Podcasts about floor elevators

THE REVEREND OF KARMIC YOUTH-1The Interpreter2Starry Eyes3For You4Bloody Hammer5The Wind And More6Night Of The Vampire7You're Gonna Miss Me8I Walked With A Zombie9Stand For The Fire Demon10 When You Get Delighted11 To Think12 Warning13 True Love Cast Out All Evil14 Loving Isn't A Part Time Thing15 The Looking Glass SongAs lead singer of Texas' infamous 13th Floor Elevators — one of rock's earliest, strangest and greatest psychedelic bands — Roky Erickson explored the far reaches of musical and personal extremes. The Elevators' first two albums (Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators and Easter Everywhere, released, respectively, in 1966 and '67) are essential classics whose far-reaching influence transcends genre boundaries. Following a nightmarish '70s mental-hospital stint that reportedly had a devastating long-term effect on his mental health, Erickson's subsequent work revealed a singularly brilliant songwriter and performer whose talent was no less impressive for the fact that he was singing about zombies, vampires and aliens. Indeed, the demons that abound in Roky's songs are all-too-real reflections of his own troubled psyche, and the combination of the artist's oddly poetic lyrical constructions and his bracing banshee wail makes it clear, as it wasn't always, that he's not kidding.The Elevators fell apart in the late '60s, when Erickson began a three-year stretch in a state mental institution to avoid criminal prosecution on a drug charge. He didn't return to recording until the second half of the '70s, with a string of one-off singles and the four-song Sponge-label EP (reissued in 1988 as Two Headed Dog). Three of the EP's numbers were re-recorded for the 1980 CBS UK LP (the title of which is actually five unpronounceable ideograms). Roky Erickson and the Aliens is an excellent manifestation of his post-Elevators persona, expressing dark dilemmas through creepy horror-movie imagery. Roky sings such offbeat gems as “I Walked with a Zombie” and “Creature With the Atom Brain” in a tremulous voice that insists he's telling the truth — or at least believes he is. Former Creedence Clearwater bassist Stu Cook turned in an excellent production job, bringing the hard electric guitars (and Bill Miller's electric autoharp) into a sharp focus that underscores Roky's excitable state. Erickson and band seem less unstable than the drug-crazed Elevators (best remembered for “You're Gonna Miss Me”), but just barely.

SIX versions of the ultimate classic garage tune "You're Gonna Miss Me" - the original by The Spades from 1965, the 66 ur-text by 13th Floor Elevators (wherein we provide some potential innovations in the field of electric jug playing), then a bunch of wild renditions by Tom Thumb, The Heard, The Five Kinetics, & The Zoo! 

Guests: Don Stevenson, drummer/songwriter of Moby Grape & Cam Cobb, author of Weighted Down: The Complicated Life of Skip Spence. He was one of the Holy Trinity of critically revered and maybe unjustly labeled “acid casualties” of late ‘60s/early ‘70s music. Along with Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett and the 13th Floor Elevators' Roky Erickson, Skip Spence was a star-crossed figure idolized for his all-too-brief contributions to shaping psychedelia through his work with Moby Grape and his one incredibly stark and endlessly intriguing solo album, Oar. His briefly burning creativity and agonizingly slow decline are profiled in a wonderfully comprehensive new book, Weighted Down: The Complicated Life of Skip Spence (Omnibus Press). Author Cam Cobb spoke with a multitude of Skip's family, friends, and bandmates to create the first authoritative chronicle of his artistic development and achievements and a sympathetic one of his long battle with mental illness, addiction, and homelessness. For this special edition of “Reading Is Funktamental,” we hear direct from one of the musicians who knew Spence best, Don Stevenson, the drummer and co-writer of many of Moby Grape's most popular songs, including “Hey Grandma,” “8:05” and “Murder in My Heart for the Judge.” My written review of the book can be found here at PopMatters, https://www.popmatters.com/moby-grape-skip-pence-biography "Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org. It can also be found as a podcast on Apple, Spotify and other platforms. Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

This week's show, after a 1966 Simon & Garfunkel scene: brand new Ex-Void, Real Estate, Healees, Downstrokes, Nada Surf, Cliff and Ivy, and Cliff & Ivy, plus George Harrison, Max Frost & the Troopers, 13th Floor Elevators, Royals, Byrds, Johnny Cash, a...

(S3-25) The 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators (International Artists Label) Released October 17, 1966, Recorded between January 3rd and October 11, 1966  Formed in Austin, Texas, in December 1965, the 13th Floor Elevators were pivotal in the psychedelic rock movement. Their debut album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators (1966), is noted as one of the first to describe its music as "psychedelic." Featuring the hit single "You're Gonna Miss Me," the album blended raw garage rock with folk blues and surreal elements. Roky Erickson's gritty vocals, Stacy Sutherland's reverb-drenched guitar, and Tommy Hall's electric jug playing created a distinctive sound that influenced many future musicians. Despite commercial challenges and internal struggles, the band's innovative approach significantly impacted the evolution of rock music, helping shift it from pop roots to a more artistic expression. You Tube (Full Album) https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL-NbN8uTOiiWCx_-GC5xB7BH2z5nTJ8m&si=zRBAvq614zAvu_d6 Spotify (Full Album) https://open.spotify.com/album/2afQ7u8n1CzNBAHjl6OQCG?si=fDrFC4cZT-6e26bbeHRzSA Curated Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7I6dzYc5UJfko8unziRMWf?si=ba8099bd98b548af

Singles Going Around- Summer (1967 Version)The Beatles- "I Am The Walrus"Captain Beefheart- "Sure "Nuff 'N Yes, I Do"The Small Faces- "Tin Soldier"Pink Floyd- "Astronomy Domine"Love- "Alone Again Or"The Electric Prunes- "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night"Bob Dylan- "All Along The Watchtower"Jimi Hendrix- "Manic Depression"The Beach Boys- "Heroes and Villains"The Amboy Dukes- "Baby Please Don't Go"The Rolling Stones- "2000 Light Years From Home"The Who- "Armenia City In The Sky"Buffalo Springfield- "Expecting To Fly"13th Floor Elevators- "Levitation"The Balloon Farm- "A Question Of Temperature"The Byrds- "So You Want To Be A Rock and Roll Star"The Doors- "Back Door Man"Cream- "Sunshine Of Your Love"The Monkees- "What Am I Doing Hanging Around"The Velvet Underground- "All Tomorrow's Parties"Vanilla Fudge- "You Keep Me Hanging On" (Quentin Tarantino Edit)

In 2010, Justin Maurer's band CLOROX GIRLS fell apart and he found himself living in his uncle's attic and working as a dental supply salesman in Long Beach, California. He was inspired after seeing James Carman's band IMAGES play a killer set at notorious longshoreman dive Harold's Place in San Pedro.  Harold's bartenders were known to deal trucker speed from behind the bar as well as brandish a sawed off shotgun if any of their patrons got out of line. Being the diviest of Pacific Avenue's drag of working class dive bars, they allowed locals to throw their own punk shows.  Justin made the pilgrimage across the Vincent Thomas Bridge to check out one of these shows and was blown away by IMAGES, a local band who took equal inspiration from late 70s LA punk as well as poppier UK punk like THE BUZZCOCKS.  The vocal harmonies were great and a particular lefty drummer who played his snare and floortom with his arms crossed - one James Carman - was singing lead vocals and backing vocals and harmonies in a way that caught Justin pleasantly off guard.  A few weeks later Justin bought a round of $1 beers for the IMAGES boys at Fern's, one of Long Beach's diviest on East 4th Street, but before taking their first sip they were chucked out by the doorman because every single member of IMAGES was all under 21.  Justin soon produced a music video for the boys (“Frustration”, directed by Vim Crony), and also asked James if he would be up for joining a new band.   Back in Long Beach, Justin and another new friend Cezar Mora, who had played in local bands THE SWITCHUPS and THE BAD MACHINE, were working on a project called LOS LONG BEACH BOYS, a Beach Boys cover band that sung in Spanish.  They hoped to rake in the big bucks at swap meets and lowrider car shows.  Translating and harmonizing an entire Beach Boys set in Spanish proved to be quite the challenge, and Justin and Cezar decided to write originals instead.   James invited his childhood friend Johnny Reyes to audition on bass at LA DRUGZ' first band practice at his parents' house in Carson.  The guys liked his yellow BUZZCOCKS t-shirt, his sense of humor and his mod hairstyle, so he was in.  They celebrated with homemade pancit and lumpia from James' mom. At practice, James mentioned that the best music was like a drug and the name LA DRUGS was pitched.  They looked it up and it seemed there was already a band called LA DRUGS from Boston. And they sucked. The boys decided to differentiate themselves by spelling it with a Z as an homage to THE PLUGZ.  LA DRUGZ began to gig around the South Bay, Orange County and Los Angeles playing spots like The Redwood, The Continental Room, Harold's, The Observatory, Alex's Bar and Vince Lombardi High School (VLHS). They recorded the OUTSIDE PLACE EP with Kid Kevin of CALIMUCHO  in San Pedro and approached Tim and Mark Janchar at HOVERCRAFT RECORDS in Portland, Oregon about releasing it.  The brothers dug it and said yes!  A westcoast tour was promptly arranged around the release of the record and would take the boys north to Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.  In Seattle, Kurt Bloch of THE FASTBACKS joined them onstage for a raucous cover of “You're Gonna Miss Me” by 13th Floor Elevators.  The following year of 2015 took the boys out on the road with London's FAT WHITE FAMILY where they kicked off at storied L.A. Venue The Troubadour,  and toured all the way out to  Austin, Texas.  After ripping it up at the final show of their tour at The Chapel in San Francisco, both bands' vans were broken into at the Travel Lodge Motel on Market Street and Valencia where over $20K of gear was stolen along with both bands' suitcases of clothing.  FAT WHITE FAMILY flew back to the UK all wearing LA DRUGZ t-shirts which was the only clean item of clothing each member now owned.  The ALL BURNED DOWN EP was the followup and all things were quiet on the western front UNTIL NOW.   James Carman formed THE REFLECTORS,

This week your hosts Hall of Fame Referee JHawk, Jgold and Charly Butters are joined by friend of the show Tess from WWWofNEO to talk about Escape rooms, Twitter Advice, Butters quitting his job, Toyhio and Summer Camp then they are joined by Handsome Max Zero and discuss Cute but Deadly Animals, Wrestling Gear Hot Takes, His Work Ethic, Renaissance fairs and training for the Highland games, DND and being normal dude but way way more good looking and so much more on this weeks The Indie Wrestling Guide.  (Intro)-"Degenerates"- A Day to Remember (Outro)-"You're Gonna Miss Me"- 13th Floor Elevators

Singles Going Around- Now I'm Home (A 13th Floor Elevators Mix)The Spades- "We Sell Soul"13th Floor Elevators- "You're Gonna Miss Me"13th Floor Elevators- "Reverberation (Doubt)"13th Floor Elevators- "Splash 1 (Now I'm Home)"13th Floor Elevators- "Tried To Hide"13th Floor Elevators- "Slip Inside This House"13th Floor Elevators- "I've Got Levitation"13th Floor Elevators- "I Had to Tell You"13th Floor Elevators- "Before You Accuse Me"13th Floor Elevators- "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love"13th Floor Elevators- "You Can't Hurt Me Anymore"13th Floor Elevators- "Never Another"13th Floor Elevators- "May The Circle Remain Unbroken"

Send us a Text Message.On this episode we discuss the debut LP of the seminal psychedelic rock band, the 13th Floor Elevators: 1966's The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. The 13th Floor Elevators were one of the the first well-known bands to come out of the Austin music scene in the 1960's, and one of the first band's nationwide to purposely embrace the term "psychedelic rock."  The band possessed a lead singer with a one of a kind voice (and screech) in Roky Erickson . The music was played with a fierce garage-rock intensity. But the thing that made them stand out was the use of the "electric jug," which imbued their songs a dark, uneasy,  and otherworldly drone.  The jug player was also the architect of the band's image and message, which relied heavily on the use of drugs as a means to "free your mind." Unfortunately the band embraced the message a little to fully, which resulted  in drug busts and helped facilitate the decline of Erickson's mental health.  But the music is something else.  Their hit single "You're Gonna Miss Me" is a undisputed classic.  and their music was innovative and influential well beyond there short time as a working band.  Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.

Singles Going Around- Back To The GarageSide ALos Shains- "El Tren Pasa Esta Noche"The Amboy Dukes- "Scottish Tea"Captain Beefheart- "China Pig"Jack White- "High Ball Stepper"Los Mustang- "Please Please Me"The Beatles- "I Feel Fine"The Mar- Keys- "Black"Dr John- "Stack-A- Lee"13th Floor Elevators- "Levitation"The Raconteurs- "Headin' For The Texas Border"The Yardbirds- "Got To Hurry"Side BLos Salvajes- "La Neurastenia"The Rolling Stones- "She Said Yeah"The Boogie Kings- "Philly Walk"Captain Beefheart- "Grow Fins"The Amboy Dukes- "Journey To The Center of The Mind"Los Apson- "Voy Por Ti"The 5.6.7.8's- "Great Balls Of Fire"The Meters- "Britches"The Uniques- "Double Shot Of My Baby's Love"Los Matematicos- "Me Atrapaste"

Singles Going Around- Saturday Comes In Colors The Beatles- "Drive My Car"Van Morrison- "Jackie Wilson Said"The Standells-"Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White"The Grateful Dead- "Cumberland Blues"The Monkees- "Let's Dance On"The Sex Pistols- "C'mon Everybody"Otis Redding- "Love Man"Plastic Ono Band- "Remember"Simon & Garfunkel- "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine"Lightnin' Slim- "Rooster Blues"The Yardirds- "Heart Full Of Soul"Nirvana- "Molly's Lips"Led Zeppelin- "Hey, Hey What Can I Do"Love- "Hey Joe"Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band- "Lick My Decals Off Baby"The White Stripes- "Lafayette Blues"The Doors- "Roadhouse Blues"13th Floor Elevators- "You Gonna Miss Me"Cream- "I'm So Glad"*all selections taken from the original records.

