs of all time. I was blown away the first time I heard the album; instantly loved it, and what makes it even more amazing is that it was their debut. It’s definitely one of my favorite debut albums of all time. 3. Marauder Now we get into their classic material. Marauder is my number three, mainly because I don’t love every second of it. I only like (not love) “Diary of a Workingman” and “Fly Away,” and I just don’t like “Searchin’.” “Searchin’” is way too poppy during the chorus and it ruins the song for me, which is a shame because the rest of it is pretty cool. But the other 6 songs on the album are pretty perfect, with highlights on “Too Hard to Handle,” “Dry County,” and “Rattlesnake Rock ‘n’ Roller.” 2. Tomcattin’ This album could honestly be my favorite on any given day. But in general, it’s just slightly lower than my number one. All of Tomcattin’ is perfect in my opinion, without a single weak note. Sure, some songs are kinda stupid (“Queenie” and “Gimme Gimme Gimme”) but I love them in all their stupidity. But, man, “Warped,” “On the Run,” “Reckless Abandoner,” and “Fox Chase” are some of my absolute favorite songs of all time, and they really elevate this album for me. Love it. 1. Strikes I don’t mind a good cover song and this album has three great ones. Actually, their cover of “Wishing Well” is my favorite version of that song. I also have a sweet spot for Rock that’s not as soft as Classic Rock in general, but not as heavy as something like Marauder is. This album hits that sweet spot tonally, in a similar way that Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak album does. Anyways, the peaks of this album for me are the closing tracks, “Train, Train” and “Highway Song.” I love the whole thing, maybe not for each individual song, but as a complete album from start to finish. Doesn’t really get any better than Strikes.

1. Tomcattin' - 2. Siogo - 3. After The Reign. Zakk Wylde's playin' on it, too!

Always loved Siogo and Fox Chase is amazing, the production on Tomcattin was a bit muddy tho

Good ranking. I gotta say though, I LOVE "I Got A Line On You"! Sorry Martin.

if anyone is looking for good strong southern rock, you should listen to the new album by the Brothers Osborne - called Skeletons. It's hard with outstanding vocals and guitars. You won't be disappointed.

By the Way, Navarre and Soldier Blue are only available on the Japan CD Version of Medicine Man or the Self Released CD on Nalli Records......Pete, if you're still searching this CD, both Versions are at this Moment on Discogs as I just saw, and this for a good Price..

FYI, the harmonica on Train, Train wasn't Shorty Medlocke; it was played by Cub Coda (Henry "H-Bomb" Weck's bandmate in Brownsville Station).

I actually enjoy Rick’s solo album from 1987. Much like Tony Iommi’s “Black Sabbath” Seventh Star album the year before, the record company mandated that Blackfoot be attached to Rick’s name on the album cover. “Saturday Night” is killer as is their cover of “Liar”...and Medlocke’s voice is top notch as always.

Greatest live band I’ve ever seen

Only have their greatest hits-guess I need to get Strikes, Tomcattin' and Marauder...immediately! Thanks Pete and Martin and all the great comments!

One of the Blackfoot lineups featured the late Neal Casal.😀

Really great band. Ricky Medlocke was dynamic on stage. Saw them whenever I could.

I always thought SIOGO was a American Native term but it was actually an acronym for Suck It Or Get Out. coined for the groupies of the band.

For me Strikes is number one

Blackfoot had great success in Britain Great band

Only band I every stayed sober for. Scorpions Blackout Tour 1982 Birmingham UK they did two consecutive nights with Blackfoot as support. The first night there was some heavy imbibement before the gig. Blackfoot were phenomenal I just had to go without a drink the second night just to see if they were really that good. They were.

I love Blackfoot and they were really popular in the UK in the 80s. I had all the albums up to Siogo on vinyl. Don't have them now so just bought a 5 album set on Amazon for £9.99. The essential album I would add to the top 3 or four outlined here would be the live album Highway Song Live - it's only fault (as Pete says) it should've been a double. It is brilliant and those first few albums are brilliant. My Favourite remains Tomcattin.

Saw Blackfoot together with Scorpions in Belgium April 1982. Same year in August they played an unforgettable show at the Reading Festival on a Saturday afternoon. (Everyone was waiting for Iron Maiden with their new singer) I like southern rock mostly in open. air. 😊 Years later i saw them again somewhere in Holland. Bobby Barth (Axe) was more than a very reasonable replacement for Rick Medlocke. PS: never understood why they didn't put a rattlesnake on the cover of 'Strikes' instead of a Cobra. My#1

I saw Blackfoot live twice in the early 80s, they were great. My top 11 . 1. Marauder 2. Strikes 3. Tomcattin 4. Flyin High 5. No Reservations 6. Siogo 7 After the Reign 8. Southern Native 9. Medicine Man 10. Vertical Smiles 11. Rick Medlocke .

I saw Blackfoot with Bobby Barth on vocals and they flat out kicked ass!

Learned how to clean pick listening to Blackfoot! They came to Lawton Oklahoma on Suck it or get out tour with Hatchet while I was in high school. They crushed! Jakson leaned into his bass drum (sporting moccasin boots). Hatchet seemed pissed because Blackfoot drained the crowd, prior. Blackberry Smoke recorded a killer Ricky song. Bottom of This. Axe kicked on the Motley Crue 1st headline tour with Heaven. 😉

I saw Blackfoot on the Strikes tour....they and Scorpions (Lovedrive) tour opened for Ted Nugent.....i was upfront against the stage and saw Shorty Medlocke join the band onstage for Train Train...was very cool...and he was introduced as Ricky's grandfather

I remember black foot sue in 1972...a song called standing in the road....sounded like slade...😎👍

I have only eight studios and two live - and I'm going out on a limb and claim Marauders (1981) was their best. #6. Medicine Man (1991) favorite song Doin' My Job #7. Rick Medlocke And Blackfoot (1987) favorite song Back On The Streets #8. Vertical Smile (1984) best song Morning Drew

I have Rick Medlocke and Blackfoot and it's not as bad as some of the stuff out there.My big gripe when he was playing with Skynrd was they didn't let him or Huey do any Blackfoot or Outlaws tunes.Hell Jimmy Hall sings with Hank Williams Jr. and Hank let's Jimmy sing 2 or 3 songs per show.

I was very lucky to find both Medicine Man and After the Reign on cd pre covid. Martin was right , they are very hard to find.

"Strikes" my number one. Southern rules!

You can get a CD of Medicine Man for about $17 plus shipping on Discogs

Love Blackfoot, probably the 3rd best Southern Rock band after Skynyrd and The Allmans (going on their first five LPs). These first five albums are superb, but wasn't fussed at all on Siogo and then another huge plummet downhill with the release of Vertical Smiles, so gave up on the band. Didn't realise they were still going. By the sound of things from the pair of you I haven't missed much