Hippie was the 60's, but the whole hippie hit mainstream culture in the 70's. I remember all of the crazy looking clothes I had in the first part of the 70's.
Hippies Summer of Love was 1967 born in the Bay area Cal And spread across the country into the 70's. By Mid 70's Disco Was gaining popularity and by 80's money and Reagan era was kicking in.
I LOVED this song when it came out, I was a student at Kent State University and just turned 20 years old. I MISS those days and the fashions when boys and young men wore colorful clothes and long hair. I wish it would come back again.
Another song featured perfectly in the Austin powers movie. It really was, like this for a short time. I well remember the girls in go go boots, and bright Minnie skirts. By the time I was old enough to get involved, it was all over. Resulting into my obcession with all things from this period.
Ed king one of the guitarist later became a player for Lynyrd Skynyrd, he came up with the opening riff to Sweet Home Alabama and a few others he is credited for. I was a bit of a hippy until the early to mid 70s 😁.
This song was a huge hit in 1968. Woodstock was 1969. Few songs captured the vibe of the psychedelic '60s like Incense and Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clock. They had one follow-up hit that was also pretty good called "Tomorrow." But that was pretty much it from them.
Brad and Lexi, Thanks for your honest way of reacting! Summer of 67, was the "Summer of Love", which took place in the Haight Ashbury district of San Fransisco. Original Hippies were called "Flower Children". This "Vibe" was a combination of the already existing Beatnik and Biker communities, that had been involved with hard drug use besides alcohol, for quite a while already.... AND the Beatles new music direction, through LSD use, introduced the "Sgt. Peppers", psychedelic music, lyrics, style of dress and opulent lifestyle, that was adopted by all Rock groups who wanted to grow in popularity. Even though I loved this song as a teen, "The Strawberry Alarm Clock" was an attempt to cash in on this new "VIBE" as Lex says. The length of their hair shows that this was early in the Hippy movement. Also, all earlier rock group names were proceeded by the word "The" Later on, not always true; i.e. The Black Sabbath"? The Led Zepplin? The Pink Floyd? The Van Halen? LOL! For years after 1967, students, people with jobs, Hollywood entertainers, and practically anybody in the music business had devoted their lives to looking and acting like a Hippy. Just watch movies of that era. Or better yet old TV commercials. As the years passed, hairstyles grew longer and longer because no one would cut their hair, as this would be, not hip! The music actually got better and better, because the real talent rose to the top. Most "hippy" bands evolved into Hard, Prog Rock, Metal, Jam, Blues, Glitter/ Glam, etc. And "One Hit Wonder" bands like "The Strawberry Fields Forever Alarm Clock" (tongue in cheek), faded into history.
There were a couple of radio stations in the L.A. area in the late 60s that played a lot of psychedelic music. I was in my early 20s. When friends got together, we'd all sit on the floor, and a few of us had intricately patterned psychedelic carpets in our homes or apartments. Although this song leans toward the pop side of psychedelia, we'd also listen to The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Beatles, Cream, Buffalo Springfield, and other bands.
Hippy was(is) mid 60's to late70's when disco made a brief apperance. Still wanna go disco duck hunting. Where ever you find 60' s or 70' s music you will find hippys listening today.
Both incense and peppermints were used to cover certain odors you might not want to linger on or near you. Legend is that pine needles have also been used as a disguise. Great song, totally indicative of the time. Thanks again y'all.
For Brad & Lex - A Brief History of the Hippie Movement: The roots of the Hippie Movement are found in the Beat Generation of the 1950s and early '60s. The Beats (a.k.a Beatniks) were a literary and artistic movement centered around Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and other poets, authors, and artists of the 1950s. Stereotypically, the Beats listened to Jazz, hung out in coffee houses, and smoked weed. Often Beats were referred to as "Hipsters" - a word that didn't have the negative connotations it has today. In 1962, following the release of his best-selling novel, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," Beat writer Ken Kesey set out driving back and forth across the country - coast to coast - in a psychedelically painted school bus with a group of friends he called the "Merry Pranksters" with a large jar of liquid LSD Kesey had swiped from the medicine closet at a VA hospital. Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters used their cross country trip as a way of introducing people to LSD (which was legal at the time). Eventually, more and more young people (college kids) started to turn on to LSD and dropped out by running away from home to neighborhoods where Beatniks lived, like San Fransisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. While the Beatnik hipsters enjoyed Jazz and coffee houses; the newcomers, who were invading Beatnik neighborhoods, enjoyed Rock 'n' Roll and enjoyed hanging out in parks. So the Beatnik hipsters came up with the term "Hippies" to describe the new residents of their neighborhoods. The term "Hippie" meant "junior grade hipsters." The Hippie Movement hit its peak in 1967. History remembers 1967 as the "Summer of Love." It was a period of weird clothing, Flower Power, psychedelic drugs, and the Hippie trail. At the center of the whole thing were the Beatles with their 8th album, "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." But, in the Summer of Love, California (especially San Fransico) was the place to be. By 1968, street crime and harassment by the police eventually drove the Hippies out of the cities and into the country. By 1969 many Hippies had moved to the country where they formed communes.