Singles Going Around- Back To Mono Vol. 6Mono records, recorded and transferred in mono. PLAY LOUD!The Rolling Stones- "We Love You"The Byrds- "Wasn't Born To Follow"Bob Dylan- "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"13th Floor Elevators- "Baby Blue"The Beatles- "I Am The Walrus"The Mamas & The Papas- "Twelve Thirty"The Small Faces- "Tin Soldier"Them- "Mystic Eyes"The Rolling Stones- "Paint It Black"The Faces- "Had Me A Real Good Time"The Kinks- "Dandy"Bob Dylan- "Like A Rolling Stone"The Beatles- "Baby Your A Rich Man"The Small Faces- "The Universal"The Doors- "Back Door Man"

In this extra-special episode we welcome into the RBP lair not one but two legends of music journalism. Former Smash Hits/Q/MOJO supremo Mark Ellen and Sylvia (I'm Not With The Band) Patterson join us to pay tribute to their late friend and colleague upon the publication of our book Phew, Eh Readers? The Life and Writing of Tom Hibbert – the single funniest music journalist who ever lived. Both guests recount their initial and unforgettable encounters with "Hibbs" – Mark's at New Music News in 1980; Sylvia's at Smash Hits in 1986 — before we look back at Tom's early years, his marriage to the marvellous Allyce Tessier and his pop passions from the Byrds to Big Star (via Moby Grape and the 13th Floor Elevators). Interspersing the conversation with quotes from the classic Hibbert pieces collected in Phew, Eh Readers? and the tributes to Tom we commissioned for the book — plus clips from audio interviews with Jon Bon Jovi, Vivien Stanshall and Tom's Smash Hits colleague Neil Tennant — we follow our hero's path through his brilliant career. Stops along the way include his entirely made-up letters to New Music News, his 1987 audience with Margaret Thatcher, his infamous "Who the Hell" interviews for Q and his hilariously irreverent columns for The Observer and the Mail On Sunday. Not forgetting the Love Trousers, the neo-psychedelic covers band he formed with Mr. Ellen... The pathos of Tom's twilight years, following his 1997 hospitalisation with pneumonia and pancreatitis — is touched upon before we wrap up with a fond nod to his old pal "Juggins". We shall not read his like again. Phew, Eh Readers?: The Life and Writing of Tom Hibbert is published by Nine Eight Books on 1st February, 2024. Pieces discussed: Tom Hibbert articles on Rock's Backpages, Billy Idol on Majorca, Jon Bon Jovi audio, Neil Tennant on the RBP podcast, Just Like Gene Autry, the Margaret Thatcher interview??!, Who the hell does Ringo Starr think he is? and Who the hell does Roger Waters think he is?

Singles Going Around- Brickbats (There's No Home Like Now)Faces- "Stay With Me"Solomon Burke- "Home In Your Heart"The Beach Boys- "Cotton Fields/San Miguel"David Lee Roth- "California Girls"Led Zeppelin- "Wearing and Tearing"The Ramones- "Surfin Bird"Otis Redding- "Satisfaction"Moving Sidewalks- "No Good To Cry"Jimi Hendrix Experience- "Killing Floor"Pixies- "Bone Machine"The Beatles- "Helter Skelter"Simon & Garfunkel- "Fakin' It"Bob Dylan- "Million Miles"The White Stripes- "One More Cup Of Coffee"Captain Beefheart- "Suction Prints (Instrumental Demo)"Nirvana- "Aneurysm"13th Floor Elevators- "May The Circle Remain Unbroken"Led Zeppelin- "Nobody's Fault But Mine"The Rolling Stones- "You Gotta Move"

Singles Going Around- Chilli Burgers, Winchesters and Rickaritas.Had me a real good time with this weeks podcast!Faces- "Had Me A Real Good Time (At The BBC)AC/DC- "Love Hungry Man"Dennis Wilson- "What's Wrong"The Beatles- "Rain"Willie Nelson- "I Gotta Have Something I Ain't Got"Led Zepplin- "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp"Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band- "You Know Your A Man"13th Floor Elevators- "Never Another"Neil Young & Crazy Horse- "The Losing End"Faces- "Twistin' The Night Away" (At The BBC)Bob Dylan- "Down Along The Cove"Willie Nelson- "Whiskey River" (Alternate Version)Led Zepplin- "Since I Been Loving You"AC/DC- "Night Prowler"

This week's show, after a 1967 Hollies hearken: brand new The Beatles, New Model Army, Madness, Cloud Nothings, Semisonic, Guest Directors, and Green Palm Radiation, plus John Lennon, 13th Floor Elevators, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Snow, David Bowie, The E...

