Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues (American Bandstand,1968)

[@edson020877]

One of the first Heavy Metal bands in history

[@monkeyliver1986]

The greatest metal band in history

[@petercena9497]

The first in my opinion.

[@monkeyliver1986]

@@petercena9497 they were the first. You're absolutely right

[@occultdestroyer]

THE first

[@dextervortexsungte5348]

that doesn't sound like anything, it's like calling mud honey a heavy metal band 🤣🤣. they are the forfathers of heavy grunge

[@haroldfridkis8685]

Blue Cheer. The true fathers of heavy metal.

[@jimmymurphy7789]

Praise God, Glory in the Highest - AMEN Brutha !

[@Allen-fi4ke]

@@jimmymurphy7789 Hail Saint Lucifer, the Light Bringer

[@DrJ-hx7wv]

Shut up. You sound like a 12 year old ​@@Allen-fi4ke

[@dextervortexsungte5348]

hahah nice joke, the were the god father of heavy grunge

[@NinjaDefiler]

​@@dextervortexsungte5348cope harder bro lmfao 😂😂😂

[@jduff59]

Dick Clark was so cool here - he actually showed big respect for these guys - even though it had to be a lip-sync. An actual live performance probably would have freaked out the crew!

[@chriscampbell9191]

But the drumming looks live, so I wonder how it really sounded to the audience. Lip sync to the record + real drums. I mean, the cymbals are moving... Paul Whaley's really hitting them.

[@DoomMetalSludge]

Dick Clark hated Blue Cheer. Shortly before this performance, he happened upon a young Dickie Peterson smoking hash in a dressing room; Clark remarked something along the lines of "you guys are a disgrace to rock and roll!" to which Dickie replied "thanks man!" - Blue Cheer were the red headed step child of the California music scene. They found kindred spirits in the Detroit scene with MC5 and The Stooges who also had their share of haters.

[@jduff59]

@@DoomMetalSludge That's funny as hell! I played in a band with Jeff Dahl, directly influenced by those very bands - we played fast and really loud! Great era in music.

[@DoomMetalSludge]

@@jduff59 wow, no kidding! Funny you mention Jeff Dahl, I recently came across a photo of him during his short stint with The Mentors, wearing a hood and everything - and he's sporting a Blue Cheer shirt as well!

[@jduff59]

@@DoomMetalSludge Jeff turned me on to Blue Cheer. I was in a band when I was 13 that played "High School" by MC5. Jeff started a band called "Powertrip" in 1981 - I played bass on their album - Ed Danky was in Powertrip and played w/the Mentors, too (great guitarist -RIP). I remember El Duce - what a character! We're all dead or seniors now!

[@1thepner]

Me & a friend, mid-1980s, listened to this a ton while in South Korea with the 2nd Inf Division.

[@jamesanderson348]

I use to watch American Bandstand a lot. I dont know how I missed this one!

[@TheDrummerman1951]

After Leigh Stevens left the band Blue Cheer was never the same.

[@mackingtheknifeful]

This is so good!!!! Definitely one of Greatest Posts!!!!

[@dennycrane6159]

HAD THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN CONNECTICUT IN MY CAR PASSENGER, MARCH 1968.. UNKNOWN TO ME AT THE TIME, THIS SONG WAS IN TOP 10.

[@22bluesrocker]

Dickie told me they were high on Hash, thats why he said Kasmer. Clark bust'd them in the dressing room doin' a bowl. Said, and I quote: "Its people like you that give Rock'n''Roll a bad name". Dickies response was,"'Why thank you very much". I was his guitar player from ' 72 to ' 74 in a band called Peterbuilt with his brother Jerri.

[@Enevan1968]

Dickie was the nicest man I ever met!

[@billbrooks6756]

Enevan1968 I second that met him twice in once in nyc with blue cheer at cbgb’s and 2007 Monterey pop festival the coolest guy RIP

[@frankwaters8177]

I remember Peterbilt. And I once saw a version of Blue Cheer in Nicasio, Dickie was there, but I'm not sure about the other guys.

[@22mikelwho]

..haha, i could see that

[@jamesgretsch4894]

Troy Spence Jr. yeah because Dick Clark’s version of Rock was Bill Haley and His Comets, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran and the list goes on, not these pot smoking hippies.

[@BLOEDVLEK]

Best version of this song! i can't even listen to anyone else play it!