Right on Man! I didn't see your comment before I opened my big mouth!! I was more Beatle-centric in my comment, because it was a world scene. The Beatles affected the whole world. Thank you, because I didn't know much about "the Merry Pranksters". precursor to Magical Mystery? or The Who's: The Magic Bus? It is interesting how California effected "the scene". Do you remember the newspaper headlines about George Harrison visiting the Haight? His reaction? He visited LA too. And wrote: Blue Jay Way. Again, Thanks for your educated reply!
@@coeburnett Thanks. Yeah - I remember George Harrison in his heart-shaped sunglasses strumming a guitar and singing "Baby You're A Rich Man" leading a crowd of Flower Children like he was the Pied Piper. It was that trip to Haight-Ashbury that led George away from LSD.
"If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair" How innocent it all seemed back then. Now look at it. Sad ( to put it mildly)
Thanks for schooling us on the Bus origins! I was born around that time so I remember television Partridge Family bus and the Scooby-Doo bus!! And stories of Timothy Leary and Dr Seuss and of course The Grateful Dead.
Though the real "summer of love" in SF was the year before -- and word of it spread like a virus through youth culture. The massive influx of young people hit SF the NEXT year, 1967.
Per Songfacts This song has a rather convoluted history that Mark S. Weitz, who was the original keyboard player of the Strawberry Alarm Clock, helped us sort out. The writing credits on the song are listed as John Carter and Tim Gilbert, who were not part of the band, and the lead vocalist on this track was also not a member of the group. It was Greg Munford, a 16-year-old singer with a group called The Shapes, who sang lead. He was brought in to sing harmonies on this song, but ended up doing the lead vocals. He was not even a regular band member, but ended up singing a tune that would rocket to #1 in the United States and sell over a million copies. Despite this success, Munford never actually joined the group.
Wikipedia also has Greg Munford as the lead on that song. I wanted to make sure who it was because right off the top his voice reminded me of Steven Page of BNL. Anyone else get that vibe?
@@thepunadude Wasn't just that, a lot of sounds in the songs were added in the studio plus it took too long to set up some of these groups just for one or two songs on a TV show and trying to sing them live...so most of them were lip synced.
The guitar player on the left wearing the gold outfit is none other than Ed King who later played with Lynyrd Skynyrd and was the main songwriter of Sweet Home Alabama.
Best I remember, this song came out in 1967. It had early hints of psychedelic music to come! Then came the real thing: Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" in late '68, followed by The Bubble Puppy's "Hot Smoke and Sassafras" in early '69. Both would be increditable songs to react to!!
Hippie era was like late 1966 to 1973, when it kind of died a slow death, as disco creeped in amid high profile metal [then known as "hard rock" and such], shock and pop bands, and the solo singers who write their own songs, and duos. and some country crossover into pop. While soft rock like Carpenters and Bread had a wing-ding at it too hahahaha. Olivia Newton John? She was the real deal, you couldn't nail her down, she was variety, and we'll miss her so much.
From 1967, I think. Hippies, Flower children, Drug culture was in full swing, Psychelic music was the thing, from The Rolling Stones to The Beatles, and even The Beach Boys. The song is sing about the craziness of the era,
The 'Hippie Era' was '65 to '75 the disco fad happened during that time but is unrelated. Gotta remember that even Heavy Metal was starting out in the late 60's with bands like Deep purple and Black Sabbath. Musically there has never been such an era for music, even the 80's and the experimentation going on during that period...
I hadn't heard this song in decades! It brings back some great memories. At least the ones I remember! lol Great reaction guys! Mid 60s to early 70s were 'hippy' era, I think.
Although the video shows the drummer singing the lead vocal, the recording was actually someone who wasn't part of the band. Apparently everyone in the band gave it a shot but nobody was happy with any of the takes. So they drafted a visitor to the studio, a 16 year old kid who was a friend of someone in the band, to give it a try. They decided he sounded the best and that's the record. The kid went on to obscurity because I don't think he even got credited on the album.
Saw this band live at my high school in Gardena, California. Their hit was number 1 in the nation--but we had signed them before the song hit the charts. They played this song two times. Unforgettable.
Ed King and Steve Bartek also in this group only 16. SAC, Love, Seeds, Electric Prunes and many other bands we're hot, but for a very short life span about 2 years, then puff, it all ended.
I remember in the 60s a local psychedelic band performing this at my college. Another favourite psychedelic song of mine is Curved Air and Back Street Luv.
This is what we kinda call bubble gum music, like the Archies, Partridge Family, Turtles, Box Tops, 1910 Fruitgum Company, Monkees, Tommy James, etc. But we loved em all!
I loved it when I was younger teen! And you are correct! I think "In the Gada Da Vida" put the last coffin nail in this LA music business, financial venture.