Episode 169 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Piece of My Heart" and the short, tragic life of Janis Joplin. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a half-hour bonus episode available, on "Spinning Wheel" by Blood, Sweat & Tears. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources There are two Mixcloud mixes this time. As there are so many songs by Big Brother and the Holding Company and Janis Joplin excerpted, and Mixcloud won't allow more than four songs by the same artist in any mix, I've had to post the songs not in quite the same order in which they appear in the podcast. But the mixes are here — one, two . For information on Janis Joplin I used three biographies -- Scars of Sweet Paradise by Alice Echols, Janis: Her Life and Music by Holly George-Warren, and Buried Alive by Myra Friedman. I also referred to the chapter '“Being Good Isn't Always Easy": Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Dusty Springfield, and the Color of Soul' in Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination by Jack Hamilton. Some information on Bessie Smith came from Bessie Smith by Jackie Kay, a book I can't really recommend given the lack of fact-checking, and Bessie by Chris Albertson. I also referred to Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday by Angela Y. Davis And the best place to start with Joplin's music is this five-CD box, which contains both Big Brother and the Holding Company albums she was involved in, plus her two studio albums and bonus tracks. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before I start, this episode contains discussion of drug addiction and overdose, alcoholism, mental illness, domestic abuse, child abandonment, and racism. If those subjects are likely to cause you upset, you may want to check the transcript or skip this one rather than listen. Also, a subject I should probably say a little more about in this intro because I know I have inadvertently caused upset to at least one listener with this in the past. When it comes to Janis Joplin, it is *impossible* to talk about her without discussing her issues with her weight and self-image. The way I write often involves me paraphrasing the opinions of the people I'm writing about, in a mode known as close third person, and sometimes that means it can look like I am stating those opinions as my own, and sometimes things I say in that mode which *I* think are obviously meant in context to be critiques of those attitudes can appear to others to be replicating them. At least once, I have seriously upset a fat listener when talking about issues related to weight in this manner. I'm going to try to be more careful here, but just in case, I'm going to say before I begin that I think fatphobia is a pernicious form of bigotry, as bad as any other form of bigotry. I'm fat myself and well aware of how systemic discrimination affects fat people. I also think more generally that the pressure put on women to look a particular way is pernicious and disgusting in ways I can't even begin to verbalise, and causes untold harm. If *ANYTHING* I say in this episode comes across as sounding otherwise, that's because I haven't expressed myself clearly enough. Like all people, Janis Joplin had negative characteristics, and at times I'm going to say things that are critical of those. But when it comes to anything to do with her weight or her appearance, if *anything* I say sounds critical of her, rather than of a society that makes women feel awful for their appearance, it isn't meant to. Anyway, on with the show. On January the nineteenth, 1943, Seth Joplin typed up a letter to his wife Dorothy, which read “I wish to tender my congratulations on the anniversary of your successful completion of your production quota for the nine months ending January 19, 1943. I realize that you passed through a period of inflation such as you had never before known—yet, in spite of this, you met your goal by your supreme effort during the early hours of January 19, a good three weeks ahead of schedule.” As you can probably tell from that message, the Joplin family were a strange mixture of ultraconformism and eccentricity, and those two opposing forces would dominate the personality of their firstborn daughter for the whole of her life.  Seth Joplin was a respected engineer at Texaco, where he worked for forty years, but he had actually dropped out of engineering school before completing his degree. His favourite pastime when he wasn't at work was to read -- he was a voracious reader -- and to listen to classical music, which would often move him to tears, but he had also taught himself to make bathtub gin during prohibition, and smoked cannabis. Dorothy, meanwhile, had had the possibility of a singing career before deciding to settle down and become a housewife, and was known for having a particularly beautiful soprano voice. Both were, by all accounts, fiercely intelligent people, but they were also as committed as anyone to the ideals of the middle-class family even as they chafed against its restrictions. Like her mother, young Janis had a beautiful soprano voice, and she became a soloist in her church choir, but after the age of six, she was not encouraged to sing much. Dorothy had had a thyroid operation which destroyed her singing voice, and the family got rid of their piano soon after (different sources say that this was either because Dorothy found her daughter's singing painful now that she couldn't sing herself, or because Seth was upset that his wife could no longer sing. Either seems plausible.) Janis was pushed to be a high-achiever -- she was given a library card as soon as she could write her name, and encouraged to use it, and she was soon advanced in school, skipping a couple of grades. She was also by all accounts a fiercely talented painter, and her parents paid for art lessons. From everything one reads about her pre-teen years, she was a child prodigy who was loved by everyone and who was clearly going to be a success of some kind. Things started to change when she reached her teenage years. Partly, this was just her getting into rock and roll music, which her father thought a fad -- though even there, she differed from her peers. She loved Elvis, but when she heard "Hound Dog", she loved it so much that she tracked down a copy of Big Mama Thornton's original, and told her friends she preferred that: [Excerpt: Big Mama Thornton, "Hound Dog"] Despite this, she was still also an exemplary student and overachiever. But by the time she turned fourteen, things started to go very wrong for her. Partly this was just down to her relationship with her father changing -- she adored him, but he became more distant from his daughters as they grew into women. But also, puberty had an almost wholly negative effect on her, at least by the standards of that time and place. She put on weight (which, again, I do not think is a negative thing, but she did, and so did everyone around her), she got a bad case of acne which didn't ever really go away, and she also didn't develop breasts particularly quickly -- which, given that she was a couple of years younger than the other people in the same classes at school, meant she stood out even more. In the mid-sixties, a doctor apparently diagnosed her as having a "hormone imbalance" -- something that got to her as a possible explanation for why she was, to quote from a letter she wrote then, "not really a woman or enough of one or something." She wondered if "maybe something as simple as a pill could have helped out or even changed that part of me I call ME and has been so messed up.” I'm not a doctor and even if I were, diagnosing historical figures is an unethical thing to do, but certainly the acne, weight gain, and mental health problems she had are all consistent with PCOS, the most common endocrine disorder among women, and it seems likely given what the doctor told her that this was the cause. But at the time all she knew was that she was different, and that in the eyes of her fellow students she had gone from being pretty to being ugly. She seems to have been a very trusting, naive, person who was often the brunt of jokes but who desperately needed to be accepted, and it became clear that her appearance wasn't going to let her fit into the conformist society she was being brought up in, while her high intelligence, low impulse control, and curiosity meant she couldn't even fade into the background. This left her one other option, and she decided that she would deliberately try to look and act as different from everyone else as possible. That way, it would be a conscious choice on her part to reject the standards of her fellow pupils, rather than her being rejected by them. She started to admire rebels. She became a big fan of Jerry Lee Lewis, whose music combined the country music she'd grown up hearing in Texas, the R&B she liked now, and the rebellious nature she was trying to cultivate: [Excerpt: Jerry Lee Lewis, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"] When Lewis' career was derailed by his marriage to his teenage cousin, Joplin wrote an angry letter to Time magazine complaining that they had mistreated him in their coverage. But as with so many people of her generation, her love of rock and roll music led her first to the blues and then to folk, and she soon found herself listening to Odetta: [Excerpt: Odetta, "Muleskinner Blues"] One of her first experiences of realising she could gain acceptance from her peers by singing was when she was hanging out with the small group of Bohemian teenagers she was friendly with, and sang an Odetta song, mimicking her voice exactly. But young Janis Joplin was listening to an eclectic range of folk music, and could mimic more than just Odetta. For all that her later vocal style was hugely influenced by Odetta and by other Black singers like Big Mama Thornton and Etta James, her friends in her late teens and early twenties remember her as a vocal chameleon with an achingly pure soprano, who would more often than Odetta be imitating the great Appalachian traditional folk singer Jean Ritchie: [Excerpt: Jean Ritchie, "Lord Randall"] She was, in short, trying her best to become a Beatnik, despite not having any experience of that subculture other than what she read in books -- though she *did* read about them in books, devouring things like Kerouac's On The Road. She came into conflict with her mother, who didn't understand what was happening to her daughter, and who tried to get family counselling to understand what was going on. Her father, who seemed to relate more to Janis, but who was more quietly eccentric, put an end to that, but Janis would still for the rest of her life talk about how her mother had taken her to doctors who thought she was going to end up "either in jail or an insane asylum" to use her words. From this point on, and for the rest of her life, she was torn between a need for approval from her family and her peers, and a knowledge that no matter what she did she couldn't fit in with normal societal expectations. In high school she was a member of the Future Nurses of America, the Future Teachers of America, the Art Club, and Slide Rule Club, but she also had a reputation as a wild girl, and as sexually active (even though by all accounts at this point she was far less so than most of the so-called "good girls" – but her later activity was in part because she felt that if she was going to have that reputation anyway she might as well earn it). She also was known to express radical opinions, like that segregation was wrong, an opinion that the other students in her segregated Texan school didn't even think was wrong, but possibly some sort of sign of mental illness. Her final High School yearbook didn't contain a single other student's signature. And her initial choice of university, Lamar State College of Technology, was not much better. In the next town over, and attended by many of the same students, it had much the same attitudes as the school she'd left. Almost the only long-term effect her initial attendance at university had on her was a negative one -- she found there was another student at the college who was better at painting. Deciding that if she wasn't going to be the best at something she didn't want to do it at all, she more or less gave up on painting at that point. But there was one positive. One of the lecturers at Lamar was Francis Edward "Ab" Abernethy, who would in the early seventies go on to become the Secretary and Editor of the Texas Folklore Society, and was also a passionate folk musician, playing double bass in string bands. Abernethy had a great collection of blues 78s. and it was through this collection that Janis first discovered classic blues, and in particular Bessie Smith: [Excerpt: Bessie Smith, "Black Mountain Blues"] A couple of episodes ago, we had a long look at the history of the music that now gets called "the blues" -- the music that's based around guitars, and generally involves a solo male vocalist, usually Black during its classic period. At the time that music was being made though it wouldn't have been thought of as "the blues" with no modifiers by most people who were aware of it. At the start, even the songs they were playing weren't thought of as blues by the male vocalist/guitarists who played them -- they called the songs they played "reels". The music released by people like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House, Robert Johnson, Kokomo Arnold and so on was thought of as blues music, and people would understand and agree with a phrase like "Lonnie Johnson is a blues singer", but it wasn't the first thing people thought of when they talked about "the blues". Until relatively late -- probably some time in the 1960s -- if you wanted to talk about blues music made by Black men with guitars and only that music, you talked about "country blues". If you thought about "the blues", with no qualifiers, you thought about a rather different style of music, one that white record collectors started later to refer to as "classic blues" to differentiate it from what they were now calling "the blues". Nowadays of course if you say "classic blues", most people will think you mean Muddy Waters or John Lee Hooker, people who were contemporary at the time those white record collectors were coming up with their labels, and so that style of music gets referred to as "vaudeville blues", or as "classic female blues": [Excerpt: Mamie Smith, "Crazy Blues"] What we just heard was the first big blues hit performed by a Black person, from 1920, and as we discussed in the episode on "Crossroads" that revolutionised the whole record industry when it came out. The song was performed by Mamie Smith, a vaudeville performer, and was originally titled "Harlem Blues" by its writer, Perry Bradford, before he changed the title to "Crazy Blues" to get it to a wider audience. Bradford was an important figure in the vaudeville scene, though other than being the credited writer of "Keep A-Knockin'" he's little known these days. He was a Black musician and grew up playing in minstrel shows (the history of minstrelsy is a topic for another day, but it's more complicated than the simple image of blackface that we are aware of today -- though as with many "more complicated than that" things it is, also the simple image of blackface we're aware of). He was the person who persuaded OKeh records that there would be a market for music made by Black people that sounded Black (though as we're going to see in this episode, what "sounding Black" means is a rather loaded question). "Crazy Blues" was the result, and it was a massive hit, even though it was marketed specifically towards Black listeners: [Excerpt: Mamie Smith, "Crazy Blues"] The big stars of the early years of recorded blues were all making records in the shadow of "Crazy Blues", and in the case of its very biggest stars, they were working very much in the same mould. The two most important blues stars of the twenties both got their start in vaudeville, and were both women. Ma Rainey, like Mamie Smith, first performed in minstrel shows, but where Mamie Smith's early records had her largely backed by white musicians, Rainey was largely backed by Black musicians, including on several tracks Louis Armstrong: [Excerpt: Ma Rainey, "See See Rider"] Rainey's band was initially led by Thomas Dorsey, one of the most important men in American music, who we've talked about before in several episodes, including the last one. He was possibly the single most important figure in two different genres -- hokum music, when he, under the name "Georgia Tom" recorded "It's Tight Like That" with Tampa Red: [Excerpt: Tampa Red and Georgia Tom, "It's Tight Like That"] And of course gospel music, which to all intents and purposes he invented, and much of whose repertoire he wrote: [Excerpt: Mahalia Jackson, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord"] When Dorsey left Rainey's band, as we discussed right back in episode five, he was replaced by a female pianist, Lil Henderson. The blues was a woman's genre. And Ma Rainey was, by preference, a woman's woman, though she was married to a man: [Excerpt: Ma Rainey, "Prove it on Me"] So was the biggest star of the classic blues era, who was originally mentored by Rainey. Bessie Smith, like Rainey, was a queer woman who had relationships with men but was far more interested in other women.  There were stories that Bessie Smith actually got her start in the business by being kidnapped by Ma Rainey, and forced into performing on the same bills as her in the vaudeville show she was touring in, and that Rainey taught Smith to sing blues in the process. In truth, Rainey mentored Smith more in stagecraft and the ways of the road than in singing, and neither woman was only a blues singer, though both had huge success with their blues records.  Indeed, since Rainey was already in the show, Smith was initially hired as a dancer rather than a singer, and she also worked as a male impersonator. But Smith soon branched out on her own -- from the beginning she was obviously a star. The great jazz clarinettist Sidney Bechet later said of her "She had this trouble in her, this thing that would not let her rest sometimes, a meanness that came and took her over. But what she had was alive … Bessie, she just wouldn't let herself be; it seemed she couldn't let herself be." Bessie Smith was signed by Columbia Records in 1923, as part of the rush to find and record as many Black women blues singers as possible. Her first recording session produced "Downhearted Blues", which became, depending on which sources you read, either the biggest-selling blues record since "Crazy Blues" or the biggest-selling blues record ever, full stop, selling three quarters of a million copies in the six months after its release: [Excerpt: Bessie Smith, "Downhearted Blues"] Smith didn't make royalties off record sales, only making a flat fee, but she became the most popular Black performer of the 1920s. Columbia signed her to an exclusive contract, and she became so rich that she would literally travel between gigs on her own private train. She lived an extravagant life in every way, giving lavishly to her friends and family, but also drinking extraordinary amounts of liquor, having regular affairs, and also often physically or verbally attacking those around her. By all accounts she was not a comfortable person to be around, and she seemed to be trying to fit an entire lifetime into every moment. From 1923 through 1929 she had a string of massive hits. She recorded material in a variety of styles, including the dirty blues: [Excerpt: Bessie Smith, "Empty Bed Blues] And with accompanists like Louis Armstrong: [Excerpt: Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong, "Cold in Hand Blues"] But the music for which she became best known, and which sold the best, was when she sang about being mistreated by men, as on one of her biggest hits, "'Tain't Nobody's Biz-Ness if I Do" -- and a warning here, I'm going to play a clip of the song, which treats domestic violence in a way that may be upsetting: [Excerpt: Bessie Smith, "'Tain't Nobody's Biz-Ness if I Do"] That kind of material can often seem horrifying to today's listeners -- and quite correctly so, as domestic violence is a horrifying thing -- and it sounds entirely too excusing of the man beating her up for anyone to find it comfortable listening. But the Black feminist scholar Angela Davis has made a convincing case that while these records, and others by Smith's contemporaries, can't reasonably be considered to be feminist, they *are* at the very least more progressive than they now seem, in that they were, even if excusing it, pointing to a real problem which was otherwise left unspoken. And that kind of domestic violence and abuse *was* a real problem, including in Smith's own life. By all accounts she was terrified of her husband, Jack Gee, who would frequently attack her because of her affairs with other people, mostly women. But she was still devastated when he left her for a younger woman, not only because he had left her, but also because he kidnapped their adopted son and had him put into a care home, falsely claiming she had abused him. Not only that, but before Jack left her closest friend had been Jack's niece Ruby and after the split she never saw Ruby again -- though after her death Ruby tried to have a blues career as "Ruby Smith", taking her aunt's surname and recording a few tracks with Sammy Price, the piano player who worked with Sister Rosetta Tharpe: [Excerpt: Ruby Smith with Sammy Price, "Make Me Love You"] The same month, May 1929, that Gee left her, Smith recorded what was to become her last big hit, and most well-known song, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out": [Excerpt: Bessie Smith, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"] And that could have been the theme for the rest of her life. A few months after that record came out, the Depression hit, pretty much killing the market for blues records. She carried on recording until 1931, but the records weren't selling any more. And at the same time, the talkies came in in the film industry, which along with the Depression ended up devastating the vaudeville audience. Her earnings were still higher than most, but only a quarter of what they had been a year or two earlier. She had one last recording session in 1933, produced by John Hammond for OKeh Records, where she showed that her style had developed over the years -- it was now incorporating the newer swing style, and featured future swing stars Benny Goodman and Jack Teagarden in the backing band: [Excerpt: Bessie Smith, "Gimme a Pigfoot"] Hammond was not hugely impressed with the recordings, preferring her earlier records, and they would be the last she would ever make. She continued as a successful, though no longer record-breaking, live act until 1937, when she and her common-law husband, Lionel Hampton's uncle Richard Morgan, were in a car crash. Morgan escaped, but Smith died of her injuries and was buried on October the fourth 1937. Ten thousand people came to her funeral, but she was buried in an unmarked grave -- she was still legally married to Gee, even though they'd been separated for eight years, and while he supposedly later became rich from songwriting royalties from some of her songs (most of her songs were written by other people, but she wrote a few herself) he refused to pay for a headstone for her. Indeed on more than one occasion he embezzled money that had been raised by other people to provide a headstone. Bessie Smith soon became Joplin's favourite singer of all time, and she started trying to copy her vocals. But other than discovering Smith's music, Joplin seems to have had as terrible a time at university as at school, and soon dropped out and moved back in with her parents. She went to business school for a short while, where she learned some secretarial skills, and then she moved west, going to LA where two of her aunts lived, to see if she could thrive better in a big West Coast city than she did in small-town Texas. Soon she moved from LA to Venice Beach, and from there had a brief sojourn in San Francisco, where she tried to live out her beatnik fantasies at a time when the beatnik culture was starting to fall apart. She did, while she was there, start smoking cannabis, though she never got a taste for that drug, and took Benzedrine and started drinking much more heavily than she had before. She soon lost her job, moved back to Texas, and re-enrolled at the same college she'd been at before. But now she'd had a taste of real Bohemian life -- she'd been singing at coffee houses, and having affairs with both men and women -- and soon she decided to transfer to the University of Texas at Austin. At this point, Austin was very far from the cultural centre it has become in recent decades, and it was still a straitlaced Texan town, but it was far less so than Port Arthur, and she soon found herself in a folk group, the Waller Creek Boys. Janis would play autoharp and sing, sometimes Bessie Smith covers, but also the more commercial country and folk music that was popular at the time, like "Silver Threads and Golden Needles", a song that had originally been recorded by Wanda Jackson but at that time was a big hit for Dusty Springfield's group The Springfields: [Excerpt: The Waller Creek Boys, "Silver Threads and Golden Needles"] But even there, Joplin didn't fit in comfortably. The venue where the folk jams were taking place was a segregated venue, as everywhere around Austin was. And she was enough of a misfit that the campus newspaper did an article on her headlined "She Dares to Be Different!", which read in part "She goes barefooted when she feels like it, wears Levi's to class because they're more comfortable, and carries her Autoharp with her everywhere she goes so that in case she gets the urge to break out into song it will be handy." There was a small group of wannabe-Beatniks, including Chet Helms, who we've mentioned previously in the Grateful Dead episode, Gilbert Shelton, who went on to be a pioneer of alternative comics and create the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, and Shelton's partner in Rip-Off Press, Dave Moriarty, but for the most part the atmosphere in Austin was only slightly better for Janis than it had been in Port Arthur. The final straw for her came when in an annual charity fundraiser joke competition to find the ugliest man on campus, someone nominated her for the "award". She'd had enough of Texas. She wanted to go back to California. She and Chet Helms, who had dropped out of the university earlier and who, like her, had already spent some time on the West Coast, decided to hitch-hike together to San Francisco. Before leaving, she made a recording for her ex-girlfriend Julie Paul, a country and western musician, of a song she'd written herself. It's recorded in what many say was Janis' natural voice -- a voice she deliberately altered in performance in later years because, she would tell people, she didn't think there was room for her singing like that in an industry that already had Joan Baez and Judy Collins. In her early years she would alternate between singing like this and doing her imitations of Black women, but the character of Janis Joplin who would become famous never sang like this. It may well be the most honest thing that she ever recorded, and the most revealing of who she really was: [Excerpt: Janis Joplin, "So Sad to Be Alone"] Joplin and Helms made it to San Francisco, and she started performing at open-mic nights and folk clubs around the Bay Area, singing in her Bessie Smith and Odetta imitation voice, and sometimes making a great deal of money by sounding different from the wispier-voiced women who were the norm at those venues. The two friends parted ways, and she started performing with two other folk musicians, Larry Hanks and Roger Perkins, and she insisted that they would play at least one Bessie Smith song at every performance: [Excerpt: Janis Joplin, Larry Hanks, and Roger Perkins, "Black Mountain Blues (live in San Francisco)"] Often the trio would be joined by Billy Roberts, who at that time had just started performing the song that would make his name, "Hey Joe", and Joplin was soon part of the folk scene in the Bay Area, and admired by Dino Valenti, David Crosby, and Jerry Garcia among others. She also sang a lot with Jorma Kaukonnen, and recordings of the two of them together have circulated for years: [Excerpt: Janis Joplin and Jorma Kaukonnen, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"] Through 1963, 1964, and early 1965 Joplin ping-ponged from coast to coast, spending time in the Bay Area, then Greenwich Village, dropping in on her parents then back to the Bay Area, and she started taking vast quantities of methamphetamine. Even before moving to San Francisco she had been an occasional user of amphetamines – at the time they were regularly prescribed to students as study aids during exam periods, and she had also been taking them to try to lose some of the weight she always hated. But while she was living in San Francisco she became dependent on the drug. At one point her father was worried enough about her health to visit her in San Francisco, where she managed to fool him that she was more or less OK. But she looked to him for reassurance that things would get better for her, and he couldn't give it to her. He told her about a concept that he called the "Saturday night swindle", the idea that you work all week so you can go out and have fun on Saturday in the hope that that will make up for everything else, but that it never does. She had occasional misses with what would have been lucky breaks -- at one point she was in a motorcycle accident just as record labels were interested in signing her, and by the time she got out of the hospital the chance had gone. She became engaged to another speed freak, one who claimed to be an engineer and from a well-off background, but she was becoming severely ill from what was by now a dangerous amphetamine habit, and in May 1965 she decided to move back in with her parents, get clean, and have a normal life. Her new fiance was going to do the same, and they were going to have the conformist life her parents had always wanted, and which she had always wanted to want. Surely with a husband who loved her she could find a way to fit in and just be normal. She kicked the addiction, and wrote her fiance long letters describing everything about her family and the new normal life they were going to have together, and they show her painfully trying to be optimistic about the future, like one where she described her family to him: "My mother—Dorothy—worries so and loves her children dearly. Republican and Methodist, very sincere, speaks in clichés which she really means and is very good to people. (She thinks you have a lovely voice and is terribly prepared to like you.) My father—richer than when I knew him and kind of embarrassed about it—very well read—history his passion—quiet and very excited to have me home because I'm bright and we can talk (about antimatter yet—that impressed him)! I keep telling him how smart you are and how proud I am of you.