Not my words below, but fairly accurate....and for at least one song, they did indeed capture the sound and image of a "real" psych band.
The ambience of rebellious psychedelia was widespread at this time of course, and the band, re-titled Kenny Rogers & the First Edition within a year, tapped into this mood perfectly again through their war protest song Ruby, Don???t Take Your Love To Town, folk anthem Reuben James and 1970???s moodily atmospheric Something???s Burning.
Where did you get this from? Kenny Rogers' website? "The band tapped into rebellious psychedelia" once and only once. This bio makes him sound like he was prime Woodstock material (which he wasn't).
And maybe I missed something, but "Ruby..." wasn't protesting the Vietnam War so much as it was Ruby selling her body on the street ("it's hard to love a man whose legs are bent and paralyzed/and the wants and needs of a woman your age, Ruby, I realize").
I did preface the C&P with the "one song" disclaimer.
The hippies of 1969 grew up with 1950's rock & roll, so that's not so surprising. If you've ever seen pictures of those first rock revivals (which had just started up around the time of Woodstock), if there was a crowd shot, who was in the audience? Young longhairs whose first record may have been a Big Bopper 45.
At that point, at a hipster rock festival, an oldies revue made way more sense than a middle-of-the-road pop group who had Kenny Rogers as a lead singer.
The hippies of 1969 grew up with 1950's rock & roll, so that's not so surprising. If you've ever seen pictures of those first rock revivals (which had just started up around the time of Woodstock), if there was a crowd shot, who was in the audience? Young longhairs whose first record may have been a Big Bopper 45.
At that point, at a hipster rock festival, an oldies revue made way more sense than a middle-of-the-road pop group who had Kenny Rogers as a lead singer.
Here is one story I found about Ohio's Version Of Woodstock: Piper Rock Festival
Piper Rock was a rock festival to be held outside of Akron somewhere.
There was an out-of-town crew who had built the stage. The workers were led by a hippie named "Thumper" who was a big guy with very long black hair and a big black beard.
It was a bit of a disaster. It poured with rain all night and continued into the day.
The way we got equipment up to the top of the stage was to pass the amps and stuff hand-to-hand up a narrow wooden flight of stairs. It was nuts- we could have lost people.
I believe this was the first gig of Barnstorm, except Joe called the band "Barnyard". I can't remember who all was in it. I remember they did a version of Honky Tonk Women. Probably Vitale on drums.
Other bands (I can't remember all of them) scheduled included Pig Iron (from Toronto) Canned Heat, The Byrds, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition [/b] and I'm not sure who else.
Several of them refused to play (like the Byrds) because they were afraid they would get electrocuted playing in the rain. Others kind of faked it. For example, Canned Heat didn't set up, but Bob "The Bear" Hyte and "Blind Owl" sat in with Pig Iron, using them as a backing band and doing some Canned Heat songs.
I assume you were a sound man, but can't remember.
I remember you marvelling over a clause in Canned Heat's contract that required the festival to give them limousine transportation. You wanted to have Jim Greathouse, who drove an old hearse in those days, to pick them up at the airport, thereby providing a "limousine". This didn't happen, but you thought it would be funny.
The backstage area was a sea of mud. Most vehicles were up to their axles in it and stuck. But this crazy young farmer guy named Ed Hatch (who I knew from Akron- I don't think any of the Kent people knew him) showed up in his pickup truck, which was the only thing that could move through the mud. He was immediately pressed into service. Since I knew him, he let me ride in the back when he drove out to pick up Kenny Rogers and band from their stuck tour bus out by the road and took them to the backstage area. So I got to ride in the truck bed with Kenny & his band.
I know there were some other good acts there, but I can't remember who. maybe someone else will know.
Maybe fake is too strong a word. I shoulda said "pseudo-psych?"
This notion that "true" psych music has some inherent tie-in with drugs and being part of "The Revolution" is bogus in my opinion.
While it may have it's roots with artists who did indeed participate in both, once the genre was defined, anyone could and did play psychedelic music.
Gabor Szabo recorded one of my top ten fave psych songs of all-time ("Walking On Nails") and he was no more of a "true psych artist" than Kenny Rogers.
Having run a label that has released 60+ LP's and having spoken to literally hundreds of musicisns from the 60's-70's rock scene, an amazing high percentage didn't even do drugs nor were "revolting" against 'the man"....for the most part they just wanted to get laid.
The most psychedelic LP I have been involved with, Cold Sun, has more to do with horror movies and lizards than drugs and revolution.
I don't dispute anything you said.