No need to look up its date because this song could only have come out in the Summer of '67, also called the Summer of Love. They did have a few other smaller hits that are largely forgotten, but since I am a Baltimorean, I remember "Barefoot in Baltimore".
Hippie, mid 60's to mid 70's I'd say. Being from Vermont, it was different from California, and might have lasted longer, with many people remaining in a similar lifestyle. For instance, when I was in high school (68 - 72) I lived on a farm. We had commune communities on 2 sides of us. My father really enjoyed them. They farmed and lived more like he did growing up in the 20's and 30's. Sometimes walking down the street in Burlington, Montpelier, Woodstock, people still look like the 70's. I'm very comfortable with that.
Yup, this is definitely Hippie music (from the late 60''s). And the line "Turn on, tune in, turn your eyes around" is a reference to Dr. Timothy Leary, an Influencer of the time who had a had a whole spiel about "Turn On, Tune In, & Drop Out". Turn On (take drugs so you can expand your mind in order to fully understand what is going on), Tune In (pay attention to what is happening, and the inherent subtext), and Drop Out (as in drop out of college, since they are merely indoctrination centers meant to stifle the free mind). Totally on board with the first two but it seems like having at least a few highly educated folks around is a good idea, in case of emergency. 😉
See Ed King. U know Sweet Home Alabama. Great Lynyrd Skynyrd and all around Great Musician! But a little pudgy in a nehru jacket. Hippies, gotta love em
Ed King! (RIP 2018) THE King! The barefoot-in-gold dude playin the SG... later wrote Sweet Home Alabama, not just the opening rift either. He talks about it in a YT vid (Marty Music). According to him, he barely knew his way around a Guitar at this point.
This song is so haunting, when Incense & Peppermints was released in 1967, my neighbor who’d just graduated from high school, was drafted to serve in Vietnam. The family moved and I never learned his fate. The ending of this song is what what’s really haunting.
I was sitting here laughing my ass off about "just sitting around and 'connecting' "... and I realized we Americans do far too little of actually connecting outside of social media. In retrospect sitting around & connecting is a damned good thing!
There were 2 streams to the dawn of PSYCHEDELIA . These guys were closer to the MONKEES version , or SONNY AND CHER . Some talent , some sincerity , but a little bit commercial . The deeper stream didnt get much radio play , featured longer songs , and railed against the Vietnam war . These guys get extra points for saying something about TURN ON TUNE IN which was a slogan that changed the whole culture in a heartbeat .
Beatles came to america talking back to the reporters, inspiring a counter-culture influenced with marijuana and other substances, allowing the opening of the mind/thoughts. Great times
I WAS TRANSPORTED TO THE TIME OF MY TIME AS A STUDENT, HIPPY MUSIC AND MY BELOVED STRAWBERRY AND THE UNFORGETTABLE "INCENSE AND MINT" MUSIC COMPANION TO DANCE AND TO STUDY, TO REMEMBER IS TO LIVE, GREETINGS FROM MEXICO CITY.
The guitar player in the head to toe gold lamé suit is none other than Ed King of early Lynyrd Skynyrd fame. Wrote some of their big songs, missed the plane crash, and came back in the later years. RIP Ed.
YES! Strawberry Alarm Clock is amazing! "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow", 'Barefoot in Baltimore", 'The Birdman of Alcatrash". There were totally far out, as they used to say
BTW, Strawberry Alarm Clock's lead guitarist is Ed King, who later joined Lynyrd Skynyrd as on of their guitarists. He also wrote Skynyrd's hit, "Sweet Home Alabama".
From my era . I've herd the song many times in my life but never seen the band or video.until NOW. Other than seeing these bands on The Ed Sullivan show , we pretty much only herd the songs on our AM radios. Only in the last few years have i seen many of them on video . COOL.
If it wasn't for the Ed Sullivan Show and their archiving kinescopes and videotapes there are a ton of artists for which we would have no visual content. Especially true for Broadway shows which often staged scenes on Sullivan and are the only visual representations of them. Kudos to Bob (producer) and Betty (Ed's daughter) Precht and later Andrew Solt who purchased the kinescope and tape library from them. That library was 1087 hours of footage with about 10,000 lives performances.
Some hit songs are VERY much of their time and this is one such. As Randy has said below the creation of this one was a pretty odd sequence of events - I read that John Carter wrote the lyrics using a rhyming dictionary while working in as many hippee sentiments as possible. It does sound about as 1966-1967 as it is possible to be! It's still an intriguing song though and if you listen to it 2-3 times in a row, bet you won't ever forget it.
Saw this band and Buffalo Springfield open for the Beachboys in a late 60's concert. Didn't even get to see the Beachboys - my bff's and I were too busy trying to meet Stephen Stills and Neil Young! It was worth not seeing the Beachboys cause we did get to meet them!