…" She went back to Lamar, her mother started sewing her a wedding dress, and for much of the year she believed her fiance was going to be her knight in shining armour. But as it happened, the fiance in question was described by everyone else who knew him as a compulsive liar and con man, who persuaded her father to give him money for supposed medical tests before the wedding, but in reality was apparently married to someone else and having a baby with a third woman. After the engagement was broken off, she started performing again around the coffeehouses in Austin and Houston, and she started to realise the possibilities of rock music for her kind of performance. The missing clue came from a group from Austin who she became very friendly with, the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, and the way their lead singer Roky Erickson would wail and yell: [Excerpt: The 13th Floor Elevators, "You're Gonna Miss Me (live)"] If, as now seemed inevitable, Janis was going to make a living as a performer, maybe she should start singing rock music, because it seemed like there was money in it. There was even some talk of her singing with the Elevators. But then an old friend came to Austin from San Francisco with word from Chet Helms. A blues band had formed, and were looking for a singer, and they remembered her from the coffee houses. Would she like to go back to San Francisco and sing with them? In the time she'd been away, Helms had become hugely prominent in the San Francisco music scene, which had changed radically. A band from the area called the Charlatans had been playing a fake-Victorian saloon called the Red Dog in nearby Nevada, and had become massive with the people who a few years earlier had been beatniks: [Excerpt: The Charlatans, "32-20"] When their residency at the Red Dog had finished, several of the crowd who had been regulars there had become a collective of sorts called the Family Dog, and Helms had become their unofficial leader. And there's actually a lot packed into that choice of name. As we'll see in a few future episodes, a lot of West Coast hippies eventually started calling their collectives and communes families. This started as a way to get round bureaucracy -- if a helpful welfare officer put down that the unrelated people living in a house together were a family, suddenly they could get food stamps. As with many things, of course, the label then affected how people thought about themselves, and one thing that's very notable about the San Francisco scene hippies in particular is that they are some of the first people to make a big deal about what we now  call "found family" or "family of choice". But it's also notable how often the hippie found families took their model from the only families these largely middle-class dropouts had ever known, and structured themselves around men going out and doing the work -- selling dope or panhandling or being rock musicians or shoplifting -- with the women staying at home doing the housework. The Family Dog started promoting shows, with the intention of turning San Francisco into "the American Liverpool", and soon Helms was rivalled only by Bill Graham as the major promoter of rock shows in the Bay Area. And now he wanted Janis to come back and join this new band. But Janis was worried. She was clean now. She drank far too much, but she wasn't doing any other drugs. She couldn't go back to San Francisco and risk getting back on methamphetamine. She needn't worry about that, she was told, nobody in San Francisco did speed any more, they were all on LSD -- a drug she hated and so wasn't in any danger from. Reassured, she made the trip back to San Francisco, to join Big Brother and the Holding Company. Big Brother and the Holding Company were the epitome of San Francisco acid rock at the time. They were the house band at the Avalon Ballroom, which Helms ran, and their first ever gig had been at the Trips Festival, which we talked about briefly in the Grateful Dead episode. They were known for being more imaginative than competent -- lead guitarist James Gurley was often described as playing parts that were influenced by John Cage, but was equally often, and equally accurately, described as not actually being able to keep his guitar in tune because he was too stoned. But they were drawing massive crowds with their instrumental freak-out rock music. Helms thought they needed a singer, and he had remembered Joplin, who a few of the group had seen playing the coffee houses. He decided she would be perfect for them, though Joplin wasn't so sure. She thought it was worth a shot, but as she wrote to her parents before meeting the group "Supposed to rehearse w/ the band this afternoon, after that I guess I'll know whether I want to stay & do that for awhile. Right now my position is ambivalent—I'm glad I came, nice to see the city, a few friends, but I'm not at all sold on the idea of becoming the poor man's Cher.” In that letter she also wrote "I'm awfully sorry to be such a disappointment to you. I understand your fears at my coming here & must admit I share them, but I really do think there's an awfully good chance I won't blow it this time." The band she met up with consisted of lead guitarist James Gurley, bass player Peter Albin, rhythm player Sam Andrew, and drummer David Getz.  To start with, Peter Albin sang lead on most songs, with Joplin adding yelps and screams modelled on those of Roky Erickson, but in her first gig with the band she bowled everyone over with her lead vocal on the traditional spiritual "Down on Me", which would remain a staple of their live act, as in this live recording from 1968: [Excerpt: Big Brother and the Holding Company, "Down on Me (Live 1968)"] After that first gig in June 1966, it was obvious that Joplin was going to be a star, and was going to be the group's main lead vocalist. She had developed a whole new stage persona a million miles away from her folk performances. As Chet Helms said “Suddenly this person who would stand upright with her fists clenched was all over the stage. Roky Erickson had modeled himself after the screaming style of Little Richard, and Janis's initial stage presence came from Roky, and ultimately Little Richard. It was a very different Janis.” Joplin would always claim to journalists that her stage persona was just her being herself and natural, but she worked hard on every aspect of her performance, and far from the untrained emotional outpouring she always suggested, her vocal performances were carefully calculated pastiches of her influences -- mostly Bessie Smith, but also Big Mama Thornton, Odetta, Etta James, Tina Turner, and Otis Redding. That's not to say that those performances weren't an authentic expression of part of herself -- they absolutely were. But the ethos that dominated San Francisco in the mid-sixties prized self-expression over technical craft, and so Joplin had to portray herself as a freak of nature who just had to let all her emotions out, a wild woman, rather than someone who carefully worked out every nuance of her performances. Joplin actually got the chance to meet one of her idols when she discovered that Willie Mae Thornton was now living and regularly performing in the Bay Area. She and some of her bandmates saw Big Mama play a small jazz club, where she performed a song she wouldn't release on a record for another two years: [Excerpt: Big Mama Thornton, "Ball 'n' Chain"] Janis loved the song and scribbled down the lyrics, then went backstage to ask Big Mama if Big Brother could cover the song. She gave them her blessing, but told them "don't" -- and here she used a word I can't use with a clean rating -- "it up". The group all moved in together, communally, with their partners -- those who had them. Janis was currently single, having dumped her most recent boyfriend after discovering him shooting speed, as she was still determined to stay clean. But she was rapidly discovering that the claim that San Franciscans no longer used much speed had perhaps not been entirely true, as for example Sam Andrew's girlfriend went by the nickname Speedfreak Rita. For now, Janis was still largely clean, but she did start drinking more. Partly this was because of a brief fling with Pigpen from the Grateful Dead, who lived nearby. Janis liked Pigpen as someone else on the scene who didn't much like psychedelics or cannabis -- she didn't like drugs that made her think more, but only drugs that made her able to *stop* thinking (her love of amphetamines doesn't seem to fit this pattern, but a small percentage of people have a different reaction to amphetamine-type stimulants, perhaps she was one of those). Pigpen was a big drinker of Southern Comfort -- so much so that it would kill him within a few years -- and Janis started joining him. Her relationship with Pigpen didn't last long, but the two would remain close, and she would often join the Grateful Dead on stage over the years to duet with him on "Turn On Your Lovelight": [Excerpt: Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead, "Turn on Your Lovelight"] But within two months of joining the band, Janis nearly left. Paul Rothchild of Elektra Records came to see the group live, and was impressed by their singer, but not by the rest of the band. This was something that would happen again and again over the group's career. The group were all imaginative and creative -- they worked together on their arrangements and their long instrumental jams and often brought in very good ideas -- but they were not the most disciplined or technically skilled of musicians, even when you factored in their heavy drug use, and often lacked the skill to pull off their better ideas. They were hugely popular among the crowds at the Avalon Ballroom, who were on the group's chemical wavelength, but Rothchild was not impressed -- as he was, in general, unimpressed with psychedelic freakouts. He was already of the belief in summer 1966 that the fashion for extended experimental freak-outs would soon come to an end and that there would be a pendulum swing back towards more structured and melodic music. As we saw in the episode on The Band, he would be proved right in a little over a year, but being ahead of the curve he wanted to put together a supergroup that would be able to ride that coming wave, a group that would play old-fashioned blues. He'd got together Stefan Grossman, Steve Mann, and Taj Mahal, and he wanted Joplin to be the female vocalist for the group, dueting with Mahal. She attended one rehearsal, and the new group sounded great. Elektra Records offered to sign them, pay their rent while they rehearsed, and have a major promotional campaign for their first release. Joplin was very, very, tempted, and brought the subject up to her bandmates in Big Brother. They were devastated. They were a family! You don't leave your family! She was meant to be with them forever! They eventually got her to agree to put off the decision at least until after a residency they'd been booked for in Chicago, and she decided to give them the chance, writing to her parents "I decided to stay w/the group but still like to think about the other thing. Trying to figure out which is musically more marketable because my being good isn't enough, I've got to be in a good vehicle.” The trip to Chicago was a disaster. They found that the people of Chicago weren't hugely interested in seeing a bunch of white Californians play the blues, and that the Midwest didn't have the same Bohemian crowds that the coastal cities they were used to had, and so their freak-outs didn't go down well either. After two weeks of their four-week residency, the club owner stopped paying them because they were so unpopular, and they had no money to get home. And then they were approached by Bob Shad. (For those who know the film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, the Bob Shad in that film is named after this one -- Judd Apatow, the film's director, is Shad's grandson) This Shad was a record producer, who had worked with people like Big Bill Broonzy, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, and Billy Eckstine over an eighteen-year career, and had recently set up a new label, Mainstream Records. He wanted to sign Big Brother and the Holding Company. They needed money and... well, it was a record contract! It was a contract that took half their publishing, paid them a five percent royalty on sales, and gave them no advance, but it was still a contract, and they'd get union scale for the first session. In that first session in Chicago, they recorded four songs, and strangely only one, "Down on Me", had a solo Janis vocal. Of the other three songs, Sam Andrew and Janis dueted on Sam's song "Call on Me", Albin sang lead on the group composition "Blindman", and Gurley and Janis sang a cover of "All Is Loneliness", a song originally by the avant-garde street musician Moondog: [Excerpt: Big Brother and the Holding Company, "All is Loneliness"] The group weren't happy with the four songs they recorded -- they had to keep the songs to the length of a single, and the engineers made sure that the needles never went into the red, so their guitars sounded far more polite and less distorted than they were used to. Janis was fascinated by the overdubbing process, though, especially double-tracking, which she'd never tried before but which she turned out to be remarkably good at. And they were now signed to a contract, which meant that Janis wouldn't be leaving the group to go solo any time soon. The family were going to stay together. But on the group's return to San Francisco, Janis started doing speed again, encouraged by the people around the group, particularly Gurley's wife. By the time the group's first single, "Blindman" backed with "All is Loneliness", came out, she was an addict again. That initial single did nothing, but the group were fast becoming one of the most popular in the Bay Area, and almost entirely down to Janis' vocals and on-stage persona. Bob Shad had already decided in the initial session that while various band members had taken lead, Janis was the one who should be focused on as the star, and when they drove to LA for their second recording session it was songs with Janis leads that they focused on. At that second session, in which they recorded ten tracks in two days, the group recorded a mix of material including one of Janis' own songs, the blues track "Women is Losers", and a version of the old folk song "the Cuckoo Bird" rearranged by Albin. Again they had to keep the arrangements to two and a half minutes a track, with no extended soloing and a pop arrangement style, and the results sound a lot more like the other San Francisco bands, notably Jefferson Airplane, than like the version of the band that shows itself in their live performances: [Excerpt: Big Brother and the Holding Company, "Coo Coo"] After returning to San Francisco after the sessions, Janis went to see Otis Redding at the Fillmore, turning up several hours before the show started on all three nights to make sure she could be right at the front. One of the other audience members later recalled “It was more fascinating for me, almost, to watch Janis watching Otis, because you could tell that she wasn't just listening to him, she was studying something. There was some kind of educational thing going on there. I was jumping around like the little hippie girl I was, thinking This is so great! and it just stopped me in my tracks—because all of a sudden Janis drew you very deeply into what the performance was all about. Watching her watch Otis Redding was an education in itself.” Joplin would, for the rest of her life, always say that Otis Redding was her all-time favourite singer, and would say “I started singing rhythmically, and now I'm learning from Otis Redding to push a song instead of just sliding over it.” [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "I Can't Turn You Loose (live)"] At the start of 1967, the group moved out of the rural house they'd been sharing and into separate apartments around Haight-Ashbury, and they brought the new year in by playing a free show organised by the Hell's Angels, the violent motorcycle gang who at the time were very close with the proto-hippies in the Bay Area. Janis in particular always got on well with the Angels, whose drugs of choice, like hers, were speed and alcohol more than cannabis and psychedelics. Janis also started what would be the longest on-again off-again relationship she would ever have, with a woman named Peggy Caserta. Caserta had a primary partner, but that if anything added to her appeal for Joplin -- Caserta's partner Kimmie had previously been in a relationship with Joan Baez, and Joplin, who had an intense insecurity that made her jealous of any other female singer who had any success, saw this as in some way a validation both of her sexuality and, transitively, of her talent. If she was dating Baez's ex's lover, that in some way put her on a par with Baez, and when she told friends about Peggy, Janis would always slip that fact in. Joplin and Caserta would see each other off and on for the rest of Joplin's life, but they were never in a monogamous relationship, and Joplin had many other lovers over the years. The next of these was Country Joe McDonald of Country Joe and the Fish, who were just in the process of recording their first album Electric Music for the Mind and Body, when McDonald and Joplin first got together: [Excerpt: Country Joe and the Fish, "Grace"] McDonald would later reminisce about lying with Joplin, listening to one of the first underground FM radio stations, KMPX, and them playing a Fish track and a Big Brother track back to back. Big Brother's second single, the other two songs recorded in the Chicago session, had been released in early 1967, and the B-side, "Down on Me", was getting a bit of airplay in San Francisco and made the local charts, though it did nothing outside the Bay Area: [Excerpt: Big Brother and the Holding Company, "Down on Me"] Janis was unhappy with the record, though, writing to her parents and saying, “Our new record is out. We seem to be pretty dissatisfied w/it. I think we're going to try & get out of the record contract if we can. We don't feel that they know how to promote or engineer a record & every time we recorded for them, they get all our songs, which means we can't do them for another record company. But then if our new record does something, we'd change our mind. But somehow, I don't think it's going to." The band apparently saw a lawyer to see if they could get out of the contract with Mainstream, but they were told it was airtight. They were tied to Bob Shad no matter what for the next five years. Janis and McDonald didn't stay together for long -- they clashed about his politics and her greater fame -- but after they split, she asked him to write a song for her before they became too distant, and he obliged and recorded it on the Fish's next album: [Excerpt: Country Joe and the Fish, "Janis"] The group were becoming so popular by late spring 1967 that when Richard Lester, the director of the Beatles' films among many other classics, came to San Francisco to film Petulia, his follow-up to How I Won The War, he chose them, along with the Grateful Dead, to appear in performance segments in the film. But it would be another filmmaker that would change the course of the group's career irrevocably: [Excerpt: Scott McKenzie, "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)"] When Big Brother and the Holding Company played the Monterey Pop Festival, nobody had any great expectations. They were second on the bill on the Saturday, the day that had been put aside for the San Francisco acts, and they were playing in the early afternoon, after a largely unimpressive night before. They had a reputation among the San Francisco crowd, of course, but they weren't even as big as the Grateful Dead, Moby Grape or Country Joe and the Fish, let alone Jefferson Airplane. Monterey launched four careers to new heights, but three of the superstars it made -- Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, and the Who -- already had successful careers. Hendrix and the Who had had hits in the UK but not yet broken the US market, while Redding was massively popular with Black people but hadn't yet crossed over to a white audience. Big Brother and the Holding Company, on the other hand, were so unimportant that D.A. Pennebaker didn't even film their set -- their manager at the time had not wanted to sign over the rights to film their performance, something that several of the other acts had also refused -- and nobody had been bothered enough to make an issue of it. Pennebaker just took some crowd shots and didn't bother filming the band. The main thing he caught was Cass Elliot's open-mouthed astonishment at Big Brother's performance -- or rather at Janis Joplin's performance. The members of the group would later complain, not entirely inaccurately, that in the reviews of their performance at Monterey, Joplin's left nipple (the outline of which was apparently visible through her shirt, at least to the male reviewers who took an inordinate interest in such things) got more attention than her four bandmates combined. As Pennebaker later said “She came out and sang, and my hair stood on end. We were told we weren't allowed to shoot it, but I knew if we didn't have Janis in the film, the film would be a wash. Afterward, I said to Albert Grossman, ‘Talk to her manager or break his leg or whatever you have to do, because we've got to have her in this film. I can't imagine this film without this woman who I just saw perform.” Grossman had a talk with the organisers of the festival, Lou Adler and John Phillips, and they offered Big Brother a second spot, the next day, if they would allow their performance to be used in the film. The group agreed, after much discussion between Janis and Grossman, and against the wishes of their manager: [Excerpt: Big Brother and the Holding Company, "Ball and Chain (live at Monterey)"] They were now on Albert Grossman's radar. Or at least, Janis Joplin was. Joplin had always been more of a careerist than the other members of the group. They were in music to have a good time and to avoid working a straight job, and while some of them were more accomplished musicians than their later reputations would suggest -- Sam Andrew, in particular, was a skilled player and serious student of music -- they were fundamentally content with playing the Avalon Ballroom and the Fillmore and making five hundred dollars or so a week between them. Very good money for 1967, but nothing else. Joplin, on the other hand, was someone who absolutely craved success. She wanted to prove to her family that she wasn't a failure and that her eccentricity shouldn't stop them being proud of her; she was always, even at the depths of her addictions, fiscally prudent and concerned about her finances; and she had a deep craving for love. Everyone who talks about her talks about how she had an aching need at all times for approval, connection, and validation, which she got on stage more than she got anywhere else. The bigger the audience, the more they must love her. She'd made all her decisions thus far based on how to balance making music that she loved with commercial success, and this would continue to be the pattern for her in future. And so when journalists started to want to talk to her, even though up to that point Albin, who did most of the on-stage announcements, and Gurley, the lead guitarist, had considered themselves joint leaders of the band, she was eager. And she was also eager to get rid of their manager, who continued the awkward streak that had prevented their first performance at the Monterey Pop Festival from being filmed. The group had the chance to play the Hollywood Bowl -- Bill Graham was putting on a "San Francisco Sound" showcase there, featuring Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, and got their verbal agreement to play, but after Graham had the posters printed up, their manager refused to sign the contracts unless they were given more time on stage. The next day after that, they played Monterey again -- this time the Monterey Jazz Festival. A very different crowd to the Pop Festival still fell for Janis' performance -- and once again, the film being made of the event didn't include Big Brother's set because of their manager. While all this was going on, the group's recordings from the previous year were rushed out by Mainstream Records as an album, to poor reviews which complained it was nothing like the group's set at Monterey: [Excerpt: Big Brother and the Holding Company, "Bye Bye Baby"] They were going to need to get out of that contract and sign with somewhere better -- Clive Davis at Columbia Records was already encouraging them to sign with him -- but to do that, they needed a better manager. They needed Albert Grossman. Grossman was one of the best negotiators in the business at that point, but he was also someone who had a genuine love for the music his clients made.  And he had good taste -- he managed Odetta, who Janis idolised as a singer, and Bob Dylan, who she'd been a fan of since his first album came out. He was going to be the perfect manager for the group. But he had one condition though. His first wife had been a heroin addict, and he'd just been dealing with Mike Bloomfield's heroin habit. He had one absolutely ironclad rule, a dealbreaker that would stop him signing them -- they didn't use heroin, did they? Both Gurley and Joplin had used heroin on occasion -- Joplin had only just started, introduced to the drug by Gurley -- but they were only dabblers. They could give it up any time they wanted, right? Of course they could. They told him, in perfect sincerity, that the band didn't use heroin and it wouldn't be a problem. But other than that, Grossman was extremely flexible. He explained to the group at their first meeting that he took a higher percentage than other managers, but that he would also make them more money than other managers -- if money was what they wanted. He told them that they needed to figure out where they wanted their career to be, and what they were willing to do to get there -- would they be happy just playing the same kind of venues they were now, maybe for a little more money, or did they want to be as big as Dylan or Peter, Paul, and Mary? He could get them to whatever level they wanted, and he was happy with working with clients at every level, what did they actually want? The group were agreed -- they wanted to be rich. They decided to test him. They were making twenty-five thousand dollars a year between them at that time, so they got ridiculously ambitious. They told him they wanted to make a *lot* of money. Indeed, they wanted a clause in their contract saying the contract would be void if in the first year they didn't make... thinking of a ridiculous amount, they came up with seventy-five thousand dollars. Grossman's response was to shrug and say "Make it a hundred thousand." The group were now famous and mixing with superstars -- Peter Tork of the Monkees had become a close friend of Janis', and when they played a residency in LA they were invited to John and Michelle Phillips' house to see a rough cut of Monterey Pop. But the group, other than Janis, were horrified -- the film barely showed the other band members at all, just Janis. Dave Getz said later "We assumed we'd appear in the movie as a band, but seeing it was a shock. It was all Janis. They saw her as a superstar in the making. I realized that though we were finally going to be making money and go to another level, it also meant our little family was being separated—there was Janis, and there was the band.” [Excerpt: Big Brother and the Holding Company, "Bye Bye Baby"] If the group were going to make that hundred thousand dollars a year, they couldn't remain on Mainstream Records, but Bob Shad was not about to give up his rights to what could potentially be the biggest group in America without a fight. But luckily for the group, Clive Davis at Columbia had seen their Monterey performance, and he was also trying to pivot the label towards the new rock music. He was basically willing to do anything to get them. Eventually Columbia agreed to pay Shad two hundred thousand dollars for the group's contract -- Davis and Grossman negotiated so half that was an advance on the group's future earnings, but the other half was just an expense for the label. On top of that the group got an advance payment of fifty thousand dollars for their first album for Columbia, making a total investment by Columbia of a quarter of a million dollars -- in return for which they got to sign the band, and got the rights to the material they'd recorded for Mainstream, though Shad would get a two percent royalty on their first two albums for Columbia. Janis was intimidated by signing for Columbia, because that had been Aretha Franklin's label before she signed to Atlantic, and she regarded Franklin as the greatest performer in music at that time.  Which may have had something to do with the choice of a new song the group added to their setlist in early 1968 -- one which was a current hit for Aretha's sister Erma: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Piece of My Heart"] We talked a little in the last episode about the song "Piece of My Heart" itself, though mostly from the perspective of its performer, Erma Franklin. But the song was, as we mentioned, co-written by Bert Berns. He's someone we've talked about a little bit in previous episodes, notably the ones on "Here Comes the Night" and "Twist and Shout", but those were a couple of years ago, and he's about to become a major figure in the next episode, so we might as well take a moment here to remind listeners (or tell those who haven't heard those episodes) of the basics and explain where "Piece of My Heart" comes in Berns' work as a whole. Bert Berns was a latecomer to the music industry, not getting properly started until he was thirty-one, after trying a variety of other occupations. But when he did get started, he wasted no time making his mark -- he knew he had no time to waste. He had a weak heart and knew the likelihood was he was going to die young. He started an association with Wand records as a songwriter and performer, writing songs for some of Phil Spector's pre-fame recordings, and he also started producing records for Atlantic, where for a long while he was almost the equal of Jerry Wexler or Leiber and Stoller in terms of number of massive hits created. His records with Solomon Burke were the records that first got the R&B genre renamed soul (previously the word "soul" mostly referred to a kind of R&Bish jazz, rather than a kind of gospel-ish R&B). He'd also been one of the few American music industry professionals to work with British bands before the Beatles made it big in the USA, after he became alerted to the Beatles' success with his song "Twist and Shout", which he'd co-written with Phil Medley, and which had been a hit in a version Berns produced for the Isley Brothers: [Excerpt: The Isley Brothers, "Twist and Shout"] That song shows the two elements that existed in nearly every single Bert Berns song or production. The first is the Afro-Caribbean rhythm, a feel he picked up during a stint in Cuba in his twenties. Other people in the Atlantic records team were also partial to those rhythms -- Leiber and Stoller loved what they called the baion rhythm -- but Berns more than anyone else made it his signature. He also very specifically loved the song "La Bamba", especially Ritchie Valens' version of it: [Excerpt: Ritchie Valens, "La Bamba"] He basically seemed to think that was the greatest record ever made, and he certainly loved that three-chord trick I-IV-V-IV chord sequence -- almost but not quite the same as the "Louie Louie" one.  He used it in nearly every song he wrote from that point on -- usually using a bassline that went something like this: [plays I-IV-V-IV bassline] He used it in "Twist and Shout" of course: [Excerpt: The Isley Brothers, "Twist and Shout"] He used it in "Hang on Sloopy": [Excerpt: The McCoys, "Hang on Sloopy"] He *could* get more harmonically sophisticated on occasion, but the vast majority of Berns' songs show the power of simplicity. They're usually based around three chords, and often they're actually only two chords, like "I Want Candy": [Excerpt: The Strangeloves, "I Want Candy"] Or the chorus to "Here Comes the Night" by Them, which is two chords for most of it and only introduces a third right at the end: [Excerpt: Them, "Here Comes the Night"] And even in that song you can hear the "Twist and Shout"/"La Bamba" feel, even if it's not exactly the same chords. Berns' whole career was essentially a way of wringing *every last possible drop* out of all the implications of Ritchie Valens' record. And so even when he did a more harmonically complex song, like "Piece of My Heart", which actually has some minor chords in the bridge, the "La Bamba" chord sequence is used in both the verse: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Piece of My Heart"] And the chorus: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Piece of My Heart"] Berns co-wrote “Piece of My Heart” with Jerry Ragavoy. Berns and Ragavoy had also written "Cry Baby" for Garnet Mimms, which was another Joplin favourite: [Excerpt: Garnet Mimms, "Cry Baby"] And Ragavoy, with other collaborators