[@JK-tl2ob]

I was introduced to Blue Cheer in 1991 by a classmate. He was much older non traditional student. He was around 45 & I was 22. He happened to also be legally blind. And played bass guitar. Hearing this song on a sunny Midwest day reminds me of Tim. Miss those days.

[@JKerr-iy2jr]

Didn’t realize that the square “American Bandstand” ever had them on, since I stopped watching it when the British Invasion started and never looked back. Blue Cheer never made it as big as they should.

[@stickman1742]

The late 60s were an interesting time where all these new bands were coming out and ending up on older shows that had seen nothing like it. As awkward as a lot of it looks, I love seeing the 2 blended together because it is so strange. Some of the movies made in the late 60s by older actors are very odd which make them pretty interesting. And you have tv shows like Mannix with Buffalo Springfield playing live in the background.

[@MrMalibu30]

I was up front watching them at Whiskey A go-go in `68....which is why, I am 1/2 deaf today..

[@spacetunesgreg4979]

I saw this video when it aired,went & bought the album the next day

[@puppycat58]

Wow, I remember this song 🎵 I was 10 when it came out. I remember it being so loud and different from what I was used to listening too. I really liked it.

[@clarkewi]

I remember seeing these guys at Newport Pop Festival a few months before this show. The entire crowd was high as a kite on LSD. All I can remember is that skinny guitar player posing. He was magnificent. The band was perfect for the day.

[@Franciscasieri]

Jimmi stole the Foxy Lady Chords....

[@febriantorian5132]

Heavy metal 60s 🤘

[@samuelpajoa215]

Great Song!🎵😎60s 70s 80s and early 90s music is cool. I enjoy all kinds of music .🎼🎶Real Instruments Real Voices Real Music Real Instruments 🎸🥁🎤 love sixties music. 👍❤✌🇺🇸

[@ricjan58]

This is similar to Charles Manson appearing on Seseme Street .

[@patricialambert3110]

Alice Cooper was on the Muppet Show

[@rdhawk70]

stupid comment...

[@merendobereglidditz9304]

😅 👍

[@kikiu2619]

Lol

[@merendobereglidditz9304]

@@rdhawk70 Jealous?

[@1976GeorgeMa]

This is awesome footage. I never knew they appeared on Bandstand? Thanks for posting.

[@GlobalTubeTruth]

It seems Dick Clark coined the phrase "Wall Of Sound", not Owsley, or anybody from the Grateful Dead scene, which didn't actually manifest until February of 1973. This is five years previous. That is pretty interesting.

[@apataye]

+GlobalTubeTruth ¡Hey! I´m afraid you might be MISTAKING ACTUAL INVENTIONS for TERM COINING. The term "Wall of sound" refers, at least, to 2different things: 1- A TYPE OF PRODUCTION in recorded music which, aledgely, started PHIL SPECTOR with his Soul/Pop/R&R productions of the early 60´s (girl groups as The Ronnettes or the Chiffons, 4instance). The sound it´s very large, compact & overwhelming, hence the name. Then, by extension, the term applies also to "similar" productions of the later 60´s, as Motown, 4example. And, anyway, has ended up being applied to many different sounds, as long as the one speaking feels that the term is appliable. And, concerning that "by extension" evolution, here comes the 2nd meaning of "Wall of Sound": 2- A KIND OF SOUND SYSTEM FOR LIVE CONCERTS ideated & developed by OWSLEY & friends for the GRATEFUL DEAD in 1973. ------------------------------------------ So, as you see, the sequence must have gone as follows: a) SPECTOR IDEATES A KIND OF PRODUCTION FOR HIS RECORDINGS b) SOMEONE LABELS IT "WALL OF SOUND" c) THE TERM GOES FAMOUS & begins to be applied whenever someone feels it can apply [AS IT HAPPENS IN THIS CLIP, precisely] d) OWSLEY INVENTS A P.A. SYSTEM e) SOMEONE LABELS IT ALSO (and not by chance, obviously) "WALL OF SOUND".

[@GlobalTubeTruth]

apataye Like I said, very interesting. Thanks

[@apataye]

GlobalTubeTruth ¡You are very welcome!

[@jenniferquisenberry5172]

Bruce Ellison

[@jenniferquisenberry5172]

GlobalTubeTruth Bruce Ellison

[@aboxofbroken8tracks983]

The bit at 3:07 with the ascending notes always struck me as one of the funniest moments in rock. Maybe it's just me.