You guys are lovable! Brad is so sincere trying to "understand." Brad needs more LSD, just relax, meanings are multi-layered, sometimes silly. Lex is a natural high, "reality" is a VR game. choose your level. Hang loose. I was there then. This is sort of embarrassing with the attempt of trippy lyrics and glitter clothing; but we saw the movie projection of "reality" but were not yet mature enough to be old sages. How to convey this revelation? We knew the Game was NOT the materialistic dumbed down model sold to us in religion school and science. Incense was de rigueur to hide the pot smell, so was peppermint breath mints ! Acid had no smell, heh heh.
You should check out Scott Mckenzie's ode to the 1967 summer of love called San Francisco. The touching vibe from this song takes you right back in time to meet the 'flower people'.
Hippies probably run from 1967 to 72. I was the next generation. We were "freaks"...less philsosphy more partying. The revolution was limited. Similar though. Disco and preppies in the Late 70s.
I'm from that era. -- I'm black but this jam right here was the truth !!! Me and my siblings connected. Baddass groove, instrumentation, vocals - smooth beautiful pitch harmony. It didn't matter to us it was of the psychedelic hippie genre. This mf was Bad !!!
'Hippy era'? It's not a strict term, but from '65 to '69 were the prime years for all sorts of social trends that, together, could be grouped as The Counterculture. 'Hippy' tends to mean someone who opted out of the 'Ratrace', who doesn't have a 9 to 5, who dresses & grooms the way they feel (usally to piss off their parents' generation), who's open to new experiences including drugs and free love, and who might appreciate natural foods and communal living. But those were also the peak years of the Psychedelic Mods - who were defined by both their flashy Sgt Pepper-type clothes, and a particular _class_ of drugs, which included acid and mushrooms. They were also the peak years of political protest: Anti-war, civil rights etc. Hippies were just one of several social trend of the '60s. 'Course, not every young person was into everything that was going on. Lots of folks still had good jobs, higher education, and some youth even supported the war and voted for Nixon! (
Hippie was the 60's, but the whole hippie hit mainstream culture in the 70's. I remember all of the crazy looking clothes I had in the first part of the 70's.
Ed King one of the guitar players here went on to join Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Incense to cover the smell of pot and peppermints to combat the cotton mouth.
the times were a=changing for sure.
Hippies Summer of Love was 1967 born in the Bay area Cal
And spread across the country into the 70's. By Mid 70's Disco
Was gaining popularity and by 80's money and Reagan era was kicking in.
I LOVED this song when it came out, I was a student at Kent State University and just turned 20 years old. I MISS those days and the fashions when boys and young men wore colorful clothes and long hair. I wish it would come back again.
The 60's was filled with amazing and different kinds of music. I grew up in that era. Fantastic music!
hippies were like mid 60s to early 70s. my jr. high and high school years-such great music!
Yep. About 65 to 71.
Another song featured perfectly in the Austin powers movie.
It really was, like this for a short time.
I well remember the girls in go go boots, and bright Minnie skirts.
By the time I was old enough to get involved, it was all over.
Resulting into my obcession with all things from this period.
Ed king one of the guitarist later became a player for Lynyrd Skynyrd, he came up with the opening riff to Sweet Home Alabama and a few others he is credited for. I was a bit of a hippy until the early to mid 70s 😁.
Beat me to it. LOL
Great dirty nasty fuzzbox tone.
@@firedoc5 lol he probably beat a lot of people to the Skynyrd mention/info.
He always felt like an outsider during his time with skynrd . Strawberry Alarm Clock was from the west coast , and Skynrd was east coast.
@@toddbaker1574 I recall seeing a documentary on Skynyrd where Ed King talks about being an outsider in the band.
This song was a huge hit in 1968. Woodstock was 1969. Few songs captured the vibe of the psychedelic '60s like Incense and Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clock. They had one follow-up hit that was also pretty good called "Tomorrow." But that was pretty much it from them.
This song was the psychedelic 60's sound ! Heavy keyboards in that era!!
Brad and Lexi, Thanks for your honest way of reacting!
Summer of 67, was the "Summer of Love", which took place in the Haight Ashbury district of San Fransisco. Original Hippies were called "Flower Children".
This "Vibe" was a combination of the already existing Beatnik and Biker communities, that had been involved with hard drug use besides alcohol, for quite a while already....
AND the Beatles new music direction, through LSD use, introduced the "Sgt. Peppers", psychedelic music, lyrics, style of dress and opulent lifestyle,
that was adopted by all Rock groups who wanted to grow in popularity.
Even though I loved this song as a teen, "The Strawberry Alarm Clock" was an attempt to cash in on this new "VIBE" as Lex says.
The length of their hair shows that this was early in the Hippy movement.
Also, all earlier rock group names were proceeded by the word "The"
Later on, not always true; i.e. The Black Sabbath"? The Led Zepplin? The Pink Floyd? The Van Halen? LOL!
For years after 1967, students, people with jobs, Hollywood entertainers, and practically anybody in the music business had devoted their lives to looking and acting like a Hippy.
Just watch movies of that era. Or better yet old TV commercials.
As the years passed, hairstyles grew longer and longer because no one would cut their hair, as this would be, not hip!
The music actually got better and better, because the real talent rose to the top.