Singles Going Around- The Past Is Never Dead, It's Not Even PastThe Kinks- "I'm A Lover Not A Fighter"The Moving Sidewalks- "Flashback"Jerry Reed- "U.S. Male"Led Zepplin- "Houses Of The Holy"Booker T & The MG's- "Tic-Tac-Toe"Neil Young- "Mr Soul"Shocking Blue- "Send Me A Postcard"Howlin Wolf- "Color and Kind"The Who- "Armenia City In The Sky"Syd Barrett- "Baby Lemonade"Johnny Cash- "Wide Open Road"Sex Pistols- "My Way"Miles Davis- "Jeru"Bob Dylan- "I Want You"13th Floor Elevators- "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love"The Donnas- "Drive In"Allen Toussaint- "Happy Times"*All selections; vinyl.

It's Episode 152 and we're finally gettin' to "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks (1:06). Knife, amp, and THEE garage rock riff!  But is it FUZZ? Is the song's repetitiveness a representation of obsessive thoughts of lust? Is it choral music? Yep Yep Yep! In 1966, The 13th Floor Elevators got the song  and made it long (1:01:24). There's solos, acoustic jug, and the bassist adds another Kinks riff to the mix ... Remember Van Halen? In 1978, they were just beginning their climb to the heights of rock stardom, so they started with a real rockin' tune (1:24:40). Love it or hate it, this one has a lot of hair on its chest - or is that just David Lee Roth? Two years later, Silicon Teens took the song in a new wave direction (1:57:26). It's the fourth song, so we don't really end up talking about the version, but listen for the crucial digressions. Oh yeeeeahh!!

Singles Going Around- Love And A Lonesome RoadShocking Blue- "Love Buzz"The Moving Sidewalks- "Joe Blues"Allen Toussaint- "Whirlaway" The Staple Singers- "Let Me Ride"Led Zepplin- "Boogie With Stu"Esquerita- "Hey, Miss Lucy"Blossom Dearie- "'Deed I Do"Bob Dylan- "Visions  Of Johanna"13th Floor Elevators- "Before You Acuse Me"Simon & Garfunkel- "At The Zoo"Shocking Blue- "Venus"Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band- "Tarotplane"*All selections taken from the original lp's.

Singles Going Around- Back To Mono Volume ThreeThis episode of the podcast is Volume 3 of Back To Mono! All selections from mono records, recorded and transferred in mono. Play Loud!The Monkees- "Theme From The Monkees" (COM-101)The Beach Boys- "California Girls" (T 2354)The Rolling Stones- "Can I Get A Witness" (LK 4605)Wilson Pickett- "In The Midnight Hour" (ATL 8129)The Beatles- "Drive My Car" (T 2553)The International Submarine Band- "Blue Eyes" (Sundazed 5530)The Byrds- "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" (CL 2372)The Louvin Brothers- "Satan Is Real" (LITA 073)13th Floor Elevators- "She Lives (In a Time Of Her Own) (Charly 112L)Chuck Berry- "Roll Over Beethoven" (Chess 5565)The Yardbirds- "Over Under Sideways" (LN 24246)Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels- "Oo Papa Doo" (NV 2002)Pink Floyd- "Let There Be More Light" (PFRLP 29)Cream- "Sweet Wine" (ATCO 33-206)Booker T & The MG's- "Slim Jenkins Joint" (Stax 717)Dave Clark Five- "Do You Love Me" (LN 24185)Sonny & Cher- "The Letter" (ATCO 33 177)Solomon Burke- "Stupidity" (ATL 8085)The Monkees- "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" (COM 102)The Beatles- "You Can't Do That" (T 2080)The Rolling Stones- "Let's Spend The Night Together" (LL 3499)*All selections from records listed.

Singles Going Around- Summer In The CityMC5- "Kick Out The James" (Preview Pressing)The 13th Floor Elevators- "Slip Inside This House"The Beach Boys- "Never Learn Not To Love"The Coasters- "Poison Ivy"The Rolling Stones- "Bitch"Sir Douglas Quintet- "Mendicino"Paul McCartney- "Do You"Nirvana- "Sliver"The Doors- "Twentieth Century Fox"Dr John- "Jump Sturdy"The Beatles- "If I Needed Someone"Billy Joel- "Don't Ask Me Why"The Drifters- "Some Kind of Wonderful"The Beach Boys- "Let Him Run Wild"The Band- "Look Out Cleveland"Blossom Dearie- "I Hear Music"The Beach Boys- "I Was Made To Love Her"The Association- "Along Comes Mary"Dr John- "I Walk On Guilded Splinters"

There are good reasons why Freddie Steady Krc has a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Academy of Music, a Texas Tornado Award from Buddy Magazine, and is in the Texas Music Hall of Fame. His rich musical history all comes together in Freddie Steady's Wild Country project, a setting in which the music of his many incarnations all comes together. Krc (rhymes with search) landed in Austin at the moment that a musical revolution was getting started at a styles-don't-matter joint called the Armadillo. By the time he hit town, he was also passionate about the Tex-Mex mix of the Sir Douglas Quintet (his first concert), the psychedelic sounds of rock innovators the 13th Floor Elevators, and the soulful folk of singer/songwriters like B. W. Stevenson and Jerry Jeff Walker. Session drumming includes studio work with everyone from Sir Douglas Quintet's Augie Meyers to Carole King, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters to The Faces' Ronnie Lane. Freddie's greatest stage memories include performing for Presidents Clinton and Ford, drumming gigs with Big Brother and the Holding Company, and with legendary San Francisco's Charlatans at Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His dozens of credits as a record producer include Peter Lewis of Moby Grape, Sal Valentino of The Beau Brummels, and Al Staehely of Spirit. https://www.freddiesteadykrc.com The Arwen Lewis Show Host | Arwen Lewis Executive Producer | Jeremiah D. Higgins Producer - Sound Engineer - Richard “Dr. D” Dugan https://arwenlewismusic.com/ www.thejeremiahshow.com @jeremiahdhiggins https://linktr.ee/jeremiahdhiggins

Hoy 15 de julio podréis escuchar en La Gran Travesía a Manic Street Preachers, Flaming Lips, Black Country Communion, Chickenfoot, Beastie Boys, 13th Floor Elevators, Dandy Warhols, Belly, Joy Division, Johnny Thunders... y muchos más ▶️ Y ya sabéis, si os gusta el programa y os apetece, podéis apoyarnos y colaborar con nosotros por el simple precio de una cerveza al mes, desde el botón azul de iVoox, y así, además acceder a todo el archivo histórico exclusivo. Muchas gracias a todos los mecenas y patrocinadores por vuestro apoyo: Utxi73, Jorge Villa Ruiz, Patrilb, Raul Andrés, Jbasabe, Iñako GB, Francisco Quintana, Contell Carles, Eugeni, Pablo Pineda, Tomás Pérez, Quim Goday, Enfermerator, Joaquín, Sergio Castillo, Horns UP! Lourdes Pilar, Jose Diego, Dora, Miguel Angel Torres, Dani, Suibne, Jesús Miguel, Leticia, Sementalex, Guillermo Gutierrez, Enrique FG, Mati, Elliot SF, Redneckman, Daniel A, Luis Miguel Crespo, Vlado 74, Alvaro Pérez, Marcos París, Angel Hernandez, Edgar Cuevas, Okabe 16, Jit, Karlos Martinez, Vicente DC, Francisco González, María Arán, javifer27, juancalero62, Eulogiko, Fonune, Juan Carlos González, Víctor Bravo, Edgar Xavier Sandoval Morales, Adrián Guillot, Quijovi… y a los mecenas anónimos.

