Well yes Blue Cheer was the support band of the San Fransisco HAs back in the day even played with Big Brother and the Holding company that had Janis Joplin on vocals 1967.
That’s not true there are 2 different Paul whaleys bc the one that’s playing in this vid is 15 and his parents didn’t want him to share his name my grandma knows him I know his name but I’m not saying it
This version, yes, but the song is older - it's an Eddie Cochran original from the 50s that also rocks. A comparison of the two shows just how much rock evolved in ten years.
Hell's Angel's with the guitar instead of motorbikes..... punks before you were a punk.......Bill Graham banned them from the Fillmore, Hippies hated them, SF music press hated them..... I loved them.
How? By singing a song that was made famous by and written by Eddie Cochran and his manager in 1958? And only known for being loud? They were boorish at best. Want to hear a real version of ‘STBs’…put on Live at Leeds by The Who.
THANK YOU so much , for including the interview portion. I'd never seen that. Dickie once told me that he and Gut , the band's manager , were smoking a bowl of hash , backstage , at Bandstand . Dick Clark walked in on them , and said "People like you give Rock'n'Roll a bad name !" . They said "Thank you very much !".
I watched this episode of American Bandstand - it opened my eyes big time - these guys were so loud (all of those old Marshall 100w Super Leads). I bought the 45 and played it everyday (many times a day). These guys helped change rock & roll in America!!!!
One day in Hollywood, I was walking with a friend and suddenly I see this very good looking guy with beautiful long blond hair and walking with a Great Dane dog, I thought Wow!!! We both looked at each other and boom we started a conversation,so that's how it all started we dated and I remember he was so sweet. I was very young about 15. I believe he must of been in his early 20s...He told me he was a drummer for a band called Blue Cheer and I've never heard of them before, so I said "how cool".
John Jacobs No he wasn’t!! he never raped me or had sex with me, he was sweet and kind, it sure wasn’t a traumatic experience in my youth at the contrary It was a true pleasure to have met such a wonderful and sweet guy and mega respectful with me. So stop being a sick ass by dirtying his memory saying he was a pedophile!!
I wish somebody would do a show called "Where Are They Now" But so many don't want to look backwards when they were young and beautiful and the world was laid out before their feet. And now they are old and grey , or dead. I think its wonderful to have good memories like yours. Although it can start you on a path of sadness if you haven't learned how to get off of that path by now.
I was fortunate to see Blue Cheer in the early 70's at the Blue Moon tavern in Seattle what a band. They were in my opinion one of great bands to start heavy metal music. I sure wish I would have taken some snap shots.
@@richardhincemon9423 Understood, but I think Leigh Stephens quit before the 1970s (1968 or 1969?), when GJ saw them in Seattle. I know that Tony Rainier was in Blue Cheer for a while in the 1970s. That's why I asked GJ if that was the guitarist that he saw.
@@chriscampbell9191 got you! Leigh Stevens quit during the tour in 1968 and was replaced by Randy Holden on the tour and he recorded the songs piece of mind- fruits and icebergs/honey butter lover on the new! Improved! Blue cheer album in 1969. He quit during the recording of that album so you are correct it probably was Tony Rainier in the 1970s. That's my mistake I didn't understand the question. Cheers
You gotta love a band who's on a record label that manufactures light bulbs, has an album that is engineered by an off-duty cop, has a manager who is a Hell's Angel, and whose very presence pisses off Dick Clark!
I saw them at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit in June of 1968, along with Iggy and the Psychidelic Stooges and the MC5....believe me, those Marshall Stacks were cranked all the way up!
That " Summer of Love", I was a 19 year old roadie for Blue Cheer & Iron Butterfly(along with a number of other top-hit bands of the time). Then came the draft...
On this day in 1968 {February 10th} Blue Cheer performed "Summertime Blues" on the late Dick Clark's 'American Bandstand'... One month later on March 2nd it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; eventually it peaked at #14 and spent 13 weeks on the Top 100... It reached #3 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart... A favorite of Bruce Springsteen; he has played it in 24 concerts between 1978 and 2012... R.I.P. Mr. Cochran {1938 - 1960} and Mr. Clark {1929 - 2012}.
Along with Hendrix and Cream, BC were pioneers in acid rock, heavy metal, and as a power trio. And of course, they would be from SF, " Hashbury", and all that implies. And their hair styles were ahead of their time and considered truly wild in an extreme "hippy" way. Besides the military, some folks still hate that look. That's their problem.
@Chris Henley Speed, but yeah, it is the same. People don't understand that "genre" is defined after the fact. They saw themselves much different than future people could. Obviously. Why in the fuck would they think they were "metal?" They were, it turns out, but that's definitely not how they saw it.
Some credit should be given to Page and Beck as they recorded Beck's Bolero in early '66. People often don't think of it as it came out on a later album, but those guys were creating these sounds early on. It can't just be determined by album release dates.
Outside Inside was my first intro to Blue Cheer, then came Cream with Disralei Gears. I loved this style of music from then on. Spirit was another band from that era with their Fresh Garbage album, I do miss those days.
Dick Clark was so cool here - he actually showed big respect for these guys - even though it had to be a lip-sync. An actual live performance probably would have freaked out the crew!
But the drumming looks live, so I wonder how it really sounded to the audience. Lip sync to the record + real drums. I mean, the cymbals are moving... Paul Whaley's really hitting them.