Most "hippy" bands evolved into Hard, Prog Rock, Metal, Jam, Blues, Glitter/ Glam, etc.
And "One Hit Wonder" bands like "The Strawberry Fields Forever Alarm Clock" (tongue in cheek), faded into history.
There were a couple of radio stations in the L.A. area in the late 60s that played a lot of psychedelic music. I was in my early 20s. When friends got together, we'd all sit on the floor, and a few of us had intricately patterned psychedelic carpets in our homes or apartments. Although this song leans toward the pop side of psychedelia, we'd also listen to The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Beatles, Cream, Buffalo Springfield, and other bands.
93 KHJ - Boss Radio with the Real Don Steele
KMET
KLOS
I lived over the mountains from Los Angeles over the San Gabriel’s in Palmdale California
@@toastnjam7384 I was going to mention BOSS Radio and The Real Don Steel.
Hippy was(is) mid 60's to late70's when disco made a brief apperance. Still wanna go disco duck hunting. Where ever you find 60' s or 70' s music you will find hippys listening today.
Both incense and peppermints were used to cover certain odors you might not want to linger on or near you. Legend is that pine needles have also been used as a disguise.
Great song, totally indicative of the time. Thanks again y'all.
lol incense and peppermints were standard equipment in covering weed smell. you got that right . memories come flooding back.
@@richardcollette9884 Made for some damn good music, and art, and etc...
musk, desert sandal, Nag Champa was the big one you always smelled ...
@@deandee8082 Then came the Patchouli, Amber, Cedar, Frankincense, Aloeswood, Spikenard, and Product 19. No wait, that was cereal. Somehow.
Still used today, especially pine scent in the bathrooms. It makes it smell like someone shit a Christmas tree.
For Brad & Lex - A Brief History of the Hippie Movement: The roots of the Hippie Movement are found in the Beat Generation of the 1950s and early '60s. The Beats (a.k.a Beatniks) were a literary and artistic movement centered around Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and other poets, authors, and artists of the 1950s. Stereotypically, the Beats listened to Jazz, hung out in coffee houses, and smoked weed. Often Beats were referred to as "Hipsters" - a word that didn't have the negative connotations it has today. In 1962, following the release of his best-selling novel, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," Beat writer Ken Kesey set out driving back and forth across the country - coast to coast - in a psychedelically painted school bus with a group of friends he called the "Merry Pranksters" with a large jar of liquid LSD Kesey had swiped from the medicine closet at a VA hospital. Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters used their cross country trip as a way of introducing people to LSD (which was legal at the time). Eventually, more and more young people (college kids) started to turn on to LSD and dropped out by running away from home to neighborhoods where Beatniks lived, like San Fransisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. While the Beatnik hipsters enjoyed Jazz and coffee houses; the newcomers, who were invading Beatnik neighborhoods, enjoyed Rock 'n' Roll and enjoyed hanging out in parks. So the Beatnik hipsters came up with the term "Hippies" to describe the new residents of their neighborhoods. The term "Hippie" meant "junior grade hipsters."
The Hippie Movement hit its peak in 1967. History remembers 1967 as the "Summer of Love." It was a period of weird clothing, Flower Power, psychedelic drugs, and the Hippie trail. At the center of the whole thing were the Beatles with their 8th album, "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." But, in the Summer of Love, California (especially San Fransico) was the place to be. By 1968, street crime and harassment by the police eventually drove the Hippies out of the cities and into the country. By 1969 many Hippies had moved to the country where they formed communes.
Right on Man!
I didn't see your comment before I opened my big mouth!!
I was more Beatle-centric in my comment, because it was a world scene. The Beatles affected the whole world.
Thank you, because I didn't know much about "the Merry Pranksters". precursor to Magical Mystery? or The Who's: The Magic Bus?
It is interesting how California effected "the scene".
Do you remember the newspaper headlines about George Harrison visiting the Haight? His reaction?
He visited LA too. And wrote: Blue Jay Way.
Again, Thanks for your educated reply!
@@coeburnett Thanks. Yeah - I remember George Harrison in his heart-shaped sunglasses strumming a guitar and singing "Baby You're A Rich Man" leading a crowd of Flower Children like he was the Pied Piper. It was that trip to Haight-Ashbury that led George away from LSD.
"If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair" How innocent it all seemed back then. Now look at it. Sad ( to put it mildly)
Thanks for schooling us on the Bus origins! I was born around that time so I remember television Partridge Family bus and the Scooby-Doo bus!! And stories of Timothy Leary and Dr Seuss and of course The Grateful Dead.
Though the real "summer of love" in SF was the year before -- and word of it spread like a virus through youth culture. The massive influx of young people hit SF the NEXT year, 1967.
The bassist for this song was the lead guitarist for Oingo Boingo.
Per Songfacts This song has a rather convoluted history that Mark S. Weitz, who was the original keyboard player of the Strawberry Alarm Clock, helped us sort out. The writing credits on the song are listed as John Carter and Tim Gilbert, who were not part of the band, and the lead vocalist on this track was also not a member of the group.
