The Music: LSD: The 60's landscape was forever altered! Part 4: The U.S.
It began in the United States in the mid-1960's and spread around the world until 1969 and a last stand at Woodstock before the sound changed to harder or progressive music.
Photo: Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators
In late 1965, at age 18, Erickson co-founded the 13th Floor Elevators. He and bandmate Tommy Hall were the main songwriters. Early in her career, singer Janis Joplin considered joining the Elevators, but Family Dog's Chet Helms persuaded her to go to San Francisco instead, where she found major fame.
The band released their debut album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators in 1966. It contained the band's only charting single, Erickson's "You're Gonna Miss Me". A stinging breakup song, the single was a major hit on local charts in the U.S. southwest and appeared at lower positions on national singles charts as well. Critic Mark Deming writes that "If Roky Erickson had vanished from the face of the earth after The 13th Floor Elevators released their epochal debut single, "You're Gonna Miss Me", in early 1966, in all likelihood he'd still be regarded as a legend among garage rock fanatics for his primal vocal wailing and feral harmonica work."
1966: You’re Gonna Miss Me
In 1968, while performing at HemisFair, Erickson began speaking gibberish. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and sent to a Houston psychiatric hospital, where he involuntarily received electroconvulsive therapy.
The Elevators were vocal proponents of marijuana and psychedelic drug use, and were subject to extra attention from law enforcement agencies. In 1969, Erickson was arrested for possession of a single marijuana joint in Austin. Facing a potential ten-year incarceration, Erickson pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to avoid prison. He was first sent to the Austin State Hospital. After several escapes, he was sent to the Rusk State Hospital in Rusk, Texas, where he was subjected to more electroconvulsive therapy and Thorazine treatments, ultimately remaining in custody until 1972. During his time at Rusk, he continued writing songs and poetry. Family and friends managed to smuggle some of these poems, and in 1972, self-published the book Openers, intending to use the proceeds to hire a lawyer. (Various sources claim approximately 1,000 copies of Openers were printed; how many copies were actually sold remains unknown.) Six tracks from the 1999 Erickson collection Never Say Goodbye were also recorded during his time at Rusk - Wikipedia
Roky clear headed and spot on...he doesn't miss a chord. Billy is awesome. Cam King guitar/vocals, Freddie Steady Krc drums/vocals, Chris Johnson bass, Jon Sanchez guitar/keyboard/vocals, John Leon pedal steel.
The Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, and several of their albums ranked in the Top 30 of the Billboard Pop charts. They were part of the new wave of album-oriented bands, achieving renown and popularity despite a lack of success with their singles (only one, "Fresh Air" charted, reaching number 49 in 1970). Though not as commercially successful as contemporaries Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver was integral to the beginnings of their genre. With their jazz and classical influences and a strong folk background, the band attempted to create an individual, innovative sound. Music historian Colin Larkin wrote: "Of all the bands that came out of the San Francisco area during the late '60s, Quicksilver typified most of the style, attitude and sound of that era." - Wikipedia
Quicksilver Messenger Service - Live 1967-68:
The Warlocks:
The Warlocks were formed in Palo Alto at the end of 1964 when Jerry Garcia, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, and Bob Weir—the original members of Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions—decided to “plug in” at the urging of McKernan. They added a rhythm section: Dana Morgan Jr. on bass and Bill Kreutzmann on drums. Their first performance was in May of 1965 at Magoo’s Pizza in Menlo Park. After a handful of performances, Phil Lesh replaced Dana Morgan.