Dick Clark hated Blue Cheer. Shortly before this performance, he happened upon a young Dickie Peterson smoking hash in a dressing room; Clark remarked something along the lines of "you guys are a disgrace to rock and roll!" to which Dickie replied "thanks man!" - Blue Cheer were the red headed step child of the California music scene. They found kindred spirits in the Detroit scene with MC5 and The Stooges who also had their share of haters.
@@DoomMetalSludge That's funny as hell! I played in a band with Jeff Dahl, directly influenced by those very bands - we played fast and really loud! Great era in music.
@@jduff59 wow, no kidding! Funny you mention Jeff Dahl, I recently came across a photo of him during his short stint with The Mentors, wearing a hood and everything - and he's sporting a Blue Cheer shirt as well!
@@DoomMetalSludge Jeff turned me on to Blue Cheer. I was in a band when I was 13 that played "High School" by MC5. Jeff started a band called "Powertrip" in 1981 - I played bass on their album - Ed Danky was in Powertrip and played w/the Mentors, too (great guitarist -RIP). I remember El Duce - what a character! We're all dead or seniors now!
Just to show what an old fart I am, I saw this show when it aired in '68. It stuck with me over the years because 1) I really liked Blue Cheer and 2) Dick Clark going on about the "Wall of Sound". What a treat to see this after all those years. Thanks for posting.
its amazing how rapidly changes in Rock n Roll happened in the 1960s and 70s. This episode is a complete 180 from an episode that would have aired in 1962 or 63.
They said that when Blue Cheer plugged in and turned up the amps, all the lights in Sand Diego would go off. Pretty funny. Very heavy. Loved this version.
I saw them several times at the Avalon. And before that when they were still a 5 man band in the Golden Gate panhandle - Free Sunday concerts. They were amazing live. Never adequately recorded.
For Eddie Cochran. This has always hit me like a squadron of low-flying B-17s. Primal as hell. The percussion is dynamic and precise. The guitar is laced with acidic blues. The bottom is as good as it gets. Now, dig this.
OMG. The performance is so how I think summer was back in those days, and how I want it to continue like that once in a while. The after performance interview by Dick Clark with the band is so genuine Blue Cheer. And Dick Clark navigated so conservatively interested thru out the interview, yet aloof in a way as well. Love it!
This band played at my High School cafeteria on a Saturday night dance. We were stunned. They were pissed at their manager getting them a gig at a high school dance. They looked just like that with a wall of Marshalls. The singer kept yelling "Can you hear me?" We were too blown away to respond. Can't blame him. He thought he wasn't reaching us. He couldn't have been more wrong. They were heavy metal before metal was heavy.
After, I think. I could be mistaken. My timeline keeps getting reset. Shit I thought happened never happened And then it did. Its very confusing. Might have been the orange sunshine.
Saw them in 67' & 68' when they toured up and down the west coast with Dickie driving the old yellow station wagon to gigs, in 67' they were at least a five-piece band with an asian guy on hammond organ, Leigh had a Vox AC-30 with JBLs that would cut thru anything like a razor blade, in 68' they came back as a three-piece (Dickie still driving the station wagon), and had the six Marshall stacks you see here, they played the Crystal ballroom that time and were so loud that the seats we were sitting on were moving, Dickie had installed a vibrato on his Fender jazz bass that had a spoon for a handle and he and Leigh would simultaneously get feedback going from the Marshalls that would shake the building, at the end they leaned their guitars against the Marshalls and walked off letting the feedback howl for five minutes before the roadies came up and shut the amps down.
These guys' records used to scare me when I was a toddler. Their burnt-out, acid+heroin feel was palpably conveyed on their album covers, especially that other one (not Vincebus Eruptum). I love the fog-horn distortion on the guitar.
Dickie said that the band was named after the Blue Cheer acid that was going around in San Francisco at the time, because that LSD was a really, really heavy trip.
Strongest Rush from that first album when you're tripping totally amazing , I'll never forget that heart pounding beat and hypnotic trance like state, with a total body Rush accompanied with a primordial moan....😆😆🤣🤣😂😂.. Etc
That is exactly the case - one of the stronger, cleaner tabs of acid to be had at the time... kinda made your bones and muscles trade places and the mind leaves the brain ... ;: )
Yes! It's true. The bands name came from the Blue Cheer acid around at the time. I'm 70 yrs old so take my word on it. The acid then was the best especially LSD sugar cubes!!!
Fantastic time capsule. Sheer power--drums and bass pound like a stampeding cavalry--amped up guitars sing like a revving engine. They blast the roof off the auditorium, then politely answer stilted questions from Dick Clark with humility and shyness. 1968--when rock was about making incredible sounds, not about making money.
One of the LOUDEST things I ever heard was Lee Michaels at the Pasadena Rose Palace. That concert had War, Alice Cooper and Messiah. Lee came out, hit a couple of LOUD cords, went back to his wall of Marshalls, cranked each one,10 or 15 dual cabinets with dedicated heads, then went back into the wing. After a while, he snuck back out to his Hammond, sat down and hit a cord. People who weren't paying attention sat up like they were sitting on a charged cable. The windows in the Palace rattled like they were going to pop their frames. Fuckin' loud, man...