[@mavjimbo]

Highlight of the song

[@pfordsq]

Well , of course , Dickie Peterson is now deceased. Leigh Stephens still plays on occasion in The Bay Area. Paul Whaley has been keeping a low profile since Dickie passed on. I could'nt tell you about him.

[@rustycalvera977]

look at those amp stacks....were they jamming for astronauts,,,hendrix, johnny winter,,,they are all in there.great stuff

[@jameshooper7751]

ONLY THE BEST APPRRCIATE MUSIC LIKE THIS, FROM A GROUP OF MEN, NOT SISSY LIKE TODAY'S CRAPPY LITTLE SHI. T BOX GROUPS. FAN IN SAN ANTONIO TEXAS.

[@andythomas706]

James Hooper: Shut up James!

[@funstruck1]

Hey, which one is your man?

[@tb7669]

So, hippies were, in fact, real men?? Holy shit. Mind blown.

[@tb7669]

Thought they were just ladies with small cod pieces.

[@JCatJake]

heavy, heavy man

[@Demonizer5134]

And heavy metal was born.

[@nikolaosmosxakis3395]

very well.............................................................................................................................................

[@Fortwentt]

I was 10 years old, remember hearing doors on radio am fm, cream

[@johnrandle9724]

That's heavy man!!!

[@davidkieffer9014]

awsum drumming

[@usandthemx]

I was 13 when I purchased Vincebus Eruptum. There were a few nicknames for Blue Cheer... Louder than God - ridiculous but catchy These guys are so bad they're good - a ring of truth there :O)

[@drstevie]

Classic !

[@oldschool4856]

Great!!!!!

[@genericgeorge]

Late progressive 60's with Dick Clarke still in the 50's

[@ahmedmuneerakeel7993]

It comes as a big surprise. Never heard of them.

[@riorio7942]

Lengens of Rock. Paul oh paual!!!!

[@johnrandle9724]

Man, that's heavy!!!

[@skeeter197140]

They were such a powerful, loud band that the singer didn't even need to be mic'd. ;)

[@KyleStansfeld-zi6gc]

So loud, that they had to record one of their albums on a pier in SF. They were blowing out the sound studio windpws

[@mariacarrera6586]

grupo desconocido para mi summertime blues la tengo con the who y con t rex......este grupo nunca lo havia oido ni en discos de coleccion de los 60s

[@TexasWildheartsFan]

R.I.P. Paul Whaley

[@johnnysokko8505]

Take me along when you go!!!!!!!!

[@luvmymj95]

Drummer drives this song from beginning to end.

[@altfactor]

This episode was originally in color, but this black-and-white kinescope may be the only existing footage of it. Can I assume this was a live performance and not a lip-synch??

[@nanchanger]

Wrong, MC5 were kicking out jams in 1964...

[@raymondkitchen6137]

First public appearance of the MC5 was December 1964 at the Lincoln Park Band Shell. If it was winter, I'm guess they had to have played inside the building and not out side in the actual bandshell.

[@johnharris6676]

Kick out the jams motherfuckers!

[@pbonney]

A version of the power trio before RUSH came onto the scene.

[@rockking05]

They influence Rush

[@Riddickisawesome101]

Rush also took great influence from cream, who were a power trio. Before blue cheer

[@Riddickisawesome101]

not so much, being the hendrix experience were much more focused on psychedelia and didn't really rely on synths and shit like rush does

[@StephenKramerstevefunk]

what about Cream? and Hendrix

[@KubilayErtuna]

In chronological order, power trios before Rush: Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer, The James Gang, Grand Funk Railroad, Taste, Band of Gypsys, Mountain and ZZ Top. I think there might have been some others but these were the main ones during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

[@JugaJuga14]

Fuck, they're all so cool

[@Evoken13]

oh..........my...............god.

[@theeasybeats5913]

Syd Barrett wouldn't lip synch on this show, these guys were a vanguard at the time

[@toekneedaman1112]

Very underrated band!

[@ballsyrocker]

Heck,that must have felt weird playing to such a conservative crowd, I would have been pretty laid back and matter of factly too. The same month this aired, I got stopped in my high school hallway in Indiana and told to go get a haircut before I could return. It was only touching the top of my ears!! Can you believe that shit? After I returned from the Air Force ( after graduation ) I let my hair grow down my back for 30 years and played in 4 rock bands. Screw the conservatives and Thank you, Blue Cheer!