It was Greg Munford, a 16-year-old singer with a group called The Shapes, who sang lead. He was brought in to sing harmonies on this song, but ended up doing the lead vocals. He was not even a regular band member, but ended up singing a tune that would rocket to #1 in the United States and sell over a million copies. Despite this success, Munford never actually joined the group.
GEE WHIZ SOUNDS LIKE MOST OF THE 60S MUSIC ...NO ONE IN THE BAND MADE .. WHY THERE WERENT LIVE SHOWS
@@thepunadude hippie exploitation records.
Wikipedia also has Greg Munford as the lead on that song. I wanted to make sure who it was because right off the top his voice reminded me of Steven Page of BNL. Anyone else get that vibe?
@@thepunadude Wasn't just that, a lot of sounds in the songs were added in the studio plus it took too long to set up some of these groups just for one or two songs on a TV show and trying to sing them live...so most of them were lip synced.
And,....Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd fame was the teenage guitarist in the band!
The guitar player on the left wearing the gold outfit is none other than Ed King who later played with Lynyrd Skynyrd and was the main songwriter of Sweet Home Alabama.
Psychedelic rock at its finest.
Best I remember, this song came out in 1967. It had early hints of psychedelic music to come! Then came the real thing: Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" in late '68, followed by The Bubble Puppy's "Hot Smoke and Sassafras" in early '69. Both would be increditable songs to react to!!
Incense to cover up the smell in your room, peppermints to cover up the smell on your breath!
Close you eyes and image Goldie Hawn go-go dancing on a platform; that’s the happy feel good era and mood.
The 60's had the hippies. The 70's had the freaks.
Great song that epitomized 60's Psychedelia 🤪
Hippie era was like late 1966 to 1973, when it kind of died a slow death, as disco creeped in amid high profile metal [then known as "hard rock" and such], shock and pop bands, and the solo singers who write their own songs, and duos. and some country crossover into pop. While soft rock like Carpenters and Bread had a wing-ding at it too hahahaha. Olivia Newton John? She was the real deal, you couldn't nail her down, she was variety, and we'll miss her so much.
First heard this song when I was 13 and still love it at 68.
From 1967, I think. Hippies, Flower children, Drug culture was in full swing, Psychelic music was the thing, from The Rolling Stones to The Beatles, and even The Beach Boys. The song is sing about the craziness of the era,
The 'Hippie Era' was '65 to '75 the disco fad happened during that time but is unrelated. Gotta remember that even Heavy Metal was starting out in the late 60's with bands like Deep purple and Black Sabbath. Musically there has never been such an era for music, even the 80's and the experimentation going on during that period...
Song revolves around smoking Pot. Incense to drown out the smell, and peppermints to hide it from being on your breath. Totally pro Pot.
Hippie era was actually short. Empowered by Vietnam war it manifests itself most in mid to late 60’s and by early 70’s it was virtually over.
I hadn't heard this song in decades! It brings back some great memories. At least the ones I remember! lol Great reaction guys! Mid 60s to early 70s were 'hippy' era, I think.
I always figured the incense was to cover up the weed smell, and the peppermint was so the cops couldn't smell the alcohol on your breath haha
Although the video shows the drummer singing the lead vocal, the recording was actually someone who wasn't part of the band. Apparently everyone in the band gave it a shot but nobody was happy with any of the takes. So they drafted a visitor to the studio, a 16 year old kid who was a friend of someone in the band, to give it a try. They decided he sounded the best and that's the record. The kid went on to obscurity because I don't think he even got credited on the album.
When I think of the 60s, this song comes to mind.
Saw this band live at my high school in Gardena, California. Their hit was number 1 in the nation--but we had signed them before the song hit the charts. They played this song two times. Unforgettable.
DUDE! I envy you, I was in S Louisiana at that time & getting them to come here would have been harder than pulling turtles teeth
@@phiddlephart7026 And they were a wonderful live band. They played that hit very, very well.
It looks like you hit a HUGE demographic! Seniors on RUclips on a Saturday! One suggestion; Does the word CAPITOLIZE sound interesting? LOL!
Ed King and Steve Bartek also in this group only 16.
SAC, Love, Seeds, Electric Prunes and many other bands we're hot, but for a very short life span about 2 years, then puff, it all ended.
Guy playing red electric guitar is Ed King he also played in the greatest band on the planet Lynyrd Skynyrd!!!!!
Cowbell! I was there and this was one of those innocent kind of silly songs. Part of the times.
This is a really great Psychedelic trip song.
One of my favorite songs of the 60’s 🥰
Very fine track
I remember in the 60s a local psychedelic band performing this at my college. Another favourite psychedelic song of mine is Curved Air and Back Street Luv.
Notice the lead guitarist in the video, Ed King. Ed helped pen this song at a very young age, and he went on later to play guitar in Lynyrd Skynyrd.