I came home from high school one day. I was watching the Steve Allen show. Blue Cheer was performing. At the end, Steve was shaking his head saying something like "Ladies and Gentlemen, these boys are LOUD!"
For those who don't know, 'Summertime Blues' was written by Eddie Cochran and Jerry N. Capehart and was released in 1958 and sung by Eddie Cochran. The Who, performed the song in their early years of playing. And if you want to hear them play live, their album, 'Live at Leeds,' released in 1970, is their best performance of such a great song.The whole album is one of the best "live albums," ever. "Keep on Rockin' in The Free World..."
Dick Clark had a late Friday night show called In Concert that featured LIVE bands. American Bandstand was a great way to get exposure even though they were miming.
This is great, this guys look like they might have traveled back in time. They look so out of place among that audience. Why aren't there any other videos of guys around? This is some of the most authentic music I've ever heard. They rock!!!
Lip synching with Marshall stacks. They should have cranked 'em up to watch the blood spurt out of the audience's ears. They would have vaporized Dick Clark's pompadour.
For me the dead amps themselves weren't half the joke as much as Clark calling attention to them, like the audience had to be prepared to be knocked unconscious or something. Great band, great days...
What floors me the most is how much time the cameraman focuses on guitarist Leigh Stephens and drummer Paul Whaley. Usually AB focused more on the vocalist with the other members less. Maybe with Dickie Peterson's face obscured with his hair had something to do with it! Great seeing and hearing original lead guitarist Leigh Stephens.Thanks, Cactus for posting this
I have a feeling that they just assumed the guitarist was the singer, as was the usual at the time. Bugged me a little how little footage was of Dickey, but they got there in the end.
i was thrilled to see so much camera footage of Leigh! he was a favorite guitarist of mine so it's a blessing to see how he works. it was a "lip synched" performance but i can see his hands & fingers are doing what they always do
Their first two albums were ground breaking. Heavy psych rockers with guts and feel. They added a keyboardist after and kinda lost their edge. I Wish they stayed as a power trio. Who knows what they may have achieved. Same goes for GFR.
Wow. NO WORDS needed for these guys. They dont TALK, they ROCK. This is the first time Ive ever heard Dickie Peterson actually speak. Ive been listening to his legendary singing voice for years. PS. Everyone PLEASE stop saying they invented heavy metal. They were way better than that.
Exactly- don't even try to put them in a category with idiots like Black Sabbath or Metallica? It would just show how little the person actually knows about the 60's rock scene. They were a complete new deal, copied no others and took it to another level. Total long hairs when most had Beatle Cuts
This is the second part of my story......So in that time in the late 60's there were so many garage bands (jamming in our parents garage) My brother was one of them and I asked him have you heard of a band called Blue Cheer and he said yes of course he said they were a very heavy band, I told him I was dating the drummer.He was like wow how cool! but that I was too young and that our parents would probably freak out and not approve and blablabla so I decided to end it..Yes I dated Paul Whaley.
Saw them at the Fillmore East April 27, 1968, late show with the Iron Butterfly, opening and Traffic closing. The Cheer were the loudest, but not the best band that night. Traffic took no prisoners, and the IB were a good opening act for that stage of their careers. They seemed to disappear after that show, while Traffic went on to greatness and Iron Butterfly became a solid rock force for several years. [But Led Zeppelin blew them out of the Fillmore after they opened for them on Jan 31 - Feb 1, 1969. After LZ finished as the second band on the schedule, all Iron Butterfly could do is come out, play 45 minutes of Ina-Gadda-Da-Vida and then split. IB never had a hit after that.
Wow, I love this, and on Dick Clark's American Bandstand no less! I like the sizzling shaky overdriven guitar, the distorted bass, the manic high octane singing, and the rock solid stoner drumming (especially that drum break at around 2:30).
Dickie told me they were high on Hash, thats why he said Kasmer. Clark bust'd them in the dressing room doin' a bowl. Said, and I quote: "Its people like you that give Rock'n''Roll a bad name". Dickies response was,"'Why thank you very much". I was his guitar player from ' 72 to ' 74 in a band called Peterbuilt with his brother Jerri.
Troy Spence Jr. yeah because Dick Clark’s version of Rock was Bill Haley and His Comets, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran and the list goes on, not these pot smoking hippies.
They are just dudes like all of the metal heads I have known and recorded over the years. My friend saw them at a college in the Bay Area. He said it was amazingly loud.
1st band to name themselves as the Best LSD ever. Augustus Owsley Stanley. Prolific LSD producer and supplier to the bands and stars of 1960s counterculture. ... Augustus Owsley Stanley III - and ..... called Blue Cheer and helped publicize them by putting out a line of blue-tinted LSD.
Blue Cheer got booked to play The Ravinia Festival 40 years ago - an odd choice for the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. They were blindingly loud just tuning up, as the wall of Marshall Amps on this clip from American Bandstand suggests.
I was introduced to Blue Cheer in 1991 by a classmate. He was much older non traditional student. He was around 45 & I was 22. He happened to also be legally blind. And played bass guitar. Hearing this song on a sunny Midwest day reminds me of Tim. Miss those days.
Blue Cheer. The true fathers of heavy metal.
Praise God, Glory in the Highest - AMEN Brutha !