[@WineNationTV100]

I am conservative and love long hair on guys! And this version of Summertime Blues! :)t

[@ballsyrocker]

Glad to hear, Carrie!! : )

[@MarvelDcImage]

Way before my time but the long hair must have seemed like a shock to the older generation in charge in your youth. That is something I don't understand at all because the USA decades earlier was pretty free wheeling on hairstyles and facial hair - Custer had long hair and the beards in the Civil War were worse than anything a hippie grew. So I don't get why the USA got gripped by some sort of haircut and dress uniformity. Our Founding Fathers had long hair in pigtails.

[@ballsyrocker]

I agree it was just the conservative overblow. : )

[@tubeornottubeuseful]

MarvelDcImage Probably a remnant of McCarthyism

[@byronfortier6555]

What is the audience hearing during a clip like this - the record? I guess it's a dumb question but I really don't know.

[@michaellombardi810]

FXXKIN BADASS ! If I may say so myself. BADASS !!!!

[@OkFixer]

It would have been great.....if they were actually plugged in

[@nonsensevector]

blue cheer on american bandstand?

[@davidmoseley2849]

What I said!!

[@Nonconformistwilderbeastman]

Yeah really might as well played in front of the Pope

[@SkeekCroy]

Lip sync city but I am pretty sure they had no choice. I love this band.

[@MikeBlitzMag]

RIP drummer Paul Whaley, who passed away on 28 January 2019 at age 73.

[@faceman9117]

dude is absolutely amazing on the drums

[@ywvypex1434]

That’s not true there are 2 different Paul whaleys bc the one that’s playing in this vid is 15 and his parents didn’t want him to share his name my grandma knows him I know his name but I’m not saying it

[@andrewjordan8879]

Yw Vypex wut

[@UberLummox]

@@ywvypex1434 George C. Brix I believe. The statute of limitations wore out a long time ago on that one!!!

[@hexenzsene2837]

@@ywvypex1434 bullshit

[@Carryon392]

Lip synching with Marshall stacks. They should have cranked 'em up to watch the blood spurt out of the audience's ears. They would have vaporized Dick Clark's pompadour.

[@thamnosma]

No kidding. I have to laugh how much work it was to set up those amps and not even use them. What a joke.

[@precisionbrown6829]

Dr. Benton Quest well I knew the Drummer and he never lipsyncs or fakes anything!

[@precisionbrown6829]

Stephen Dreher hell yeah baby and my back kills me everyday to remind me. I’d do it again in a heartbeat 💗

[@Mike583]

Dr. Benton Quest I was in early teens watching A.B.,didn't know it at time,but all bands lipsynched on the show.

[@JRNelsonSr]

For me the dead amps themselves weren't half the joke as much as Clark calling attention to them, like the audience had to be prepared to be knocked unconscious or something. Great band, great days...

[@matthatter2849]

January of 1968 saw the release of the debut albums of Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly, AND Steppenwolf! Talk about starting the year off right!

[@patricialambert3110]

After a year that began with Jimi Hendrix and Cream's debuts, and ended with the Vanilla Fudge's debut in December 1967!

[@deansuffka6844]

That " Summer of Love", I was a 19 year old roadie for Blue Cheer & Iron Butterfly(along with a number of other top-hit bands of the time). Then came the draft...

[@Kgio-2112]

And the 428 cobrajet!

[@u.p.woodtick3296]

MattHatter I was 16 yrs old and bought them all

[@sandipbiswas766]

1968 also marked the inception of classic bands, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple

[@patricking6512]

I was on Bandstand for this show, and saw these guys perform this song!!!

[@KyleStansfeld-zi6gc]

So damn cool

[@jaminova_1969]

Dick Clark was always cool!

[@brianmason9361]

COOL

[@mrabrasive51]

They didn't "perform"shit!

[@patricking6512]

@@mrabrasive51 none of the artists that were on the show played "live", it was always adlibbing from their recorded records!

[@imjustpassinthru]

Blue Cheer was advertised as being the loudest rock band in existence at that time.

[@kelechi_77]

Same were The Who

[@carymisenar862]

I remember that

[@happyend1084]

les rallizes denudes want to know your location

[@TheStampedehero]

May I mention Deep Purple.

[@imjustpassinthru]

@@TheStampedehero Of course.

[@65Wildkat]

One of the most underrated bands in “Heavy Rock”…….in my opinion they are the first Heavy Metal” bands

[@trajan6927]

What songs do they sing? What album(s) would you recommend?

[@lucky-rowe2623]

First Heavy Metal band ever!!!!