This is what we kinda call bubble gum music, like the Archies, Partridge Family, Turtles, Box Tops, 1910 Fruitgum Company, Monkees, Tommy James, etc. But we loved em all!
I loved it when I was younger teen! And you are correct! I think "In the Gada Da Vida" put the last coffin nail in this LA music business, financial venture.
No need to look up its date because this song could only have come out in the Summer of '67, also called the Summer of Love. They did have a few other smaller hits that are largely forgotten, but since I am a Baltimorean, I remember "Barefoot in Baltimore".
Hippie, mid 60's to mid 70's I'd say. Being from Vermont, it was different from California, and might have lasted longer, with many people remaining in a similar lifestyle. For instance, when I was in high school (68 - 72) I lived on a farm. We had commune communities on 2 sides of us. My father really enjoyed them. They farmed and lived more like he did growing up in the 20's and 30's.
Sometimes walking down the street in Burlington, Montpelier, Woodstock, people still look like the 70's. I'm very comfortable with that.
Ah the 60's and the grovey music of that era. This was one of my favorites for that time.
Yup, this is definitely Hippie music (from the late 60''s). And the line "Turn on, tune in, turn your eyes around" is a reference to Dr. Timothy Leary, an Influencer of the time who had a had a whole spiel about "Turn On, Tune In, & Drop Out".
Turn On (take drugs so you can expand your mind in order to fully understand what is going on), Tune In (pay attention to what is happening, and the inherent subtext), and Drop Out (as in drop out of college, since they are merely indoctrination centers meant to stifle the free mind). Totally on board with the first two but it seems like having at least a few highly educated folks around is a good idea, in case of emergency. 😉
See Ed King. U know Sweet Home Alabama. Great Lynyrd Skynyrd and all around Great Musician! But a little pudgy in a nehru jacket. Hippies, gotta love em
Ed King! (RIP 2018) THE King! The barefoot-in-gold dude playin the SG... later wrote Sweet Home Alabama, not just the opening rift either. He talks about it in a YT vid (Marty Music). According to him, he barely knew his way around a Guitar at this point.
This song is so haunting, when Incense & Peppermints was released in 1967, my neighbor who’d just graduated from high school, was drafted to serve in Vietnam. The family moved and I never learned his fate. The ending of this song is what what’s really haunting.
Complementary song to this is "Hot Smoke And Sassafras" by the band Bubble Puppy.
Hippies were mid-60s *through* most of the 70s, at least where I lived.
Aloha guys, gosh I'm 10 years old again...i was too young to be a hippie. But i miss them. Mahalo for this one
Aloha from KiheI, Brah!
I was 15 when this song hit the radio and that was a great time to be living.
Classic, classic psychedelic hippy song!
The begging of the 'Hippy years' was very different then the end of the 'Hippy years'.
I had this 45- very hip when this came out - great sound
The late great Ed King WAS the lead guitarist which later joined Lynyrd Skynyrd. RIP Ed you will be missed but not forgotten
It was like from 65 to 75 with the hippie era. Beatniks were early 60'a
I was sitting here laughing my ass off about "just sitting around and 'connecting' "... and I realized we Americans do far too little of actually connecting outside of social media. In retrospect sitting around & connecting is a damned good thing!
There were 2 streams to the dawn of PSYCHEDELIA . These guys were closer to the MONKEES version , or SONNY AND CHER . Some talent , some sincerity , but a little bit commercial . The deeper stream didnt get much radio play , featured longer songs , and railed against the Vietnam war . These guys get extra points for saying something about TURN ON TUNE IN which was a slogan that changed the whole culture in a heartbeat .
Yeah kind of cheesy,pseudo hippy . Very dated sounding
This song really sounds like it'd play in a movie right after an army sergeant says "Pack your bags boys, we're headed to 'Nam!"
Beatles came to america talking back to the reporters, inspiring a counter-culture influenced with marijuana and other substances, allowing the opening of the mind/thoughts. Great times
Needs more cowbell LOL
Psychedelic garage rock!
This song was part of the psychedelic music era of the 60's.
Fun Fact: One of the guitarists is Ed King, who later went on to play with Lynyrd Skynyrd.
This was released the in the year and month I was born in May of 1967 so this makes this song 55 years old.
The label "Hippy", became negative around 1969-1970. Long hairs preferred the term "Freaks".
Yes, it was and still is, Hippie music. LOL
Another far out & groovy song with the title Incense in it -
Smell of Incense - The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band ✌️🤟🎸
From the same era - Vanilla Fudge, Spiral Staircase, Tommy James and the Shondells, The Lovin' Spoonful, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds
I WAS TRANSPORTED TO THE TIME OF MY TIME AS A STUDENT, HIPPY MUSIC AND MY BELOVED STRAWBERRY AND THE UNFORGETTABLE "INCENSE AND MINT" MUSIC COMPANION TO DANCE AND TO STUDY, TO REMEMBER IS TO LIVE, GREETINGS FROM MEXICO CITY.
The guitar player in the head to toe gold lamé suit is none other than Ed King of early Lynyrd Skynyrd fame. Wrote some of their big songs, missed the plane crash, and came back in the later years. RIP Ed.