@@jimmymurphy7789 Hail Saint Lucifer, the Light Bringer
Shut up. You sound like a 12 year old @@Allen-fi4ke
hahah nice joke, the were the god father of heavy grunge
No ,that's MC 5😊
One of the first Heavy Metal bands in history
The greatest metal band in history
The first in my opinion.
@@petercena9497 they were the first. You're absolutely right
THE first
that doesn't sound like anything, it's like calling mud honey a heavy metal band 🤣🤣. they are the forfathers of heavy grunge
First Heavy Metal band ever!!!!
…yep, first heavy metal band ever…The Who!😊
February of 1964, The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan and then only four years later....THIS appears on American Bandstand. It's just unbelievable.
Gosh, such original thinking. 😂
Cool Eh? Let's keep our freedom.Love this era, this is where I would tell Jesus far enough, I'm sure he had that figured out.📱🤔☝️
Yeah look at the Beatles hair in 64 and that was considered long😂
I was on Bandstand for this show, and saw these guys perform this song!!!
So damn cool
Dick Clark was always cool!
COOL
They didn't "perform"shit!
@@mrabrasive51 none of the artists that were on the show played "live", it was always adlibbing from their recorded records!
My brother bought this album in 68'
He was 16, I was 6. I cant believe my parents allowed me to listen to this.
Great parents and a great band.
Blue Cheer forever....!!!!!!!
Well yes Blue Cheer was the support band of the San Fransisco HAs back in the day even played with Big Brother and the Holding company that had Janis Joplin on vocals 1967.
RIP drummer Paul Whaley, who passed away on 28 January 2019 at age 73.
dude is absolutely amazing on the drums
That’s not true there are 2 different Paul whaleys bc the one that’s playing in this vid is 15 and his parents didn’t want him to share his name my grandma knows him I know his name but I’m not saying it
Yw Vypex wut
@@ywvypex1434 George C. Brix I believe. The statute of limitations wore out a long time ago on that one!!!
@@ywvypex1434 bullshit
51 years later and this song is still bad ass...
But this version is just plain bad, quality-wise. I don't like the way they left out lines. No wonder this band didn't last long.
This version, yes, but the song is older - it's an Eddie Cochran original from the 50s that also rocks. A comparison of the two shows just how much rock evolved in ten years.
It STILL sounds hot and fresh all these years later. This was heavy metal
Still blows my mind
Blue Cheer was advertised as being the loudest rock band in existence at that time.
Same were The Who
I remember that
les rallizes denudes want to know your location
May I mention Deep Purple.
@@TheStampedehero Of course.
One of the most underrated bands in “Heavy Rock”…….in my opinion they are the first Heavy Metal” bands
What songs do they sing? What album(s) would you recommend?
Hell's Angel's with the guitar instead of motorbikes..... punks before you were a punk.......Bill Graham banned them from the Fillmore, Hippies hated them, SF music press hated them..... I loved them.
I was a hippie and I saw them at the Avalon...yeah they fit in with the bikers i also saw them at a biker bar. Remember the Gypsy Jokers " haahaa
Bull shit! I saw them all over the SF Bay Area including the Avalon, Fillmore, Golden Gate Park and more.
Blue Cheer was WAY ahead of their time!
They were retarded!
How? By singing a song that was made famous by and written by Eddie Cochran and his manager in 1958? And only known for being loud? They were boorish at best. Want to hear a real version of ‘STBs’…put on Live at Leeds by The Who.
Blue Cheer were HORRIBLE.
LOVE THE HAIR!!!!!!!
All these years later blue cheer still rocks
As a 13 year old kid I would go INSANE to
This.
THANK YOU so much , for including the interview portion. I'd never seen that. Dickie once told me that he and Gut , the band's manager , were smoking a bowl of hash , backstage , at Bandstand . Dick Clark walked in on them , and said "People like you give Rock'n'Roll a bad name !" . They said "Thank you very much !".
course they laughed at that(smoking a bowl) but the lads were right; they'd just changed the history of Rock forever
I watched this episode of American Bandstand - it opened my eyes big time - these guys were so loud (all of those old Marshall 100w Super Leads). I bought the 45 and played it everyday (many times a day). These guys helped change rock & roll in America!!!!
One day in Hollywood, I was walking with a friend and suddenly I see this very good looking guy with beautiful long blond hair and walking with a Great Dane dog, I thought Wow!!! We both looked at each other and boom we started a conversation,so that's how it all started we dated and I remember he was so sweet. I was very young about 15. I believe he must of been in his early 20s...He told me he was a drummer for a band called Blue Cheer and I've never heard of them before, so I said "how cool".
:p so blue cheer's drummer was a pedophile
martha bourse ew, why do rockstars always have to be pedos🤮
John Jacobs No he wasn’t!! he never raped me or had sex with me, he was sweet and kind, it sure wasn’t a traumatic experience in my youth at the contrary It was a true pleasure to have met such a wonderful and sweet guy and mega respectful with me. So stop being a sick ass by dirtying his memory saying he was a pedophile!!
@@johnjacobs8350 Assbite!
I wish somebody would do a show called "Where Are They Now" But so many don't want to look backwards when they were young and beautiful and the world was laid out before their feet. And now they are old and grey , or dead. I think its wonderful to have good memories like yours. Although it can start you on a path of sadness if you haven't learned how to get off of that path by now.