[@marvwatkins7029]

Along with Hendrix and Cream, BC were pioneers in acid rock, heavy metal, and as a power trio. And of course, they would be from SF, " Hashbury", and all that implies. And their hair styles were ahead of their time and considered truly wild in an extreme "hippy" way. Besides the military, some folks still hate that look. That's their problem.

[@AtillaGenghisHuyter]

Not acid rock. They were the first metal band ever.

[@FromTheRoomOfLittleEase]

@Chris Henley Speed, but yeah, it is the same. People don't understand that "genre" is defined after the fact. They saw themselves much different than future people could. Obviously. Why in the fuck would they think they were "metal?" They were, it turns out, but that's definitely not how they saw it.

[@stickman1742]

Some credit should be given to Page and Beck as they recorded Beck's Bolero in early '66. People often don't think of it as it came out on a later album, but those guys were creating these sounds early on. It can't just be determined by album release dates.

[@wolfgangtrubshaw5549]

5:05 _What makes Blue Cheer different?_ *_… Heavy …_* Little did he know, then …

[@econoroller]

R.I.P. PAUL WHALEY. A TRUE MONSTER DRUMMER January 14, 1947 - January 28, 2019

[@templetonparceley8645]

Hell's Angel's with the guitar instead of motorbikes..... punks before you were a punk.......Bill Graham banned them from the Fillmore, Hippies hated them, SF music press hated them..... I loved them.

[@gj5250]

I was fortunate to see Blue Cheer in the early 70's at the Blue Moon tavern in Seattle what a band. They were in my opinion one of great bands to start heavy metal music. I sure wish I would have taken some snap shots.

[@chriscampbell9191]

That must have been when Tony Rainier was the guitar player?

[@Mr1087shotwell]

Peace of Mind, is really a favorite of mine, it sounds so far ahead of its time, by it's self, it sounds like another band y'know?

[@richardhincemon9423]

@@chriscampbell9191 l e i g h Stevens guitar player and he was there original guitarist.

[@chriscampbell9191]

@@richardhincemon9423 Understood, but I think Leigh Stephens quit before the 1970s (1968 or 1969?), when GJ saw them in Seattle. I know that Tony Rainier was in Blue Cheer for a while in the 1970s. That's why I asked GJ if that was the guitarist that he saw.

[@richardhincemon9423]

@@chriscampbell9191 got you! Leigh Stevens quit during the tour in 1968 and was replaced by Randy Holden on the tour and he recorded the songs piece of mind- fruits and icebergs/honey butter lover on the new! Improved! Blue cheer album in 1969. He quit during the recording of that album so you are correct it probably was Tony Rainier in the 1970s. That's my mistake I didn't understand the question. Cheers

[@mountaindawg]

Blue Cheer was WAY ahead of their time!

[@andythomas706]

They were retarded!

[@steveebben2154]

I watched this episode of American Bandstand - it opened my eyes big time - these guys were so loud (all of those old Marshall 100w Super Leads). I bought the 45 and played it everyday (many times a day). These guys helped change rock & roll in America!!!!

[@matthatter2849]

February of 1964, The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan and then only four years later....THIS appears on American Bandstand. It's just unbelievable.

[@BOBBOTO]

Gosh, such original thinking. 😂

[@nonotc]

for me the first heavy hard rock blues before black sab....

[@rafaelallenblock]

When you need sand bags to hold your drums down.

[@jackiewizelman4653]

Ginger Baker drummer of Cream use to tape his drum sticks to his hands.

[@pigurine]

My hair was like the Lead singer. Now I Don't have any.

[@t4texastomjohnnycat978]

pigurine 😂

[@jayro3931]

Me too

[@quentinkirk3870]

Damn, I'm 55 And I'm Growing Dreds, Sorry

[@jerryumfress9030]

Same here bro

[@Kgio-2112]

You have the wave haircut.... Wave it goodbye... woohooo . Just kiddin

[@merrilldellas161]

Serious garage band grunge sound! LOVE it!

[@billdaniels-vl6et]

Well yes Blue Cheer was the support band of the San Fransisco HAs back in the day even played with Big Brother and the Holding company that had Janis Joplin on vocals 1967.

[@kooljoik2]

I saw them at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit in June of 1968, along with Iggy and the Psychidelic Stooges and the MC5....believe me, those Marshall Stacks were cranked all the way up!

[@matthatter2849]

Blue Cheer, MC5, AND The Stooges on one bill?! I can't even imagine!