Realizada por el británico Stephen Frears en el año 2000, a partir de la novela homónima de Nick Hornby, High Fidelity (o Alta fidelidad en español) es una película entrañable sobre el culto a los vinilos, con John Cusack en el papel protagónico y con una banda sonora potentísima, que incluye piezas de The Velvet Underground, The Kinks, Bob Dylan, The Beta Band, Elvis Costello, Stereolab, 13th Floor Elevators, The Jam, Belle & Sebastian y Joan Jett, entre muchos otros. 

It's Bizarro week at Not in a Creepy Way: Brothers J and Eric watched High Fidelity, a movie J loves for nostalgic reasons and Eric hates because he didn't see it when it came out and he hates all the characters. Along the way they discuss mix-tapes, the Phonolog, the 13th Floor Elevators, Roky Erickson, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.    Housekeeping starts about 38:48 during which they discuss the joys of vehicle ownership and vacation plans   File length 48:09 File Size 34.6 MB Theme by Jul Big Green via SongFinch Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts Listen to us on Stitcher Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Send your comments to show@notinacreepyway.com Visit the show website at Not In A Creepy Way

*They were psychedelic outlaws holing up in hill country hideouts to escape police harassment, dealing drugs to survive and blasting out a mix of LSD evangelism, mystical philosophy and grooved up rock'n'roll.   *In their short existence, The 13th Floor Elevators succeeded in blowing the lid off the musical underground, logging early salvos in the countercultural struggle against state authorities, and turning their deeply hallucinatory take on jug-band garage rock into a new American institution called psychedelic music.    *Paul Drummond author of 'Eye Mind - the Saga of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators' deemed the band significant enough to spend eight years of his life researching and writing about them - along with producing the definitve compilations of their work.   *We dig into their craziness - and into Janis Joplin, LSD, peyote, Antonin Artaud, mayhem, madness, music and more.   For More on Paul and his work #13thfloorelevators #counterculture #the13thfloorelevators #lsd #acid #psychedelicsound #psychedelicrock #occult #psychedelic #peyote  #rokyerickson #esoteric 

Singer/songwriter John Davis (Superdrag, The Lees of Memory) brings us the third and final album by Texas psyche rock pioneers The 13th Floor Elevators: 'Bull Of The Woods'. With other founding members Roky Erickson and Tommy Hall somewhat sidelined with various legal and personal issues, guitarist/songwriter Stacy Sutherland stepped-up to complete this dreamy, evocative slab of psychedelia that proved to be their swan song. Songs featured in this episode: Bull Of The Woods (Radio Spot) - 13th Floor Elevators; Sucked Out - Superdrag; Lonely Everywhere - The Lees Of Memory; If I Can't Have Your Love - John Davis; Do The Vampire - Superdrag; Slip Inside This House, Before You Accuse Me, Livin' On, Barnyard Blues, Till Then - 13th Floor Elevators; Movin' On Up - Primal Scream; The Black Angel's Death Song - The Velvet Underground; Never Another, Rose and the Thorn - 13th Floor Elevators; Ranting and Raving - The Rectangle Shades; Down By The River, Scarlet and Gold - 13th Floor Elevators; The Ostrich - The Primitives; Street Song - 13th Floor Elevators; All Along The Watchtower - Bob Dylan; Dr Doom, With You, May The Circle Remain Unbroken - 13th Floor Elevators; All You Really Want Is Love - The Lees Of Memory

In the latest episode of Retrosonic Podcast we welcome Mickey Bradley, bassist of The Undertones prior to their "Celebrating 45 Years of Teenage Kicks Tour" (or a 'series of weekends away' according to Mickey). We discuss his excellent book "Teenage Kicks: My Life as an Undertone" (Omnibus Press) and he picks some of his favourite songs and music that had an impact on the early days of The Undertones. Sadly, we recorded the episode the day that Seymour Stein passed away, so Mickey pays tribute to his former Sire Records label boss and picks his favourite Sire Records release. Throughout the show, we discover his influences as a bassist, some of his favourite music related books and authors, how he missed Paul Simonon smashing his bass while touring with The Clash, the influence of Lenny Kaye's "Nuggets" compilation and he picks some pivotal early Undertones tracks. We also cover last year's excellent compilation of the best of the current Paul McLoone fronted line-up "Dig What You Need". As you would expect, Mickey is entertaining company and the episode is soundtracked by loads of Mickey's superb musical choices including Ramones, David Bowie, The Jam, The Clash, Sex Pistols, Dr, Feelgood, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Rolling Stones and 13th Floor Elevators. For full track-listing and links please check out the feature at Retro Man Blog at the following link: https://retroman65.blogspot.com/2023/04/retrosonic-podcast-with-mickey-bradley.html Retrosonic Podcast has a valid PRS Licence.

Cette semaine, c'est Austin, Texas. Capitale du grand état du sud des Etats-Unis, c'est la patrie de plusieurs grands artistes très chers à Mappemonde.  On y retrouve bien sûr une scène rap coriace, de Danny Brown (originaire de Detroit mais vivant à Austin) à Brockampton, mais c'est surtout à DJ Screw que l'on pense beaucoup, immense artiste inventeur de la technique du "chopped and screwed", et à qui le rap contemporain doit beaucoup.  Austin est aussi la maison mère d'un des groupe d'ambient/drone les plus révéré de ces 20 dernières années, Stars of the Lid. Aujourd'hui en sommeil, on peut toutefois dire que le groupe a eu une influence incalculable à l'échelle mondiale. Et on ne peut pas se quitter sans évoquer The 13th Floor Elevators, groupe de rock psychédélique/garage incontournable des années 60. C'est la première fois que Mappemonde se rend au Texas, mais on y reviendra forcément, peut-être à l'occasion du tour des Etats-Unis amorcé avec notre invité star Marin (dont vous pouvez retrouver les derniers passage à Washington DC ou en Arizona).  La musique de Austin Abonnez-vous dans nos réseaux Même après plus de 200 épisodes, c'est toujours pareil : pour suivre Mappemonde, vous pouvez vous abonner à la page Facebook  ainsi que le compte Instagram. Vous pouvez écouter l'intégrale des podcasts via iTunes et autres plateformes de podcast (cherchez : « mappemonde radio campus paris » et abonnez-vous aux updates).

Cette semaine, c'est Austin, Texas. Capitale du grand état du sud des Etats-Unis, c'est la patrie de plusieurs grands artistes très chers à Mappemonde.  On y retrouve bien sûr une scène rap coriace, de Danny Brown (originaire de Detroit mais vivant à Austin) à Brockampton, mais c'est surtout à DJ Screw que l'on pense beaucoup, immense artiste inventeur de la technique du "chopped and screwed", et à qui le rap contemporain doit beaucoup.  Austin est aussi la maison mère d'un des groupe d'ambient/drone les plus révéré de ces 20 dernières années, Stars of the Lid. Aujourd'hui en sommeil, on peut toutefois dire que le groupe a eu une influence incalculable à l'échelle mondiale. Et on ne peut pas se quitter sans évoquer The 13th Floor Elevators, groupe de rock psychédélique/garage incontournable des années 60. C'est la première fois que Mappemonde se rend au Texas, mais on y reviendra forcément, peut-être à l'occasion du tour des Etats-Unis amorcé avec notre invité star Marin (dont vous pouvez retrouver les derniers passage à Washington DC ou en Arizona).      La musique de Austin The 13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me  Sun Araw - Deep Cover Brockhampton - Junky MDC - Corporate Deathburger Stars of the Lid - Dungtitler (In a Major) Bloodz Boi, Claire Rousay, More Eaze - Overcast DJ Screw - Sailin Da South American Analog Set - Million Young C418 - Minecraft Abonnez-vous dans nos réseaux Même après plus de 200 épisodes, c'est toujours pareil : pour suivre Mappemonde, vous pouvez vous abonner à la page Facebook  ainsi que le compte Instagram. Vous pouvez écouter l'intégrale des podcasts via iTunes et autres plateformes de podcast (cherchez : « mappemonde radio campus paris » et abonnez-vous aux updates). Une émission animée et réalisée par Léo Vesco, Maxime Valette et Antoine Carrière. Mappemonde est une émission créée par Thomas Guillot pour Radio Campus Paris. Générique réalisé par Maxime Kokocinzki. Photo : Austin skyline, Austin Texas © LoneStarMike.  

R.E.M. "I'm Gonna DJ"The Hold Steady "Most People Are Djs"The Low Anthem "Yellowed By the Sun"Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit "Kid Fears (feat. Brandi Carlile & Julien Baker)"The Crystals "And Then He Kissed Me"Louis Armstrong "I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of This Jelly Roll"Kitty Wells "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man"13th Floor Elevators "You're Gonna Miss Me"Kris Kristofferson "Maybe You Heard"The Undertones "Teenage Kicks"The Tammys "Egyptian Shumba"The White Stripes "Hello Operator"Muddy Waters "Baby I Done Got Wise"D'Angelo "Feel Like Makin' Love"Dolly Parton "Don't Drop Out"John R. Miller "Motor's Fried"Aimee Mann "In Mexico"Bob Dylan & The Band "Goin' to Acapulco"The Flies "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone"Clem Snide "Moment in the Sun"Neko Case "John Saw That Number"My Morning Jacket "The Way That He Sings"The Supremes "You Can't Hurry Love"Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis "Rainy Day Blues"Oscar Peterson Trio "The Girl From Ipanema"Leslie Gore "Maybe I Know"The Velvet Underground "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'"Cat Clyde "Sheets of Green"Lightnin' Hopkins "Ride in Your New Automobile"Matt Sweeney "I Am a Youth Inclined to Ramble"Townes Van Zandt "Still Looking For You"The Shirelles "Will You Love Me Tomorrow"Gram Parsons "The Angels Rejoiced Last Night"Doc Watson "Little Darling Pal of Mine"Tom Verlaine "There's a Reason"Television "See No Evil"Neutral Milk Hotel "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea"Phoebe Bridgers "I Know The End"Shaver "The Earth Rolls On"Solomon Burke "Diamond in Your Mind"Dave Rawlings Machine "Pilgrim (You Can't Go Home)"

2:47:32 – Frank in NJ and NYC, plus the Other Side. Topics include: The old commute from Plainsboro, heading into the city on a gloomy afternoon, bridge out for years, vague comets, another detour, brown tiles, Primal Scream, The 13th Floor Elevators, Subtilités De La Puissance Fluviale, the old office, Winter Village, the basement the next morning, […]

2:47:32 – Frank in NJ and NYC, plus the Other Side. Topics include: The old commute from Plainsboro, heading into the city on a gloomy afternoon, bridge out for years, vague comets, another detour, brown tiles, Primal Scream, The 13th Floor Elevators, Subtilités De La Puissance Fluviale, the old office, Winter Village, the basement the next morning, […]

My guest this week is Oliver Ackermann from New York City-based band, A Place To Bury Strangers The group's newly remastered reissue of their 2009 album,  Exploding Head, was released last month via Mute / BMG. Available on limited edition transparent double vinyl, transparent red single vinyl and as a deluxe 2CD package, the CD and digital formats include rarities, unreleased material and three blistering cover versions of tracks by Love & Rockets, 13th Floor Elevators and David Bowie. To order a copy of this fantastic album visit  https://shop.bingomerch.com/collections/a-place-to-bury-strangers

Author Grady Hendrix dropped in on The Record Player for what became one of our favorite chats to date. Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson is the album that Grady brought along to discuss with Jeff and Matt.Released in 1990, Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye features an all-star cast including R.E.M., the Jesus and Mary Chain, Poi Dog Pondering, John Wesley Harding, Julian Cope, ZZ Top, Bongwater, Butthole Surfers and many others. They all pooled their musical talents in support of Austin singer-songwriter Roky Erickson (13th Floor Elevators) who was dealing with hard times. The album helped to spark a renaissance for his career, with Erickson eventually making his return to recording and playing live. Producer Bill Bentley revisited his experiences of working on Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye in a 2017 article celebrating a vinyl release of the compilation. He went on to mount a second tribute to Erickson which was released on Light in the Attic in 2021.About Grady:Grady Hendrix used to be a journalist, which means that he was completely irrelevant and could be killed and turned into food at any time. He is one of the founders of the New York Asian Film Festival, but he is not responsible for the bad parts of it. For years he was a regular film critic for the New York Sun but then it went out of business. He has written for Playboy Magazine, Slate, The Village Voice, the New York Post, Film Comment, and Variety. He has a hard time making up his mind.He is very, very beautiful, but if you ever meet him, please do not let this make you uncomfortable. He does not judge.The New Yorker once ran a short profile of him, and this means that when the time comes and they are lining people up for the Space Arks he will be guaranteed a seat ahead of you.Okay, so you can read everything in full at Grady's website. He's a funny guy. A number of his books have been optioned for movies and television, including My Best Friend's Exorcism, which you can now watch on Amazon Prime and he's got a new book coming in early 2023, which we discuss briefly in our conversation.The Record Player:Please rate and review our podcast wherever you might be listening. It all helps and we appreciate your ears and thoughts!If you're enjoying these episodes, please consider joining our Patreon. Become a member of the Record Club to receive early access to our conversations, plus bonus interviews and additional materials related to the program. Thanks so much for your support!