Serious garage band grunge sound! LOVE it!
Me & a friend, mid-1980s, listened to this a ton while in South Korea with the 2nd Inf Division.
I was fortunate to see Blue Cheer in the early 70's at the Blue Moon tavern in Seattle what a band. They were in my opinion one of great bands to start heavy metal music. I sure wish I would have taken some snap shots.
That must have been when Tony Rainier was the guitar player?
Peace of Mind, is really a favorite of mine, it sounds so far ahead of its time, by it's self, it sounds like another band y'know?
@@chriscampbell9191 l e i g h Stevens guitar player and he was there original guitarist.
@@richardhincemon9423 Understood, but I think Leigh Stephens quit before the 1970s (1968 or 1969?), when GJ saw them in Seattle. I know that Tony Rainier was in Blue Cheer for a while in the 1970s. That's why I asked GJ if that was the guitarist that he saw.
@@chriscampbell9191 got you! Leigh Stevens quit during the tour in 1968 and was replaced by Randy Holden on the tour and he recorded the songs piece of mind- fruits and icebergs/honey butter lover on the new! Improved! Blue cheer album in 1969. He quit during the recording of that album so you are correct it probably was Tony Rainier in the 1970s. That's my mistake I didn't understand the question. Cheers
One-time Guinness World Record holder for World's Loudest Band.
and that's something to be proud of?
if6was929 Hahahahahaha
if6was929 yes
@@if6was929 yeap!
Lemme guess who knocked them off the record?
1968 I was a freshman in high school would have never made it through school without this song
You gotta love a band who's on a record label that manufactures light bulbs, has an album that is engineered by an off-duty cop, has a manager who is a Hell's Angel, and whose very presence pisses off Dick Clark!
I saw them at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit in June of 1968, along with Iggy and the Psychidelic
Stooges and the MC5....believe me, those Marshall Stacks were cranked all the way up!
Blue Cheer, MC5, AND The Stooges on one bill?! I can't even imagine!
@@matthatter2849 Perfect comment! I couldn't imagine it either.
January of 1968 saw the release of the debut albums of Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly, AND Steppenwolf! Talk about starting the year off right!
After a year that began with Jimi Hendrix and Cream's debuts, and ended with the Vanilla Fudge's debut in December 1967!
That " Summer of Love", I was a 19 year old roadie for Blue Cheer & Iron Butterfly(along with a number of other top-hit bands of the time). Then came the draft...
And the 428 cobrajet!
MattHatter I was 16 yrs old and bought them all
1968 also marked the inception of classic bands, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple
R.I.P. PAUL WHALEY. A TRUE MONSTER DRUMMER January 14, 1947 - January 28, 2019
On this day in 1968 {February 10th} Blue Cheer performed "Summertime Blues" on the late Dick Clark's 'American Bandstand'...
One month later on March 2nd it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; eventually it peaked at #14 and spent 13 weeks on the Top 100...
It reached #3 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart...
A favorite of Bruce Springsteen; he has played it in 24 concerts between 1978 and 2012...
R.I.P. Mr. Cochran {1938 - 1960} and Mr. Clark {1929 - 2012}.
Along with Hendrix and Cream, BC were pioneers in acid rock, heavy metal, and as a power trio. And of course, they would be from SF, " Hashbury", and all that implies. And their hair styles were ahead of their time and considered truly wild in an extreme "hippy" way. Besides the military, some folks still hate that look. That's their problem.
Not acid rock. They were the first metal band ever.
@Chris Henley Speed, but yeah, it is the same. People don't understand that "genre" is defined after the fact. They saw themselves much different than future people could. Obviously. Why in the fuck would they think they were "metal?" They were, it turns out, but that's definitely not how they saw it.
Some credit should be given to Page and Beck as they recorded Beck's Bolero in early '66. People often don't think of it as it came out on a later album, but those guys were creating these sounds early on. It can't just be determined by album release dates.
I saw them in the Summer of 68 on a double bill with Steppenwolf.
Outside Inside was my first intro to Blue Cheer, then came Cream with Disralei Gears. I loved this style of music from then on. Spirit was another band from that era with their Fresh Garbage album, I do miss those days.
I use to watch American Bandstand a lot. I dont know how I missed this one!
Dick Clark was so cool here - he actually showed big respect for these guys - even though it had to be a lip-sync. An actual live performance probably would have freaked out the crew!
But the drumming looks live, so I wonder how it really sounded to the audience. Lip sync to the record + real drums. I mean, the cymbals are moving... Paul Whaley's really hitting them.
Dick Clark hated Blue Cheer. Shortly before this performance, he happened upon a young Dickie Peterson smoking hash in a dressing room; Clark remarked something along the lines of "you guys are a disgrace to rock and roll!" to which Dickie replied "thanks man!" - Blue Cheer were the red headed step child of the California music scene. They found kindred spirits in the Detroit scene with MC5 and The Stooges who also had their share of haters.
@@DoomMetalSludge That's funny as hell! I played in a band with Jeff Dahl, directly influenced by those very bands - we played fast and really loud! Great era in music.
@@jduff59 wow, no kidding! Funny you mention Jeff Dahl, I recently came across a photo of him during his short stint with The Mentors, wearing a hood and everything - and he's sporting a Blue Cheer shirt as well!