Just as I am sure you don't dispute that in Feb of 1968 Kenny Rogers was not seen as being a part of the psychedelic scene.
Just as I am sure you don't dispute that in Feb of 1968 Kenny Rogers was not seen as being a part of the psychedelic scene.
Was he part of the West Coast/San Francisco/Psychedelic "scene" that the media would show stock footage of every time they reported on hippies and psychedelia.....no.
But you best believe that in 1968, in places like Iowa, Oklahoma, etc., etc....."Just Dropped In" was just as wildly psychedelic as anything else they were hearing on their radio dials.
And they NEVER heard bands like the 13th Floor Elevators unless they really went out of their way to seek it out......which is why you'll find 10,000 copies of the First Edition 45 for every one copy of "You're Gonna Miss Me".
Back then Kenny hadn't yet had the long boring mediocre Country/Pop career that makes us all hate him now.....folks just liked the song...and it was indeed psychedelic.
Just as I am sure you don't dispute that in Feb of 1968 Kenny Rogers was not seen as being a part of the psychedelic scene.
Was he part of the West Coast/San Francisco/Psychedelic "scene" that the media would show stock footage of every time they reported on hippies and psychedelia.....no.
But you best believe that in 1968, in places like Iowa, Oklahoma, etc., etc....."Just Dropped In" was just as wildly psychedelic as anything else they were hearing on their radio dials.
And they NEVER heard bands like the 13th Floor Elevators unless they really went out of their way to seek it out......which is why you'll find 10,000 copies of the First Edition 45 for every one copy of "You're Gonna Miss Me".
Back then Kenny hadn't yet had the long boring mediocre Country/Pop career that makes us all hate him now.....folks just liked the song...and it was indeed psychedelic.
Indeed.
The "real" groups got almost no radio play in Iowa or Oklahoma or most other places. Hendrix had only one top 40 hit, #20. Grateful Dead had none. Love one top 40 hit, #33. And so on. In fact their lack of hits is part of what made them "real".
Here is another Bobbie Gentry cut. She was not real country. She moved to LA when she was about 12. Studied music and did most of her recording in LA or Muscle Shoals, and most of her performing in Vegas. Her dad was Portuguese.
Now granted, it was probably the way I did it (I had it looped with some Africa Bambaataa vocal loop with some drums building up in the intro) but when I let the record drop, the crowd erupted. This is a hip-hop club in Brooklyn. I mean, that shit is dirty though, shit is a motherfucking dance song.
I have let "JOLENE" fly a few times in sets, one time in all hip hop set, the floor cleared except three chicks who went nuts when they heard it, you could tell they grew up with the song, as did myself. "Jolene" will always be staple, such a badass song.
And they NEVER heard bands like the 13th Floor Elevators unless they really went out of their way to seek it out......which is why you'll find 10,000 copies of the First Edition 45 for every one copy of "You're Gonna Miss Me".
I've almost certainly seen more copies of the latter than the former - but I'm on the east coast.
I can hardly bear the sight of lipstick On the cigarettes there in the ashtray Lying cold the way you left them But least your lips caressed them While you packed
And a lip print on a half-filled cup of coffee That you poured and didn't drink But at least you thought you wanted it That's so much more than I can say for me
Just as I am sure you don't dispute that in Feb of 1968 Kenny Rogers was not seen as being a part of the psychedelic scene.
Was he part of the West Coast/San Francisco/Psychedelic "scene" that the media would show stock footage of every time they reported on hippies and psychedelia.....no.
But you best believe that in 1968, in places like Iowa, Oklahoma, etc., etc....."Just Dropped In" was just as wildly psychedelic as anything else they were hearing on their radio dials.
And they NEVER heard bands like the 13th Floor Elevators unless they really went out of their way to seek it out......which is why you'll find 10,000 copies of the First Edition 45 for every one copy of "You're Gonna Miss Me".
Back then Kenny hadn't yet had the long boring mediocre Country/Pop career that makes us all hate him now.....folks just liked the song...and it was indeed psychedelic.
Indeed.
The "real" groups got almost no radio play in Iowa or Oklahoma or most other places. Hendrix had only one top 40 hit, #20. Grateful Dead had none. Love one top 40 hit, #33. And so on. In fact their lack of hits is part of what made them "real".
And that's when the FM rock format started coming on strong, as an acknowledgement that there was a new wave of bands who weren't being exposed enough on the Top 40 stations.
