Ben Harper Turns Guitar Troubles Into Triumph at All Points West

After spending the first 10 minutes of his set fixing puzzling over a malfunctioning guitar with a slew of equally perplexed roadies, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals got themselves out of jail with an impeccably played and impressively varied set on All Points West's final day. Although the rock-tinged numbers allowed Harper to indulge the guitar-solo lover in him, it was the softer folk-reggae of "Excuse Me Mister" that got the early evening stoners swaying in a lightly bombed unison.

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Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

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