@@DoomMetalSludge Jeff turned me on to Blue Cheer. I was in a band when I was 13 that played "High School" by MC5. Jeff started a band called "Powertrip" in 1981 - I played bass on their album - Ed Danky was in Powertrip and played w/the Mentors, too (great guitarist -RIP). I remember El Duce - what a character! We're all dead or seniors now!
5:05
_What makes Blue Cheer different?_
*_… Heavy …_*
Little did he know, then …
Just to show what an old fart I am, I saw this show when it aired in '68. It stuck with me over the years because 1) I really liked Blue Cheer and 2) Dick Clark going on about the "Wall of Sound". What a treat to see this after all those years. Thanks for posting.
its amazing how rapidly changes in Rock n Roll happened in the 1960s and 70s. This episode is a complete 180 from an episode that would have aired in 1962 or 63.
Way cool 😎! So true. I loved these guys..
They said that when Blue Cheer plugged in and turned up the amps, all the lights in Sand Diego would go off. Pretty funny. Very heavy. Loved this version.
I saw them several times at the Avalon. And before that when they were still a 5 man band in the Golden Gate panhandle - Free Sunday concerts. They were amazing live. Never adequately recorded.
For Eddie Cochran. This has always hit me like a squadron of low-flying B-17s. Primal as hell. The percussion is dynamic and precise. The guitar is laced with acidic blues. The bottom is as good as it gets. Now, dig this.
Man, this is great. I've followed the Cheer forever and never knew this clip existed. And with original guitarist Leigh Stephens too! Fantastic!
Leigh is super! it's his weird feedback guitar sound i dug as a kid, truely pioneers of Rock!
OMG. The performance is so how I think summer was back in those days, and how I want it to continue like that once in a while. The after performance interview by Dick Clark with the band is so genuine Blue Cheer. And Dick Clark navigated so conservatively interested thru out the interview, yet aloof in a way as well. Love it!
yeh that was bonus to see Dick Clark talking with young druggie/biker musicians...almost treating them like they were human-ha ha!
This does bring back some memories, couldn't get enough of that album definitely a wild performance for it's time. Ah, the good old days.
This band played at my High School cafeteria on a Saturday night dance. We were stunned. They were pissed at their manager getting them a gig at a high school dance. They looked just like that with a wall of Marshalls. The singer kept yelling "Can you hear me?" We were too blown away to respond. Can't blame him. He thought he wasn't reaching us. He couldn't have been more wrong. They were heavy metal before metal was heavy.
John Connor Was that before or after Skynet???
Jon MacDonald holy, that was epic!
I saw them at a HS dance too in '70.
After, I think. I could be mistaken. My timeline keeps getting reset. Shit I thought happened never happened And then it did. Its very confusing. Might have been the orange sunshine.
Saw them in 67' & 68' when they toured up and down the west coast with Dickie driving the old yellow station wagon to gigs, in 67' they were at least a five-piece band with an asian guy on hammond organ, Leigh had a Vox AC-30 with JBLs that would cut thru anything like a razor blade, in 68' they came back as a three-piece (Dickie still driving the station wagon), and had the six Marshall stacks you see here, they played the Crystal ballroom that time and were so loud that the seats we were sitting on were moving, Dickie had installed a vibrato on his Fender jazz bass that had a spoon for a handle and he and Leigh would simultaneously get feedback going from the Marshalls that would shake the building, at the end they leaned their guitars against the Marshalls and walked off letting the feedback howl for five minutes before the roadies came up and shut the amps down.
Johngonefishin what does Asian have to with it?
As a roadie for Iron Butterfly & Blue Cheer, we used that feed-back ending after ripping it off from The Chamber Brothers "Time Has Come Today".
I grew up in San Francisco high school class of '66. Saw these guys a lot. And everybody else.
Saw them in 1992 at The Nightbreak Sf ca loud and great!
Lucky !
Please dont tell me things like this. Cant contain my jealousy!
This clip is a lot better than I remembered it being! Leigh Stephens on guitar ! Howard white: 2-18-2015
I have not forgotten the words after all these years! So glad this was posted! Thanks!
Второй раз в жизни слушаю эту песню. Первый раз в 1968-м. Мне тогда было 15. Сейчас мне 71. Песня великолепная.
These guys' records used to scare me when I was a toddler. Their burnt-out, acid+heroin feel was palpably conveyed on their album covers, especially that other one (not Vincebus Eruptum). I love the fog-horn distortion on the guitar.
They were speed freaks.
I love that description
You're talking about the jacket for "Outsideinside" their second album! Yep there's a long spoon on the back of that cover!
Dickie said that the band was named after the Blue Cheer acid that was going around in San Francisco at the time, because that LSD was a really, really heavy trip.
It was strong even by those standards
Strongest Rush from that first album when you're tripping totally amazing , I'll never forget that heart pounding beat and hypnotic trance like state, with a total body Rush accompanied with a primordial moan....😆😆🤣🤣😂😂.. Etc
That is exactly the case - one of the stronger, cleaner tabs of acid to be had at the time... kinda made your bones and muscles trade places and the mind leaves the brain ... ;: )
Yes ! It's truth. The bands name came from the Blue Cheer acid around at the time. I'm 70 yrs old. Take m
Yes! It's true. The bands name came from the Blue Cheer acid around at the time. I'm 70 yrs old so take my word on it. The acid then was the best especially LSD sugar cubes!!!