Comments
I did preface the C&P with the "one song" disclaimer.
b/w
Sha Na Na played Woodstock
The hippies of 1969 grew up with 1950's rock & roll, so that's not so surprising. If you've ever seen pictures of those first rock revivals (which had just started up around the time of Woodstock), if there was a crowd shot, who was in the audience? Young longhairs whose first record may have been a Big Bopper 45.
At that point, at a hipster rock festival, an oldies revue made way more sense than a middle-of-the-road pop group who had Kenny Rogers as a lead singer.
Here is one story I found about Ohio's Version Of Woodstock: Piper Rock Festival
__________________________________________________________________________________
Piper Rock was a rock festival to be held outside of Akron
somewhere.
There was an out-of-town crew who had built the stage.
The workers were led by a hippie named "Thumper" who
was a big guy with very long black hair and a big
black beard.
It was a bit of a disaster. It poured with rain all
night and continued into the day.
The way we got equipment up to the top of the stage
was to pass the amps and stuff hand-to-hand up a
narrow wooden flight of stairs. It was nuts- we could
have lost people.
I believe this was the first gig of Barnstorm, except
Joe called the band "Barnyard". I can't remember who
all was in it. I remember they did a version of Honky
Tonk Women. Probably Vitale on drums.
Other bands (I can't remember all of them) scheduled
included Pig Iron (from Toronto) Canned Heat, The
Byrds, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition [/b] and I'm not
sure who else.
Several of them refused to play (like the Byrds)
because they were afraid they would get electrocuted
playing in the rain. Others kind of faked it. For
example, Canned Heat didn't set up, but Bob "The Bear"
Hyte and "Blind Owl" sat in with Pig Iron, using them
as a backing band and doing some Canned Heat songs.
I assume you were a sound man, but can't remember.
I remember you marvelling over a clause in Canned
Heat's contract that required the festival to give
them limousine transportation. You wanted to have Jim
Greathouse, who drove an old hearse in those days, to
pick them up at the airport, thereby providing a
"limousine". This didn't happen, but you thought it
would be funny.
The backstage area was a sea of mud. Most vehicles
were up to their axles in it and stuck. But this crazy
young farmer guy named Ed Hatch (who I knew from
Akron- I don't think any of the Kent people knew him)
showed up in his pickup truck, which was the only
thing that could move through the mud. He was
immediately pressed into service. Since I knew him, he
let me ride in the back when he drove out to pick up
Kenny Rogers and band from their stuck tour bus out by
the road and took them to the backstage area. So I got
to ride in the truck bed with Kenny & his band.
I know there were some other good acts there, but I
can't remember who. maybe someone else will know.
(((GRIN)))
even though the presence of kenny and the first edition at a rock festival was probably a straight-up fluke, i wonder how they went over
I don't dispute anything you said.
Just as I am sure you don't dispute that in Feb of 1968 Kenny Rogers was not seen as being a part of the psychedelic scene.
Was he part of the West Coast/San Francisco/Psychedelic "scene" that the media would show stock footage of every time they reported on hippies and psychedelia.....no.
But you best believe that in 1968, in places like Iowa, Oklahoma, etc., etc....."Just Dropped In" was just as wildly psychedelic as anything else they were hearing on their radio dials.
And they NEVER heard bands like the 13th Floor Elevators unless they really went out of their way to seek it out......which is why you'll find 10,000 copies of the First Edition 45 for every one copy of "You're Gonna Miss Me".
Back then Kenny hadn't yet had the long boring mediocre Country/Pop career that makes us all hate him now.....folks just liked the song...and it was indeed psychedelic.
Indeed.
The "real" groups got almost no radio play in Iowa or Oklahoma or most other places.
Hendrix had only one top 40 hit, #20.
Grateful Dead had none.
Love one top 40 hit, #33.
And so on.
In fact their lack of hits is part of what made them "real".
Here is another Bobbie Gentry cut.
She was not real country.
She moved to LA when she was about 12. Studied music and did most of her recording in LA or Muscle Shoals, and most of her performing in Vegas.
Her dad was Portuguese.
I have let "JOLENE" fly a few times in sets, one time in all hip hop set, the floor cleared except three chicks who went nuts when they heard it, you could tell they grew up with the song, as did myself. "Jolene" will always be staple, such a badass song.
On another tip of new music, Jeb Loy Nichols "country music disco 45" new single is kinda sweet and perfect for this thread:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/56900447a23568ce/
I've almost certainly seen more copies of the latter than the former - but I'm on the east coast.
YES, G Jones all day
And that's when the FM rock format started coming on strong, as an acknowledgement that there was a new wave of bands who weren't being exposed enough on the Top 40 stations.