YES! Strawberry Alarm Clock is amazing! "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow", 'Barefoot in Baltimore", 'The Birdman of Alcatrash". There were totally far out, as they used to say
BTW, Strawberry Alarm Clock's lead guitarist is Ed King, who later joined Lynyrd Skynyrd as on of their guitarists. He also wrote Skynyrd's hit, "Sweet Home Alabama".
Oh my. I too was young once.
3 minute summary of '60's culture. I could see Lex dragging Brad (against his will) to a love-in.
From my era . I've herd the song many times in my life but never seen the band or video.until NOW. Other than seeing these bands on The Ed Sullivan show , we pretty much only herd the songs on our AM radios. Only in the last few years have i seen many of them on video . COOL.
If it wasn't for the Ed Sullivan Show and their archiving kinescopes and videotapes there are a ton of artists for which we would have no visual content. Especially true for Broadway shows which often staged scenes on Sullivan and are the only visual representations of them. Kudos to Bob (producer) and Betty (Ed's daughter) Precht and later Andrew Solt who purchased the kinescope and tape library from them. That library was 1087 hours of footage with about 10,000 lives performances.
Some hit songs are VERY much of their time and this is one such. As Randy has said below the creation of this one was a pretty odd sequence of events - I read that John Carter wrote the lyrics using a rhyming dictionary while working in as many hippee sentiments as possible. It does sound about as 1966-1967 as it is possible to be! It's still an intriguing song though and if you listen to it 2-3 times in a row, bet you won't ever forget it.
Saw this band and Buffalo Springfield open for the Beachboys in a late 60's concert. Didn't even get to see the Beachboys - my bff's and I were too busy trying to meet Stephen Stills and Neil Young! It was worth not seeing the Beachboys cause we did get to meet them!
50s into 60s were beatniks. 60s into 70s were hippies.
This song is part of a really strange film called PSYCH-OUT, and you see them performing in it.
I'm still into psychedelic music, and psycho-jazz
You guys are lovable! Brad is so sincere trying to "understand." Brad needs more LSD, just relax, meanings are multi-layered, sometimes silly. Lex is a natural high, "reality" is a VR game. choose your level. Hang loose.
I was there then. This is sort of embarrassing with the attempt of trippy lyrics and glitter clothing; but we saw the movie projection of "reality" but were not yet mature enough to be old sages. How to convey this revelation? We knew the Game was NOT the materialistic dumbed down model sold to us in religion school and science.
Incense was de rigueur to hide the pot smell, so was peppermint breath mints ! Acid had no smell, heh heh.
You should check out Scott Mckenzie's ode to the 1967 summer of love called San Francisco. The touching vibe from this song takes you right back in time to meet the 'flower people'.
you need to hear the Brothers Johnson song Strawberry Letter 22.
i can't listen to one without the other.
classic 60s one hit wonder. great psychedelic song.
Had to love those Nehru jackets, very colorful. 😂 This song came out in 1967.
Hippies probably run from 1967 to 72. I was the next generation. We were "freaks"...less philsosphy more partying. The revolution was limited. Similar though. Disco and preppies in the Late 70s.
It doesn't get any more 1960s psychedelica than this.
The Lemon Pipers would like to have a word with you.
Incense and Peppermints captioned underneath my yearbook picture 1968!
the video shows a vox continental electric organ but there's no doubt it's a farfisa, you can tell by the sound.
A real blast from the past!
First time I heard this song was on Hilarious House of Frightenstein. Wolfman and Igor were groovy.
I'm from that era. -- I'm black but this jam right here was the truth !!! Me and my siblings connected. Baddass groove, instrumentation, vocals - smooth beautiful pitch harmony. It didn't matter to us it was of the psychedelic hippie genre. This mf was Bad !!!
'Hippy era'? It's not a strict term, but from '65 to '69 were the prime years for all sorts of social trends that, together, could be grouped as The Counterculture. 'Hippy' tends to mean someone who opted out of the 'Ratrace', who doesn't have a 9 to 5, who dresses & grooms the way they feel (usally to piss off their parents' generation), who's open to new experiences including drugs and free love, and who might appreciate natural foods and communal living. But those were also the peak years of the Psychedelic Mods - who were defined by both their flashy Sgt Pepper-type clothes, and a particular _class_ of drugs, which included acid and mushrooms. They were also the peak years of political protest: Anti-war, civil rights etc. Hippies were just one of several social trend of the '60s. 'Course, not every young person was into everything that was going on. Lots of folks still had good jobs, higher education, and some youth even supported the war and voted for Nixon! (
Drop out, turn on, and "I forget"! LOL!
What you do when smoking pot.Burn incense and have a couple of pepermint candy's 🍬 🤣 🤔 😂
Thanks for sharing. Brings back memories. You do a lot of songs I haven't heard in years (decades).
You need to hear Uncle Ted when he was nephew Ted with the Amboy Dukes !