HAD THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN CONNECTICUT IN MY CAR PASSENGER, MARCH 1968.. UNKNOWN TO ME AT THE TIME, THIS SONG WAS IN TOP 10.
Fantastic time capsule. Sheer power--drums and bass pound like a stampeding cavalry--amped up guitars sing like a revving engine. They blast the roof off the auditorium, then politely answer stilted questions from Dick Clark with humility and shyness. 1968--when rock was about making incredible sounds, not about making money.
Sponsored by Marshall! 😁
One of the LOUDEST things I ever heard was Lee Michaels at the Pasadena Rose Palace. That concert had War, Alice Cooper and Messiah. Lee came out, hit a couple of LOUD cords, went back to his wall of Marshalls, cranked each one,10 or 15 dual cabinets with dedicated heads, then went back into the wing. After a while, he snuck back out to his Hammond, sat down and hit a cord. People who weren't paying attention sat up like they were sitting on a charged cable. The windows in the Palace rattled like they were going to pop their frames. Fuckin' loud, man...
@@danielcleveland8879 Lee Michaels was good! i saw him & his drummer Frosty at the Granada theater in Santa Barbara in 1972.wow! they were good
I feel really good, this was one of my first and favorite groups, Jeff Beck, Cream, Janis and Jimi. Humble Pie, Vanilla Fudge, and Jefferson Airplane.
Wall of sound behind them!! And, not even ONE microphone???
Gee, I wonder if they were NOT playing live!?!?!?
Dickie Peterson was a very nice guy generous musician left us way too early!
This is so good!!!! Definitely one of Greatest Posts!!!!
Amazing. All of those amps and no mics.
Yea, the 60's lip sync in action!
+theelevan1 bingo !
+theelevan1 And they got it sounding exactly like the record too. I have new respect for Hippies.
theelevan = it`s called a overhead mic = start learning about 60`s recording = you are so fucking DUMB !
Happy ugly troll Sunday everyone!
貴重な映像初めて見ました、憧れのバンドでしたね。来日した時には目の前で観ました。ディッキー残念です。
ポールも亡くなりました。私ももうじき行きます。
for me the first heavy hard rock blues before black sab....
Black Sabbath. Saw this and said YES
I came home from high school one day. I was watching the Steve Allen show. Blue Cheer was performing. At the end, Steve was shaking his head saying something like "Ladies and Gentlemen, these boys are LOUD!"
Dick Clark rules...He influenced so much and was so open to different styles and was fair to all. Love ya Dick.
I’d heard of them here and there throughout the 70s but never had the opportunity to buy their music or see them. I’ll have to see what I can find.
Thanks for including the intro and interview. This is the only footage I have ever seen with Leigh Stevens. What a treat!
For those who don't know, 'Summertime Blues' was written by Eddie Cochran and Jerry N. Capehart and was released in 1958 and sung by Eddie Cochran. The Who, performed the song in their early years of playing. And if you want to hear them play live, their album, 'Live at Leeds,' released in 1970, is their best performance of such a great song.The whole album is one of the best "live albums," ever. "Keep on Rockin' in The Free World..."
No joke. I was amazed he brought them on! What a contrast; Blue Cheer and that VERY conservative audience! Whoa!
Dick Clark had a late Friday night show called In Concert that featured LIVE bands. American Bandstand was a great way to get exposure even though they were miming.
How can you not love this ?
Steve Allen introduced them on his show with "Run for your Lives/ it's Blue Cheer" !!!###
This is great, this guys look like they might have traveled back in time. They look so out of place among that audience. Why aren't there any other videos of guys around? This is some of the most authentic music I've ever heard. They rock!!!
caltagerone77
I remember hearing this when it came out, during the summer before I started high school it was epic.
Lip synching with Marshall stacks. They should have cranked 'em up to watch the blood spurt out of the audience's ears. They would have vaporized Dick Clark's pompadour.
No kidding. I have to laugh how much work it was to set up those amps and not even use them. What a joke.
Dr. Benton Quest well I knew the Drummer and he never lipsyncs or fakes anything!
Stephen Dreher hell yeah baby and my back kills me everyday to remind me. I’d do it again in a heartbeat 💗
Dr. Benton Quest I was in early teens watching A.B.,didn't know it at time,but all bands lipsynched on the show.
For me the dead amps themselves weren't half the joke as much as Clark calling attention to them, like the audience had to be prepared to be knocked unconscious or something. Great band, great days...
Love this. Any early footage with Leigh is greatly appreaciated. Thank you for posting.
The warning shot across the bow of American musical consciousness.
slant40: Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! You've got to be kidding!!! This is some dismal old tosh!
About how to play with no harmony
@@andythomas706 Said the fool who's into Gangster-Rap!
That's.. Rockin....
What floors me the most is how much time the cameraman focuses on guitarist Leigh Stephens and drummer Paul Whaley. Usually AB focused more on the vocalist with the other members less. Maybe with Dickie Peterson's face obscured with his hair had something to do with it! Great seeing and hearing original lead guitarist Leigh Stephens.Thanks, Cactus for posting this
I have a feeling that they just assumed the guitarist was the singer, as was the usual at the time. Bugged me a little how little footage was of Dickey, but they got there in the end.
i was thrilled to see so much camera footage of Leigh! he was a favorite guitarist of mine so it's a blessing to see how he works. it was a "lip synched" performance but i can see his hands & fingers are doing what they always do
Lived for the live performances of Dick Clark, every Saturday.
