2. Blue Cheer: Summertime Blues
Blue Cheer, from San Francisco, was a power trio reknowned for the volume of their shows. They are another band that could be considered proto-metal; had they appeared a year or two later doing the same thing, they probably would be called a metal band today. Guitarist Leigh Stevens had enjoyed some local reknown as a member of garage band legends The Other Half, who recorded a tough stomper "Mr. Pharmacist" Vincebus Eruptum was their debut, released in January 1968, and contained a roaring, heavy version of Eddie Cochrane's hit "Summertime Blues", which made it to #14 on the charts. Perhaps best likened to a louder, rougher Grand Funk Railroad, the band specialized in three amped up chords, and sleazy, sometimes violent lyrics. Although Stevens would depart after their second album, the band would ultimately release six albums before breaking up. They've since reunited several times since, in various permutations, recording four more albums along the way. They were named after a variety of LSD.
3. Big Brother & The Holding Co.: Down On Me
Although they were very visible in the San Francisco Bay area in the late 60's, Big Brother was a little different from contemporaries like the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. For one thing, their mix of blues and hillbilly music was fairly unique; for another, they weren't so much virtuosos as inspired primitives. Still, their lumpen, amplified blues-rock drew in the hippies and bikers both; having Janis Joplin sing the lion's share of their songs was a big enticement. "Down On Me" was one of their classic primitive blues-rockers, featured on their 1967 debut, but perhaps better heard in a live recording. Joplin had been a late addition to the band; they already had played gigs before she joined in 1966. She quickly came to dominate the band, before suddenly abandoning them in 1968. The band continued on without her until 1971 before breaking up. Various permutations of the band have surfaced briefly since the mid-80's.
4. Steppenwolf: Magic Carpet Ride
Led by German-born John Kay, Steppenwolf were the epitome of a biker band in the late 60's, best known for their biker anthem "Born To Be Wild", which contained the line "heavy metal thunder" giving name to the movement. Kay had started out in a Toronto area band called The Sparrow, before relocating to the West Coast and forming Steppenwolf, taking the title from the Herman Hesse novel. "Magic Carpet Ride" was their second hit from the fall of 1968 and is more psychedelic than its predecessor; a quintessential acid rock cut featuring a guitar and organ groove with a strong singalong chorus. Steppenwolf would record 11 albums in a career that ended in 1975. A 1987 reunion album scraped the bottom of the charts; John Kay still appears on the oldies circuit.
Article comments
1 - Vern Halen
As is often the case, your tastes intersect mine. One point - I would disagree that Steppenwolf is an acid rock band - I think they had other elements that were more prominent. However, you make the point that their music holds up just fine; I wish the rest of the world would catch on to this and give John Kay & Co. the critical respect they deserve and not just regard them as a footnote to the 60's.
Iron Butterfly - if you get past In A Gadda Da Vida, they had some wonderful cuts. Their current best of CD is a must have.
Electric Prunes - second album is good too - a companion piece to the first.
2 - Douglas Mays
Great list. Yeah, I had too much to dream last night. But it wasn't drug induced.
Then there are your bands that are of the acid rock circles that were a bit more direct in their message, therefore removing the acid from the style a bit. Like Jefferson Airplane. The 'Crown of Creation' album is stellar. Songs like 'Lather' (hhhmmm...that one is acidic) or 'Greasy Heart' will stick with me forever. Huh, I guess that is all acid rock. But I like the selections you made. Ultimate Spinach? I remember that one!
Anyway, just a theory...
peaceloveguidance
3 - douglas mays
Oh god, so if it becomes a radio hit, does that make it ACID POP? Acid pop, I think I drank some of that stuff in the later 60s. It was like Tang.
4 - sydney
yu can add early flaming lips to that list i think..
5 - uao
Thanks guys. Vern, I'm with you on Steppenwolf, they're a lot better than given credit for.
sydney, I didn't include Flaming Lips because they're from a different generation, but they are fairly psychedelic in their own way. I classified them as noise pop.
6 - uao
Douglas-
Jefferson Airplane will be included when I do a Haight-Ashbury playlist (so much music, so little time). They're a lifelong obsession of mine, I also plan a stand-alone artist overview on them someday.
7 - Douglas Mays
uao, right on!
8 - SFC SKI
Ever since I read this column, The Stawberry Alarm Clock's hit "Incense and Peppermints" has been dominating my brain.
9 - Vern Halen
Trivia - Ed King, original guitarist with Lynyrd Skynyrd (he's on their first two albums, which means he's playing on the meir monster hit Sweet Home Alabama), was also guitarist for....the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Go fig.
10 - uao
Even more trivial:
I happened to wander into Amoeba records, a giant emporium of new/used rock stuff in the middle of Hollywood.
They have live shows in there, it's so big; one night, while waiting for a bus, I caught Los Lobos.
On this night, I wnett in there, and who was playing bu Strawberry Alarm Clock (or a band who claimed to be them, most of the members looked a little too young, but there was one grizzled guy, too). Fronting the band was Lynn Carey, former lead singer of the blues-hard-rock Mama Lion, an early 70's outfit that had their cover banned for featuring Carey breast-feeding a lion cub. Their music is long forgotten, but she had good pipes.
This is akin to hearing the Grass Roots fronted by Danny Partridge; it was kinda surreal.
All I was after was a cheap DVD of a flick or two.
11 - Eric Olsen
super uao, fascinating stuff, didn't know that about Billy Joel! Interesting that you see acid rock and psychedelia split, with acid rock emphasizing the "heavy" and mutating into metal. Thanks!
12 - Rick
Captain Beyond!