The Seahawks and Lions produce an improbable Scorigami as Andrew wrestles with the concept. The Braves sweep the Mets and prove the Hooks & Runs teams are not meteorologists. The playoffs are all but set. Aaron Judge hits No. 62. Craig goes to an Astro game and has too much time on his hands. Rex sees Riot Act at Warehouse Live. Check It OutRex recommends Riot Act's 2020 single "Overdrive."Craig recommends The Black Angels' new album "Wilderness of Mirrors," released September 16 on Partisan Records - this is "El Jardin."Andrew recommends Atrial's new single "Respect the Set."Errata: The movie is "Crazy Heart," the song is "The Weary Kind," and the actor is Jeff Bridges. The 13th Floor Elevators was an Austin band that broke up in 1969. Hooks & Runs - www.hooksandruns.comHooks & Runs Discord -  https://discord.gg/RS46RfFjKQHooks & Runs playlists on Spotify - https://tinyurl.com/hooksspotifyHooks & Runs on TIkTok -  https://www.tiktok.com/@hooksandrunsHooks & Runs on Twitter - https://twitter.com/hooksandrunspcCraig Estlinbaum on TwitterLink: https://twitter.com/CraigEstlinbaumAndrew Eckhoff on Tik Tok (it's true)Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@hofffestRex von Pohl (Krazy Karl's Music Emporium) on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/people/Krazy-Karlz-Music-Emporium/100063801500293/ Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (Premium Beat) This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2022, all rights reserved.   

Rockshow Episode 162 Roky Erickson Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson (July 15, 1947 – May 31, 2019) was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was a founding member and the leader of the 13th Floor Elevators and a pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre. Erickson was interested in music from his youth, playing piano from age five and taking up guitar at 10. He attended school in Austin and dropped out of Travis High School in 1965, one month before graduating, rather than cut his hair to conform to the school dress code.Erickson wrote his first songs, "You're Gonna Miss Me" and "We Sell Soul", at age 15, and started a band with neighborhood friends which would evolve into his first notable group, the Spades.The Spades scored a regional hit with "We Sell Soul"; the song is included as an unlisted bonus track on Erickson's 1995 album All That May Do My Rhyme and was adapted as "Don't Fall Down" by the 13th Floor Elevators for their debut album. The Spades' original version of "You're Gonna Miss Me", later a hit for the 13th Floor Elevators, was featured on the compilation album The Best of Pebbles Volume 1. https://www.rokyerickson.com/ https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/the-pure-weirdness-of-the-psychedelic-rock-icon-roky-erickson/amp https://open.spotify.com/artist/7hCsRnXtcbez8msLPfjbkz https://m.facebook.com/rokyericksonTM/ https://m.imdb.com/name/nm2227718/ https://mobile.twitter.com/rokyericksontm #musicvideo #musicstudio #musiclover #musiclife #musicindustry #musiclovers #musiccover #musician#Alicecooper #musicproducer #musicproduction #musicians #musicislife #musicartist #musicphotography #musicvideos #Music #drummer #Guitar @drummers @spotify @twitter #grammy @grammy @psychedelic rock #psychedelic rock @Roky Erickson #Roky Erickson #goldalbum #Platinumalbum @Platinum @gold Please follow us on Youtube,Facebook,Instagram,Twitter,Patreon and at www.gettinglumpedup.com https://linktr.ee/RobRossi Get your T-shirt at https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/gettinglumpedup And https://www.bonfire.com/store/getting-lumped-up/ https://app.hashtag.expert/?fpr=roberto-rossi80 https://dc2bfnt-peyeewd4slt50d2x1b.hop.clickbank.net Subscribe to the channel and hit the like button This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rob-rossi/support https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-lumped-up-with-rob-rossi/id1448899708 https://open.spotify.com/show/00ZWLZaYqQlJji1QSoEz7a https://www.patreon.com/Gettinglumpedup --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rob-rossi/support

In this exciting episode Di and I talk about America. America is a colloquial name for the western hemisphere of the planet Earth, which is itself the third rocky planet in the Sol system. It was named for Italian map maker Amerigo Vespucci over the course of the sixteenth century due to oh wait I did it again.Album:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrpyDacBCh7ASZSffA8SyYnoYb4Cjp4_1Last Unicorn, just the whole movie:https://youtu.be/Enq2pFpBz1sTheir Synthpop Album (Its sounds like a dentist waiting room):https://youtu.be/9Ap9wWf9x8sThe Weird Indie thing, check out track 4 to hear the Nada Surf cover:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUE1pmSJDwNscyh3jRPTnpAz7kou9qDy-Making of Here and Now, a love fest:https://youtu.be/o2ho9iNIkK8Geography Bands:Boston - https://youtu.be/t4QK8RxCAwoKansas, I swore this was Rush - https://youtu.be/P5ZJui3aPoQChicago - https://youtu.be/1A0MPWseJIEOther Prog RockIn A Gadda Da Vida, just the drum solo - https://youtu.be/lSttPLaTx_MSigh pink floyd - https://youtu.be/-0kcet4aPpQRush - https://youtu.be/auLBLk4ibAkStyx - https://youtu.be/uc6f_2nPSX8An entire album about LOTR - https://youtu.be/mn4kXg-OqksThings being made at roughly the same time as all this Prog Rock:13nth Floor Elevators - https://youtu.be/YIVpHNEPzDMMC5 - https://youtu.be/yvJGQ_piwI0Sweet - https://youtu.be/7lTwA5xMeTMRamones - https://youtu.be/268C3N2dDYkNew York Dolls - https://youtu.be/Ctg5FCS1wCMVelvet Underground and Nico - https://youtu.be/nfAK-IAlcsYLou Reed - https://youtu.be/RsVLIiI8VfoPunk Palate Cleanser -https://youtu.be/hHnf8_bPW4QThat one Vertical Horizon Song - https://youtu.be/U8s_q3IaglQ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is part of Pledge Week 2022. Every day this week, I'll be posting old Patreon bonus episodes of the podcast which will have this short intro. These are short, ten- to twenty-minute bonus podcasts which get posted to Patreon for my paying backers every time I post a new main episode -- there are well over a hundred of these in the archive now. If you like the sound of these episodes, then go to patreon.com/andrewhickey and subscribe for as little as a dollar a month or ten dollars a year to get access to all those bonus episodes, plus new ones as they appear. Click below for the transcript Transcript Just a note before I begin, this episode deals with mental illness and with the methods, close to torture, used to treat it in the middle of the last century, so anyone for whom that's a delicate subject may want to skip this one. There's a term that often gets used about some musicians, "outsider music", and it's a term that I'm somewhat uncomfortable with. It's a term that gets applied to anyone eccentric, whether someone like Jandek who releases his own albums through mail order and just does his own thing, or someone like Hasil Adkins who made wild rockabilly music, or an entertainer like Tiny Tim who had a bizarre but consistent view of showbusiness, or a band like the Shaggs who were just plain incompetent, or people like Wesley Willis or Wild Man Fischer who had serious mental health problems. The problem with the term is that it erases these differences, and that it assumes that the most interesting thing about the music is the person behind it. It also erases talent, especially in the case of mentally ill artists. There are several mutually incompatible assumptions about creative artists who have mental health problems. One is that their music should be treated like a freak show, and either appreciated for that reason (if you're someone who gets their entertainment from someone else's suffering) or disdained (if you don't want to do that). Other people think that the mental illness *makes* the music, that great art comes from mental health problems, while yet others will argue that someone's art has nothing at all to do with their mental health, and is not influenced by it in any way. All of these positions are, of course, wrong. Mental illness doesn't stop someone from making great art -- except when it takes away the ability to make art at all of course -- people like Brian Wilson or Vincent Van Gogh are testament to that, and their best work has nothing to do with a freak show. But nor does it grant the ability to make great art. Someone with no musical talent who develops schizophrenia just becomes a schizophrenic person with no musical talent. But to say that mental illness doesn't affect the work is also nonsense. Everything about someone's life affects their art, especially something as important as their mental health. And the real problem with these labels comes with those artists who don't manage to develop a substantial body of work before their illness sets in. Those with real musical talent, but who end up getting put in the outsider artist bucket because their work is so obviously affected by their illness. And one of those is Roky Erickson, of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators. Erickson started his career aged fifteen with a group based in Austin, Texas, called the Spades -- and I hope that this wasn't intended as a racial slur, as the word was sometimes used at this time. Their first single, "We Sell Soul", released in 1965, shows the clear influence of "Gloria" by Them: [Excerpt: The Spades, "We Sell Soul"] That was a regional hit, and so their second single, the first song that Erickson had ever written, was recorded in the same style: [Excerpt: The Spades, "You're Gonna Miss Me"] But by December 1965, Erickson had left the Spades, and joined Stacy Sutherland, Benny Thurman, and John Ike Walton, the members of another band called the Lingsmen. They were joined by a fifth man, Tommy Hall, who became the band's lyricist, liner-note writer, and general spokesman, and who played an electric jug, creating an effect somewhere between bubbling and a wobble board. Hall started calling the group's music "psychedelic rock" in late 1965 after being influenced by Timothy Leary, and I've seen some people say he was the first person ever to use the term. The group released a rerecorded version of "You're Gonna Miss Me" on a small local label: [Excerpt: The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, "You're Gonna Miss Me"] That was released in January 1966, and later picked up by a larger label, International Artists, which was the home of a lot of Texan psychedelic bands, like the Golden Dawn and the Red Crayola. It spent most of the year slowly climbing the charts, eventually reaching number fifty-five -- the highest chart position the group would ever have. It was included on their debut album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, released towards the end of the year, by which time Thurman had been replaced by Ronnie Leatherman on bass. The album's liner notes were written by Hall and had a large amount of advocacy for the use of psychedelic drugs -- as did the music itself, though some of this was a little more subtle, like the song "Fire Engine", where the line "let me take you to the empty place" was meant to sound like "DMT place", DMT being a psychedelic drug: [Excerpt: The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, "Fire Engine"] Around this time, the band crossed paths with Janis Joplin, who was a big fan of the group and who they tried to get to join them, but Joplin decided to move to California instead. Tommy Hall was a huge advocate for both the potential of LSD to open people's minds, and of the general semantics of Alfred Korzybski, and his enthusiasm for both showed up on the group's second album. Unfortunately, not all of the group were of quite the same mind, and Leatherman and Walton left early in the sessions for that album, Easter Everywhere, which was considered not quite up to the standards of the previous album, though Erickson and Hall's eight-minute long "Slip Inside This House" is a favourite of most of the fans. [Excerpt: The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, "Slip Inside This House"] Unfortunately, the band started to disintegrate. The core of Erickson, Hall, and Sutherland remained together, but various bass players and drummers came and went -- though one of the band's rhythm sections, Duke Davis and Danny Thomas, was good enough that the band's label got them to back Lightnin' Hopkins on his album Free Form Patterns. According to reports I've read, Davis and Thomas were both on acid during the session, but they still play solidly throughout: [Excerpt: Lightnin' Hopkins, "Give Me Time to Think"] Another potential bass player at this point was a roommate of Erickson's, who Erickson tried to get into the band but who Hall turned down. Townes Van Zandt later went on to rather bigger things. Erickson also started to have some mental problems -- apparently taking LSD literally every day for years is not great for you. And when he was arrested for marijuana possession, he decided to use his mental health as a way to get out of a potential ten-year jail sentence, by getting three years in a psychiatric hospital instead. He later claimed that he was lying about his problems and acting mad to get this sentence, but he had been having problems before then. Hall and Sutherland and their current rhythm section finished up a few demos, and the record label put out one final album made up of outtakes, plus a faked live album with crowd noise overdubbed on some earlier studio recordings, but with their lead singer in hospital for three years the band split up. Hall became a Scientologist and quit the music industry altogether. If Erickson *was* faking his illness when he went into the hospital, he wasn't faking it by the time he came out. Psychiatric medicine was still in its infancy then. It's far from wonderful today, but at least in general you can be relatively sure that the treatment won't make you worse. That wasn't the case in the late sixties and early seventies, and Erickson was forced through multiple sessions of electro-shock therapy. (To be clear, electro-shock therapy can sometimes be effective for some conditions when done properly and with the patient's consent. This wasn't either.) When Erickson finally got out, he tried to put his life back together, and formed a new band called Bleib Alien, later renamed Roky Erickson and the Aliens, who made hard rock records with lyrics about science fiction and horror themes like zombies, fire demons, medical experimentation, and two-headed dogs: [Excerpt: Roky Erickson and the Aliens, "Two-Headed Dog"] Erickson became a cult artist, cited as an influence by everyone from Henry Rollins to ZZ Top, and intermittently released recordings for the next few decades, but he spent much of the time dealing with severe, untreated, schizophrenia. There are many stories about this time that get shared, and are easy to find online, but which I'm not going to repeat here because they tend to be shared in a freak-show manner. But by 2001 he was placed in the legal custody of his brother . This kind of situation is often abused, but in Erickson's case it seems to have done him good. His brother got him legal and medical help, and helped him start finally receiving royalties on some of his records. There was a one-off fiftieth anniversary reunion of most of the living original members of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, and in 2010 Erickson released his finest album, a collaboration with the band Okkervil River, True Love Cast Out All Evil: [Excerpt: Roky Erickson and Okkervil River, "Ain't Blues Too Bad"] By all accounts the last years of Erickson's life were happier and more comfortable than any he'd had. He got to tour the world, playing for appreciative crowds, he got his schizophrenia under control, and he was able to live a relatively independent life, and to know that new generations of musicians admired his work. He died in 2019, aged seventy-one.