REALMENTE TENHO 52 ANOS E É VERDADE NO COMEÇO DOS ANOS 70 ERA SIM CONSIDERADO O QUE HJ CHAMAMOS DE "HEAVY METAL". MARAVILHOSO.
I def knew this song, had forgotten the name of the band. Thanks for posting!
These guys were different! They never made it in the mainstream, but they were kind of cool in a funky kind of way.
Their first two albums were ground breaking. Heavy psych rockers with guts and feel. They added a keyboardist after and kinda lost their edge. I Wish they stayed as a power trio. Who knows what they may have achieved. Same goes for GFR.
@@gms9655 Strange that they moved away from this sound just as it was starting to take off. Mistake business-wise.
They are from my hood in San francisco, so much natural talent back in those days, heyy CC Carpenter❤
Wow. NO WORDS needed for these guys. They dont TALK, they ROCK. This is the first time Ive ever heard Dickie Peterson actually speak. Ive been listening to his legendary singing voice for years.
PS. Everyone PLEASE stop saying they invented heavy metal. They were way better than that.
Don't worry, they didn't invent heavy metal (not that there'd be anything wrong with that, metal is great)
Exactly- don't even try to put them in a category with idiots like Black Sabbath or Metallica? It would just show how little the person actually knows about the 60's rock scene. They were a complete new deal, copied no others and took it to another level. Total long hairs when most had Beatle Cuts
Best version of this song! i can't even listen to anyone else play it!
The Who's Live at Leeds version is better IMHO
This is the second part of my story......So in that time in the late 60's there were so many garage bands (jamming in our parents garage) My brother was one of them and I asked him have you heard of a band called Blue Cheer and he said yes of course he said they were a very heavy band, I told him I was dating the drummer.He was like wow how cool! but that I was too young and that our parents would probably freak out and not approve and blablabla so I decided to end it..Yes I dated Paul Whaley.
Did you beat him off? Hahahaha
Saw them at the Fillmore East April 27, 1968, late show with the Iron Butterfly, opening and Traffic closing. The Cheer were the loudest, but not the best band that night. Traffic took no prisoners, and the IB were a good opening act for that stage of their careers. They seemed to disappear after that show, while Traffic went on to greatness and Iron Butterfly became a solid rock force for several years. [But Led Zeppelin blew them out of the Fillmore after they opened for them on Jan 31 - Feb 1, 1969. After LZ finished as the second band on the schedule, all Iron Butterfly could do is come out, play 45 minutes of Ina-Gadda-Da-Vida and then split.
IB never had a hit after that.
Wow, I love this, and on Dick Clark's American Bandstand no less! I like the sizzling shaky overdriven guitar, the distorted bass, the manic high octane singing, and the rock solid stoner drumming (especially that drum break at around 2:30).
my dad and Jerry, the guitarist were buddies. He kicked it at our house when I was a little kid.
Dickie told me they were high on Hash, thats why he said Kasmer. Clark bust'd them in the dressing room doin' a bowl. Said, and I quote: "Its people like you that give Rock'n''Roll a bad name". Dickies response was,"'Why thank you very much". I was his guitar player from ' 72 to ' 74 in a band called Peterbuilt with his brother Jerri.
Dickie was the nicest man I ever met!
Enevan1968 I second that met him twice in once in nyc with blue cheer at cbgb’s and 2007 Monterey pop festival the coolest guy RIP
I remember Peterbilt. And I once saw a version of Blue Cheer in Nicasio, Dickie was there, but I'm not sure about the other guys.
..haha, i could see that
Troy Spence Jr. yeah because Dick Clark’s version of Rock was Bill Haley and His Comets, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran and the list goes on, not these pot smoking hippies.
Couldn't listen through any number they played back then. Still can't.
My favorite band of all time seen them live loudest band I ever heard ass kickin
I seen this that day and was blown away by Blue cheer ..great !
They are just dudes like all of the metal heads I have known and recorded over the years. My friend saw them at a college in the Bay Area. He said it was amazingly loud.
They really were the sh*t! Can't get enough of Blue Cheer!
Greetings from Brazil s2
1st band to name themselves as the Best LSD ever. Augustus Owsley Stanley. Prolific LSD producer and supplier to the bands and stars of 1960s counterculture. ... Augustus Owsley Stanley III - and ..... called Blue Cheer and helped publicize them by putting out a line of blue-tinted LSD.
powerful words. bravo.
Phenomenal. not even a dead mic. just lip syncing into hair
Blue Cheer got booked to play The Ravinia Festival 40 years ago - an odd choice for the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. They were blindingly loud just tuning up, as the wall of Marshall Amps on this clip from American Bandstand suggests.
I was introduced to Blue Cheer in 1991 by a classmate. He was much older non traditional student. He was around 45 & I was 22. He happened to also be legally blind. And played bass guitar.
Hearing this song on a sunny Midwest day reminds me of Tim. Miss those days.
It's Funny How He Said We Would Be Hearing A Lot From Them. Almost A One Hit Wonder!
WOW...Talk about heavy. What an era;I'm glad I was there