The “Golden Hits Of The 60s”
Main MenuConcept Refinement The Author..Wayne JancikGolden Age Of The 50sGolden Age Of The 60s1970s and There After
BLUE CHEER
SUMMERTIME BLUES
(Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capehart)
Philips 40516
No. 14 May 4, 1968
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The first truly American heavy-metal band, Blue Cheer was excessive in every way-with their hair length, the
volume of their music, and their guitar solos. Their name came from a particular strain of LSD then in
vogue. From behind their towering wall of Marshall amps, Blue Cheer, in the words of their manager, could
“play so hard and heavy they [made] cottage cheese out of the air.”
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The Sturm und Drang started in Boston in 1967. Bassist Dick Peterson (b. 1948, Grand Forks, ND) was
dissatisfied with the off-the-wall psychedelic music that his band, Group B, was playing. He wanted to do
more stripped-down and heavier material, so he quit Group B. Dick located lead guitarist Bruce “Leigh”
Stephens through a newspaper ad; several drummers came and went before Paul Whaley, a friend of Dick’s
and a mem ber of a group called Oxford Circle, completed the thunderous trio.
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After moving to San Francisco, the band was spot ted by Abe “Voco” Kesh. “Voco was a DJ at KMPX, the
first real FM underground station;’ Peterson told Gold mine’s Geoff O’Keefe. “Most blues people at the time
were saying, ‘Oh, man, this [Blue Cheer] is trash. These guys are so loud. Look at the dwarfs:But Voco liked
it. So we went into the studio and we did a tape of’Sum mertime Blues;’Doctor Please; and ‘Out of Focus:We
gave it to Voco and asked him to play it on his station. He did, and people went nuts! We were getting play
every hour. We didn’t even have a contract or an album or anything.”
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That state of affairs changed, and quickly Philips Records signed Blue Cheer to a contract and issued their
debut cut-the trio’s take on Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues.” Their debut album, Vincebus Eruptum
(1968), hit number 11 on the top pop albums chart; their next three LPs- Outsideinside ( 1968), New!
Improved! Blue Cheer (1969), and The Original Human Being (1970)-did not sell quite as well. The group’s
career momentum stalled when a follow-up suitable for AM radio was not forthcoming.
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Meanwhile, personnel problems began to develop. Peterson and Whaley fired their lead guitarist, briefly
replacing him with Randy Holden, member of the Other Half. Holden soon departed, so guitarist Bruce
Stephens and keyboardist Ralph Burns Kellogg, both formerly of Dot Records’ Mint Tattoo, stepped in. That
crucial follow-up, “Just a Little Bit” (#92, 1968), was finally pulled from Blue Cheer’s second LP-but for
many radio programmers, it was a case of too little, too admitted. “[By 1970] I was the only original member
left…. I was just fulfilling contracts. I was so frustrated with Blue Cheer and everything that was happening
around it … I wanted to get away.”
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After the release of one more album (Oh! Pleasant Hope, 1971), minus still more members, Peterson shut
down the band to become a baker. Paul Whaley was spotted in the mid-’80s making pizza in San Francisco.
Bruce Stephens, who is now married to Peterson’s ex wife and works as an electrician, recorded one solo LP
(Watch That First Step) in 1982. Ralph Kellogg is a producer and owner of the Radio Tokyo Studios. Leigh
Stephens, who currently runs a thoroughbred horse ranch in California, issued two solo albums, one LP as
part of Silver Metre, and two albums (with the accom paniment of Bruce Stephens) as part of Pilot (not
PILOT, of”Magic” fame).
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In 1979, and again in 1984, Peterson formed a new Blue Cheer band. Megaforce Records released an album,
The Beast Is Back … , in 1985, but soon the group was extinct again. Dick joined Motown’s Foxtrot. In 1990,
a package called Blitzkrieg Over Nuremberg brought the Blue Cheer name back to some lips notably
appreciators of the Seattle grunge guitar sound.