When this week's guest, producer/audio engineer Paul Mahern, discovered 'Easter Everywhere' by Texas psychedelic rock band 13th Floor Elevators in the early 80s, he was a punk rock loving musician (Indianapolis Indiana's Zero Boys) looking to expand his musical horizons. He got all that he bargained for and more with this wonderfully dense, expansive and mind-blowing record by a band - led by Tommy Hall and Roky Erickson - that went all-in on their spirituality-through-psychedelics ideals. "You're moving, keep climbing...leave your body behind." Songs featured in this episode: I've Got Levitation (live, 1967) - 13th Floor Elevators; Vicious Circle - Zero Boys; Forecast - Diane Coffee (feat. Deep Sea Diver); Lucifer Sam - Pink Floyd; You're Gonna Miss Me - 13th Floor Elevators; Night of the Vampire - Roky Erickson; Slip Inside This House, Slide Machine - 13th Floor Elevators; Monkey Island - Powell St John; She Lives (In a Time of Her Own) - The Judybats; She Lives (In a Time of Her Own) - 13th Floor Elevators; Let's Spend The Night Together - The Rolling Stones; Nobody To Love - 13th Floor Elevators; D.C.B.A.-25 - Jefferson Airplane; It's All Over Now, Baby Blue - Bob Dylan; It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Earthquake - 13th Floor Elevators; I Look Around - Rain Parade; Things'll Never Be The Same - Spacemen 3; Dust - 13th Floor Elevators; Think (Let Tomorrow Bee) - Sebadoh; I've Got Levitation, I Had To Tell You - 13th Floor Elevators; Sweet Virginia - The Rolling Stones; Universal Soldier - Buffy Sainte Marie; Postures (Leave Your Body Behind) - 13th Floor Elevators; Earthquake - Butthole Surfers

*   The poster on the left is of the group who first used the words "Psychedelic Rock" to describe their music.  They were called "The 13th Floor Elevators" (circa - 1966).THEME:  "Psychedelic Rock" PLAYLIST:TIME | TITLE | ARTIST00:00 | DJ | DICK LEE AND THE ICEMAN00:28 | WHAT I'D SAY | THE BRYMERS01:13 | FIT ME IN | BRYMERS02:15 | SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE | CREAM06:26 | YOUR GONNA MISS ME | 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS09:29 | EIGHT MILES HIGH | BYRDS13:21 | SACRIFICE | BRYMERS17:57 | WHITE RABBIT | JEFFERSON AIRPLANE22:06 | BLACK MAGIC WOMAN | SANTANA27:10 | RUN THROUGH THE JUNGLE | CCR30:03 | INTERVIEW - MARS BONFIRE (STEPPENWOLF) |  33:44 | BORN TO BE WILD | STEPPENWOLF38:04 | GLASS CHANDLIER | FAPARDOKLY41:21 | SUMMERTIME BLUES | BLUE CHEER45:16 | LUCEY IN THE SKY | BEATLES49:55 | BREAK ON THROUGH  | DOORS53:21 | HUSH | DEEP PURPLE57:02 | WHOLE LOT OF LOVE | LED ZEPPELIN59:01 | HOLD ON I'M COMING | BRYMERS"Dick Lee and 60's Garage Rock from California" is a weekly one hour show that features great California Garage Rock along with the hits of the day. The show can be heard on KOOL 100.7 FM-Saturdays-12:00 noon (PST-Hanford, CA), Amsterdam International Radio, WYML 99.9 FM (Chicago), M.A.D. FM - New Zealand, Replay Radio FM (U.K.), Way Out Radio FM (U.K.), Experience FM 103.9 ( Indianapolis), 60's Chart Busters (Cyprus), KCEG (N.D.), Supreme VIB-Z Radio (Jamaica), So Faking Radio (Arizona), KOGY 95 FM-Hawaiian Pacific Radio, The Rock 97.3 (Morro Bay, CA), Atlantic Radio FM (U.K.), Riot Radio (Maryville, IL), Black Hole FM (Milford, CT.), Community Radio-Long Island, (N.Y.), KEWL 98 FM (New Jersey), Akaroa World Radio-90.1 FM (New Zealand), FAB Radio Internation (Manchester, England), Classic Rock XL, (Ontario, Canada), Northern Pirate Radio (U.K.), HD Radio Network, (Dealfield, Wisconsin), KHJ FM 105.3 (Albany, Oregon), Canal Side Radio, (U.K.), Remember Then Radio (U.S.) WRTR(Tuscaloosa, Ala), Sixties City Garage Rock, (U.K.), 57 Chevy Radio (U.S.), NWCZ Radio (Seattle-Tacoma), WCNX 1710 AM (Middletown, CT), KRYZ 98.5 FM (Mariposa, CA), WCSQ 105.9 FM (Cobleskill, NY), Brill 1449 Radio (U.K.), WZPH Radio (Dade City, FL), SG1 Radio (U.K.), Radio Flawless (New York), KWRH (St. Louis, MO), KWCZ (Seattle, WA). KITZ (Gilchrist, OR), KNCP (LA Pine, OR.), KZSR (Paso Robles, CA.) KOWS Radio (Sonoma County/Santa Rosa, CA), Heat FM Radio (NY), Griffiti Radio (U.K.), Bay and Basin 92.7 FM-Australia, ZANJ Radio (Jamaica), Dusty Discs Radio (B.C., Canada), The Phoenix Radio Network (U.K.), KCIW 100.7 FM (Brookings, OR), Q95 Oldies (S.C.), KALH Radio (N.M.), KSHD-FM, (OR), Mystery Train Radio (U.K.), Drive-In-A Go-Go Radio (Ontario, Canada), E.K FM Radio (U.K.), Rebel Radio (U.K.), GR8 Chats Radio (U.K.), Thunder Radio Canada (Ontario, Canada), Total Mixx Radio (Virginia), Veterans Family Radio (U.K.), KSVB 91.4 FM (Big Bear, CA), Destiny Radio (U.K.) Fantasy Radio (U.K.), Curve Radio (U.K.), Beatz Radio (Bangladesh), Ambron Radio (U.K.), Curve Radio (U.K.), Fantasy Radio (U.K.), Ohio Broadcast Network (Columbus, OH), Solar FM (U.K.), Sho Off Radio (U.K.), Max Radio (N.Y.), On Air Hits (TX), Sea Wall Radio (Galvaston, TX), Now Hits Radio (U.K.), Cruize Radio (Australia), Urban Essex Radio (U.K.), Corvette Retro Radio (Athens, Ohio), "HU 1 Radio" (U.K.), "Bulls Eye Radio" (New York), Cofton Radio (U.K.), Radio For Fun (Australia), Sanctuary Radio (Denver, CO), Mad Wasp Radio (U.K.), Kings FM Radio (U.K.), OwlTail.com, Cherokee Nation Radio, AKA Radio, (California), Madness FM Radio (U.K.), Global Community Radio (New York), iHeart Radio, Fish Creek Radio (San Antonio, TX), Chris Max Radio (N.Y.), Hot Tunez Radio (U.K.), QSKY Radio (New York), I.E. Radio (U.S. and U.K.), BHP Radio (U.K.), The Mix 96 FM (La, Ala, Ga, and the U.K.), Ken Versa's Power Hit Radio (Colorado), Radio Hawk (Cornwall, Canada), KMBY 95.9 FM (Monterey, Santa Cruz, Carmel), CABMZK Radio (U.K.), 70's Greatest Hits Radio (U.S.), KFOK Radio (Georgetown, CA), KINT 98 FM (El Paso, TX), Scream Radio (UK), A.M.R. Radio (Atlanta, GA), Seabird Radio (U.K.), Thames Valley Community Radio (UK), Arvada Rocks Radio (Colorado), Shore Shore Radio Blackpool (U.K.), KFOK 95.1 FM (CA), Peak Wireless Radio (U.K.), Your Radio (U.K.), KYXZ 107.9 FM (Grover Beach, CA), "Classic Rock XL" (McElmon Media Group - London and Ontario),  "Cool Vibes Radio (U.K.), 121 Radio (U.K.),  P.V.R. Radio (U.K.), and Blue Bunny Radio (U.K.).

The Bonniwell Music Machine - DiscrepancyThe Masters Apprentices - war or hands of time13th Floor Elevators - you're gonna miss meThe Ace of Cups - GlueThe Grateful Dead - passenger 10/11/80The Count Five - psychotic reactionDonovan - Tangerine PuppetThe Electric Prunes - long day's flight (til tomorrow)Jethro Tull - Living In The PastSteve Miller Band - Roll With ItThe Grateful Dead (w/Jon Hendricks) - Fire In The CityAcid Mothers Reynols - volcano waterfallDantalian's Chariot - The Madman Running Through the FieldsJupiter 4 - cold fusionThe Seeds - Out of the QuestionThe Zipps - Kicks and ChicksThe Grateful Dead - terrapin station 9/12/91Writing On The Wall - BogeymanGUN - SunshineThe Chocolate Watch Band - gone and passed byMahogany Rush - talkin 'bout a feelin'Support the show

Theme song by Nick Shoulders & Joel Huggins nickshoulders.bandcamp.com Artwork by Ben Barnes benbarnes.net Songs featured in this episode: -The Gimmicks "Swarm Inside" from the album Honeymoon's Over on Estrus Records 2000 -13th Floor Elevators "You're Gonna Miss Me" from the album The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators on International Artists 1966 -The Phantom Surfers "Pygmy Dance" from the album "The Great Surf Crash Of '97" on Lookout Records 1996 -The A-Bones "Baby Doll" from the collection Daddy Wants A Cold Beer And Other Million Sellers on Norton Records 2004 -The Mummies "Sooprize Package For Mr. Mineo" from the album Never Been Caught on Telstar Records 1992 -Kill Sybil "Dumb" from the album Kill Sybil on Empty Records 1993 -Death Valley Girls "Under The Spell Of Joy" from the album "Under The Spell Of Joy" on Suicide Squeeze Records 2020

004 Fourth Floor Elevators: All Hallows' Eve Selections Part One01 Larry's Rebels - Halloween (New Zealand 1968) Quite a success in their homeland, this quintet laid down many fine singles and an album during their brief four year span. This fun Halloween theme isn't quite spooky, but the earnest vocal and hilarious sound effects give it a bizarre appeal that could only come from the 60's.02 The Rattles - The Witch (Germany 1969) This German band's career spans four decades beginning with the early 60's beat boom. Their psychedelic work is laced with hard rock as heard on this scorcher featuring sound effects that too sound like a hoot to make in the studio with a head full of hashish.03 Griffin - I Am The Noise In Your Head (UK 69) One-off band that features members of Skip Bifferty and Bell + Arc plus future Yes drummer Alan White. This demented number is a perfect example of the pre-hard rock that many long haired bands would pursue before fully committing to the sound or seeking more progressive pastures.04 Alice Cooper - Fields of Regret (US 1969) Before finding success with his brand of shock rock, Alice Cooper was a band led by Vincent Furnier who would later adopt their name as his government. This epic piece from their debut shows a band worshiping at the altar of Syd-era Pink Floyd while being freshly influenced by label boss Frank Zappa's twisted form of virtuoso rock.05 The Doors - My Wild Love (US 1968) This "work song" styled dirge by the LA kings of doom laden psychedelia features no instruments from the band, as they grew tired of trying to make the music work and opted instead to clap, stomp and hum their way through the backing track. The result is one of their most haunting and unique songs.06 Fever Tree - Death is the Dancer (US 1968) This Houston band's sound grew from their folk rock beginnings into an organ driven psychedelic stew that they cooked across four albums and numerous singles. This proto-prog number incorporates a bit of a Doors influence but beefs up the rhythm section a few decibels.07 St. John Green - Goddess of Death (US 1968) Exploito psych at its finest produced by shady LA scenester Kim Fowley and West Pop Experimental Pop Art Band member/producer Michael Lloyd. Encouraged by Fowley to explore the "Canyon Sound" that he was pushing on bands at the time, these Pasadena based misfits produced one of the earliest forms of occult rock ever released.  08 Les Sauterelles - Heavenly Club (Switzerland 1968) A smash hit in their homeland, this Swiss band produced two albums and a few singles of beat and pop-psych before calling it quits in 1969. This Bee Gees inspired tune is a strange story of a man's near death experience that leaves him insane and features such a soaring chorus that the nonsensical lyrics are easily forgiven.09 The Salt - Lucifer (US 1968) A funky pop ode to Beelzebub by an alias of bubblegum producer Joey Levine, who was also in Ohio Express and wrote their classic hit "Try It".  This song proves that the most skilled pop songwriter can take the darkest of subject matter and produce an ear worm.10 The Flying Machine - The Devil Has Possession of Your Mind (UK 1969) Though the title suggests possibly the darkest psych single ever recorded, we instead find another bubblegum tune that draws parallels between the man downstairs and a cheating lover. This band started life as Pinkerton's Assorted Colours and specialized in breezy UK harmony pop.11 Childe Harold - Brink of Death (US 1968) Truly warped in every sense of the word, this cover of Bert Sommers' downer masterpiece features every production trick available at the time plus some.  The band seems to be an alias project by electronic wizard Wendy Carlos.All songs recorded from vinyl and curated by Elvin Estela.

There is an unproductive trope of there being a fine line between genius and madman. Constantly, we are encouraged to believe that the works of “artists in asylums” are somehow this perpetual motion machine where mental illness fuels creativity which, in turn, fractures the creator even more creating a cycle toward an inevitable dark end, where we are only left with the work to scrutinize or admire. The truth is a lot less dramatic, but no less sad. Social circumstances, interpersonal relationships, biology, substances, and societal expectations each play relevant roles in determining the well-being of every person: artist, genius, or just the poor soul sleeping on the street. Art and artist are separate. Just as a mental condition and person are separate. Influenced and interlaced, certainly, but we so often forget that works do not define the person, rather the person defines the work.Many of us are captivated by albums that were created while the artists were in mental hospitals. They are rare artifacts that unfortunately end up defining the artist for their careers while giving an undue amount of weight to the condition of their mind rather than the beauty within it. The artistry that comes from the pain and confusion of confinement . . . in a hospital and in one's mind. The records are snapshots of musicians on the brink that utilized songs to communicate their struggle or alleviate suffering. Today, we are exploring Institutional Albums by Roky Erickson, Skip Spence, and Danial Johnston.Sources used for this episode include:13th Floor Elevators: A Visual History by Paul DrummondEye Mind: The Saga of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, The Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound by Paul DrummondHighway Hi-Fi is a proud member of the Pantheon Music Podcast Network - Home of the Finest Music Podcasts

There is an unproductive trope of there being a fine line between genius and madman. Constantly, we are encouraged to believe that the works of “artists in asylums” are somehow this perpetual motion machine where mental illness fuels creativity which, in turn, fractures the creator even more creating a cycle toward an inevitable dark end, where we are only left with the work to scrutinize or admire. The truth is a lot less dramatic, but no less sad. Social circumstances, interpersonal relationships, biology, substances, and societal expectations each play relevant roles in determining the well-being of every person: artist, genius, or just the poor soul sleeping on the street. Art and artist are separate. Just as a mental condition and person are separate. Influenced and interlaced, certainly, but we so often forget that works do not define the person, rather the person defines the work.Many of us are captivated by albums that were created while the artists were in mental hospitals. They are rare artifacts that unfortunately end up defining the artist for their careers while giving an undue amount of weight to the condition of their mind rather than the beauty within it. The artistry that comes from the pain and confusion of confinement . . . in a hospital and in one's mind. The records are snapshots of musicians on the brink that utilized songs to communicate their struggle or alleviate suffering. Today, we are exploring Institutional Albums by Roky Erickson, Skip Spence, and Danial Johnston.Sources used for this episode include:13th Floor Elevators: A Visual History by Paul DrummondEye Mind: The Saga of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, The Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound by Paul DrummondHighway Hi-Fi is a proud member of the Pantheon Music Podcast Network - Home of the Finest Music Podcasts

Discussing #85-83 of the top 100 albums of the 1960s from https://besteveralbums.com. This episode covers the following albums: The 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators (09:45), Nina Simone - Pastel Blues (38:17), and The United States of America - self-titled (1:04:30). --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/combingthestacks/message

Did you know the Rolling Stones took a witch on tour with them? How drugs affected the 13th Floor Elevators' Roky Erickson and the treatment he had to endure? It's all in here.