Blue Cheer
Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock or acid rock style.[8] They are also credited as being some of the earliest pioneers of heavy metal, with their cover of "Summertime Blues" sometimes cited as the first in the genre.[9] They have also been noted as influential in the development of genres as disparate as punk rock,[10] stoner rock,[11][12] doom metal,[12] experimental rock,[13] and grunge.[14]
Blue Cheer
History[edit]
Main career (1966–1971)[edit]
Blue Cheer were formed in 1966 by Dickie Peterson. Peterson had previously been with the Davis-based band the Oxford Circle along with future Blue Cheer members Paul Whaley and Gary Lee Yoder. The original Blue Cheer personnel were singer/bassist Peterson, guitarist Leigh Stephens and Eric Albronda as drummer. Albronda was later replaced by Whaley, who was joined by Peterson's brother Jerre (guitar), Vale Hamanaka (keyboards), and Jere Whiting (vocals, harmonica). Albronda continued his association with Blue Cheer as a member of Blue Cheer management, as well as being the producer or co-producer of five Blue Cheer albums.[15]
The band was managed by Allen "Gut" Terk, a former member of the Hells Angels.[9] Early on, it was decided that the line-up should be trimmed down. It has been said that Blue Cheer decided to adopt a power trio configuration after seeing Jimi Hendrix perform at the Monterey Pop Festival.[16] Hamanaka and Whiting were asked to leave. Jerre Peterson did not want to remain in the group without them, so he departed as well, leaving Peterson, Stephens and Whaley as a trio.
Their first hit was a cover version of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" from their debut album Vincebus Eruptum (1968).[17] The single peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, their only such hit, and the album peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 chart. In Canada, the song peaked at No. 3 on the RPM Magazine chart.
The "Summertime Blues" single was backed with Dickie Peterson's original song "Out Of Focus". Peterson also contributed to the album the eight-minute "Doctor Please" and "Second Time Around", which features Paul Whaley's frantic drum solo. Filling out the record, the band cranked out blues covers "Rock Me Baby" (by B.B. King) and "Parchman Farm" (Mose Allison, but retitled "Parchment Farm").[17]
Legacy[edit]
Blue Cheer is often credited as one of the very earliest pioneers of heavy metal and their version of "Summertime Blues" has been cited as the first heavy metal song.[9]
According to Tim Hills in his book, The Many Lives of the Crystal Ballroom,[47] "Blue Cheer was the epitome of San Francisco psychedelia." Jim Morrison of The Doors characterized the group as "the single most powerful band I've ever seen"[48] and Eric Clapton defined them as "probably the originators of heavy metal".[49] Blue Cheer influenced such late 1970s bands as East-European psychedelic hardcore band Galloping Coroners.[50]
Blue Cheer was also widely recognized as the loudest band ever at the time when they emerged.[51][52][53][54][55] Billy Altman reported that at a 1968 concert the band was "So loud, in fact, that within just a few songs, much of the crowd in the front orchestra section was fleeing."[55]
Various artists in the grunge movement have paid homage to Blue Cheer, including Melvins vocalist Buzz Osborne[56] and Mudhoney vocalist Mark Arm, who said; "Hearing Blue Cheer [while in college] was almost as important to me as hearing the Stooges for the first time the year before. When Mudhoney started up, Blue Cheer was definitely part of our blueprint.”[57]
"Blue Cheer" was the name of a variety of LSD made by chemist and Grateful Dead patron Owsley Stanley[58] and the band was probably named after that, although the name existed earlier, as the name of a laundry detergent[59] after which the LSD variety itself was named.