Post by Zombified Jeremy on May 6, 2006 16:39:00 GMT -5
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Cheer
This band is one one the founding members of metal culture, and get far less acclaim then they deserve.
Blue Cheer was a San Francisco-based rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s, who helped to pioneer heavy metal music. Original personnel were singer/bass guitarist dickie Peterson, guitarist Leigh Stephens, and drummer Paul Whaley. A prototypical power trio, the band was named after a variety of LSD promoted by underground chemist and Grateful Dead backer Owsley Stanley. This variety of LSD took its name from a popular laundry detergent.
Their first hit was a cover version of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" from their debut album Vincebus Eruptum (1968). The single peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, their only such hit, and the album peaked at #11 on the Billboard 200 chart.
The group's sound was hard to categorize, but was definitely blues-based, psychedelic, and very loud. The band has been subsequently acclaimed as an influence on garage rock, punk music, heavy metal, and grunge. Julian Cope has written, "In 1968, nothing but nothing in America and Britain sounded as brutal as Blue Cheer except for the Velvet Underground." [1]
The group underwent several personnel changes after the 1968 release of Outsideinside, and then through yet more changes during and after 1969's New! Improved! Blue Cheer (different guitarists on side 1 and 2). After Leigh Stephens was replaced by Randy Holden, formerly of Los Angeles garage rock band The Other Half, in 1968, Blue Cheer's style changed to a more commercial hard rock sound à la Steppenwolf or Iron Butterfly. For the fourth album Blue Cheer, Holden, who had left during the third album, was subsequently replaced by Bruce Stephens. Stephens later quit and was replaced by Gary Lee Yoder, who helped complete the album.
The new line up of Peterson, Ralph Burn Kellogg, Norman Mayell, and Yoder in 1970 saw the release of The Original Human Being and then 1971's Oh! Pleasant Hope. When Oh! Pleasant Hope failed to dent the sales charts, Blue Cheer temporarily split up.
From 1988 to 1993, Blue Cheer toured mainly in Europe. During this time, they played with classic rock acts as well as then-up-and-coming bands: Mountain, Outlaws, Thunder, Groundhogs, Ten Years After, Yardbirds, Danzig, Mucky Pup, Biohazard and others.
On the Nibelung Records label they released several albums. 1989 saw the release of Blue Cheer's first official live album, Blitzkrieg over Nüremberg. This album was recorded on Blue Cheer's first European tour in decades. The drum chair was then taken by Dave Salce; bass by dickie Peterson; guitar by Duck McDonald.
1990 saw the release of Highlights & Lowlives studio album, comprised of blues-based hard rock, sometimes reminiscent of Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones, and several ballads. The album was produced by notable grunge producer Jack Endino. The line-up was Peterson on bass and vocals, Paul Whaley on drums, and Duck McDonald on guitars.
Blue Cheer followed up "Highlights" with the much heavier Dining with the Sharks. McDonald was replaced by German ex-Monsters guitar player Dieter Saller. Peterson was on bass and vocals again, and Paul Whaley was again on drums. Also featured is a special guest appearance by Groundhogs guitarist Tony McPhee. The album was produced by Roland Hofmann.
In the early 1990s, Peterson and Whaley re-located to Germany. Whaley still lives there while Peterson has since moved back to California. Guitar work has been handled by Duck MacDonald since that time. Blue Cheer are still active as of 2006. Their last release was Live in Japan, 1999, and their last tour was a club tour of England in 2004. Peterson and MacDonald performed with drummer Prairie Prince at the Chet Helms tribute gig in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in Summer 2005. They finished recording an album in Virginia in Winter 2005 and are planning to go on tour in Spring of 2006.
This band is one one the founding members of metal culture, and get far less acclaim then they deserve.
Blue Cheer was a San Francisco-based rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s, who helped to pioneer heavy metal music. Original personnel were singer/bass guitarist dickie Peterson, guitarist Leigh Stephens, and drummer Paul Whaley. A prototypical power trio, the band was named after a variety of LSD promoted by underground chemist and Grateful Dead backer Owsley Stanley. This variety of LSD took its name from a popular laundry detergent.
Their first hit was a cover version of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" from their debut album Vincebus Eruptum (1968). The single peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, their only such hit, and the album peaked at #11 on the Billboard 200 chart.
The group's sound was hard to categorize, but was definitely blues-based, psychedelic, and very loud. The band has been subsequently acclaimed as an influence on garage rock, punk music, heavy metal, and grunge. Julian Cope has written, "In 1968, nothing but nothing in America and Britain sounded as brutal as Blue Cheer except for the Velvet Underground." [1]
The group underwent several personnel changes after the 1968 release of Outsideinside, and then through yet more changes during and after 1969's New! Improved! Blue Cheer (different guitarists on side 1 and 2). After Leigh Stephens was replaced by Randy Holden, formerly of Los Angeles garage rock band The Other Half, in 1968, Blue Cheer's style changed to a more commercial hard rock sound à la Steppenwolf or Iron Butterfly. For the fourth album Blue Cheer, Holden, who had left during the third album, was subsequently replaced by Bruce Stephens. Stephens later quit and was replaced by Gary Lee Yoder, who helped complete the album.
The new line up of Peterson, Ralph Burn Kellogg, Norman Mayell, and Yoder in 1970 saw the release of The Original Human Being and then 1971's Oh! Pleasant Hope. When Oh! Pleasant Hope failed to dent the sales charts, Blue Cheer temporarily split up.
From 1988 to 1993, Blue Cheer toured mainly in Europe. During this time, they played with classic rock acts as well as then-up-and-coming bands: Mountain, Outlaws, Thunder, Groundhogs, Ten Years After, Yardbirds, Danzig, Mucky Pup, Biohazard and others.
On the Nibelung Records label they released several albums. 1989 saw the release of Blue Cheer's first official live album, Blitzkrieg over Nüremberg. This album was recorded on Blue Cheer's first European tour in decades. The drum chair was then taken by Dave Salce; bass by dickie Peterson; guitar by Duck McDonald.
1990 saw the release of Highlights & Lowlives studio album, comprised of blues-based hard rock, sometimes reminiscent of Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones, and several ballads. The album was produced by notable grunge producer Jack Endino. The line-up was Peterson on bass and vocals, Paul Whaley on drums, and Duck McDonald on guitars.
Blue Cheer followed up "Highlights" with the much heavier Dining with the Sharks. McDonald was replaced by German ex-Monsters guitar player Dieter Saller. Peterson was on bass and vocals again, and Paul Whaley was again on drums. Also featured is a special guest appearance by Groundhogs guitarist Tony McPhee. The album was produced by Roland Hofmann.
In the early 1990s, Peterson and Whaley re-located to Germany. Whaley still lives there while Peterson has since moved back to California. Guitar work has been handled by Duck MacDonald since that time. Blue Cheer are still active as of 2006. Their last release was Live in Japan, 1999, and their last tour was a club tour of England in 2004. Peterson and MacDonald performed with drummer Prairie Prince at the Chet Helms tribute gig in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in Summer 2005. They finished recording an album in Virginia in Winter 2005 and are planning to go on tour in Spring of 2006.