The Beach Boys meets Grateful Dead at the Fillmore East in New York City, 4/27/1971, audio only. A surprise joint performance at New York’s historic Fillmore East. -Setlist: 01. Deal. 02. Me & My Uncle. 03. Bird Song. 04. Playing In The Band. 05. Dire Wolf. 06. Searchin'*. 07. Riot In Cell Block #9*. 08. Good Vibrations**. 09. I Get Around**. 10. Okie From Muskogee*. 11. Johnny B. Goode*. 12. Sing Me Back Home. 13. Uncle Johns Band. *with the Beach Boys **Just the Beach Boys On April 27th, 1971, the Grateful Dead were smack-dab in the middle of a run at the Fillmore East in New York City spanning from April 25th through 29th. The Dead had some surprises up their sleeve for the Tuesday performance, inviting The Beach Boys (consisting of Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Bruce Johnston, and Al Jardine) to join them for a short string of songs toward the end of their set. The Beach Boys, who were introduced as “another famous California group” to the surprise of the crowd, came out for “Searchin'” during the second set following “Dire Wolf.” Together, the two popular and wildly different bands moved into a cover of The Robins’ “Riot In Cell Block #9.” The Dead then departed the stage, leaving the Beach Boys to play out their classic tracks “Good Vibrations” and “I Get Around.” It’s a silly and delightful interlude in the recording with giggling at the start of “Good Vibrations” showcasing the lighthearted-nature of the evening. “If we start another song, maybe they’ll come back out and join us,” starts the next song, with the Dead eventually returning to the stage during the number. Together the two bands now on stage teamed up for renditions of Merle Haggard’s “Okie From Muskogee” and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” but not before a chaotic tuning session during which the members on stage confirm that the appearance was unplanned and that they’re trying to get things figured out. It was a one-of-a-kind performance, during which two popular bands that have come to define those times in very different ways came together and clearly had a good time.
The Byrds - Live at Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, (11/2/1968)
The Byrds (/bɜːrdz/) were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole consistent member. Although their time as one of the most popular groups in the world only lasted for a short period in the mid-1960s, the Byrds are considered by critics to be among the most influential rock acts of their era. Their signature blend of clear harmony singing and McGuinn's jangly 12-string Rickenbacker guitar was "absorbed into the vocabulary of rock" and has continued to be influential.
Initially, the Byrds pioneered the musical genre of folk rock as a popular format in 1965, by melding the influence of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands with contemporary and traditional folk music on their first and second albums and the hit singles "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and "Mr. Tambourine Man". As the 1960s progressed, the band was influential in originating psychedelic rock and raga rock, with their song "Eight Miles High" and the albums Fifth Dimension (1966) - Wikipedia
Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966. Part of San Francisco's psychedelic music scene, the band merged elements of rock and roll, folk music, pop, blues, and country. They were one of the few groups of which all members were lead vocalists and songwriters. The group's first incarnation ended in 1969, in part due to members Bob Mosley and Skip Spence suffering from mental illness. The group has reformed many times afterwards and continues to perform occasionally.
Moby Grape's success was accompanied by decades-long legal disputes with their former manager, Matthew Katz. Legal difficulties originated shortly after the group's formation, when Katz insisted on ownership of the group name. The dispute with Katz became more acute after the group members' rights to their songs were signed away in 1973, in a settlement made without their knowledge.
As described by Jeff Tamarkin, "The Grape's saga is one of squandered potential, absurdly misguided decisions, bad luck, blunders and excruciating heartbreak, all set to the tune of some of the greatest rock and roll ever to emerge from San Francisco. Moby Grape could have had it all, but they ended up with nothing, and less."
Moby Grape - Live in Amsterdam 1969
The Doors - Apocalypse Now (stockholm '68) live
The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, conmprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts of the 1960s, primarily due to Morrison's lyrics and voice, along with his erratic stage persona and legal issues. The group is widely regarded as an important figure of the era's counterculture.
The band took its name from the title of English writer Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself a reference to a quote by English poet William Blake. After signing with Elektra Records in 1966, the Doors with Morrison recorded and released six studio albums in five years, some of which are generally considered among the greatest of all time, including their debut The Doors (1967), Strange Days (1967), and L.A. Woman (1971). Dubbed the "Kings of Acid Rock", they were one of the most successful bands of their time and by 1972, the Doors had sold over 4 million albums domestically and nearly 8 million singles.
Morrison died in uncertain circumstances in 1971.
Behind the paywall: THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE LIVE STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, 1969 Film
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