[@SL-vi4tk]

​@@matthatter2849 Perfect comment! I couldn't imagine it either.

[@patricialambert3110]

You gotta love a band who's on a record label that manufactures light bulbs, has an album that is engineered by an off-duty cop, has a manager who is a Hell's Angel, and whose very presence pisses off Dick Clark!

[@robertswanson5429]

Dickie said that the band was named after the Blue Cheer acid that was going around in San Francisco at the time, because that LSD was a really, really heavy trip.

[@matthewtaylor6405]

It was strong even by those standards

[@nononsensedragon9438]

Strongest Rush from that first album when you're tripping totally amazing , I'll never forget that heart pounding beat and hypnotic trance like state, with a total body Rush accompanied with a primordial moan....😆😆🤣🤣😂😂.. Etc

[@t1r3deye5]

That is exactly the case - one of the stronger, cleaner tabs of acid to be had at the time... kinda made your bones and muscles trade places and the mind leaves the brain ... ;: )

[@jackiewizelman4653]

Yes ! It's truth. The bands name came from the Blue Cheer acid around at the time. I'm 70 yrs old. Take m

[@jackiewizelman4653]

Yes! It's true. The bands name came from the Blue Cheer acid around at the time. I'm 70 yrs old so take my word on it. The acid then was the best especially LSD sugar cubes!!!

[@recordman64]

One-time Guinness World Record holder for World's Loudest Band.

[@if6was929]

and that's something to be proud of?

[@ummmummm563]

if6was929 Hahahahahaha

[@EMWoodworking]

if6was929 yes

[@georgewalls1925]

@@if6was929 yeap!

[@jduff59]

Lemme guess who knocked them off the record?

[@bealtown]

These guys' records used to scare me when I was a toddler. Their burnt-out, acid+heroin feel was palpably conveyed on their album covers, especially that other one (not Vincebus Eruptum). I love the fog-horn distortion on the guitar.

[@crochunter35]

They were speed freaks.

[@Mr1087shotwell]

I love that description

[@matthatter2849]

You're talking about the jacket for "Outsideinside" their second album! Yep there's a long spoon on the back of that cover!

[@anthonypappas3877]

They said that when Blue Cheer plugged in and turned up the amps, all the lights in Sand Diego would go off. Pretty funny. Very heavy. Loved this version.

[@caltagerone77]

This is great, this guys look like they might have traveled back in time. They look so out of place among that audience. Why aren't there any other videos of guys around? This is some of the most authentic music I've ever heard. They rock!!!

[@heynow4512]

caltagerone77

[@rushmore120]

51 years later and this song is still bad ass...

[@joellafargue9882]

But this version is just plain bad, quality-wise. I don't like the way they left out lines. No wonder this band didn't last long.

[@stevegans3517]

This version, yes, but the song is older - it's an Eddie Cochran original from the 50s that also rocks. A comparison of the two shows just how much rock evolved in ten years.

[@jamesanderson348]

It STILL sounds hot and fresh all these years later. This was heavy metal

[@mavjimbo]

Still blows my mind

[@54markl]

In those days, a group HAD to produce peculiar sounds that no one had ever heard before or you just didn't make it. These days it's just the opposite. Pff! I loved this song so much. I was so disappointed with the early Seventies.

[@sauquoit13456]

On this day in 1968 {February 10th} Blue Cheer performed "Summertime Blues" on the late Dick Clark's 'American Bandstand'... One month later on March 2nd it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; eventually it peaked at #14 and spent 13 weeks on the Top 100... It reached #3 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart... A favorite of Bruce Springsteen; he has played it in 24 concerts between 1978 and 2012... R.I.P. Mr. Cochran {1938 - 1960} and Mr. Clark {1929 - 2012}.

[@sulatlalaki]

No joke. I was amazed he brought them on! What a contrast; Blue Cheer and that VERY conservative audience! Whoa!

[@kenliss]

I grew up in San Francisco high school class of '66. Saw these guys a lot. And everybody else.

[@olcheekybastards]

Saw them in 1992 at The Nightbreak Sf ca loud and great!

[@jimmymurphy7789]

Lucky !

[@johns7272]

Please dont tell me things like this. Cant contain my jealousy!

[@toddan11]

OMG. The performance is so how I think summer was back in those days, and how I want it to continue like that once in a while. The after performance interview by Dick Clark with the band is so genuine Blue Cheer. And Dick Clark navigated so conservatively interested thru out the interview, yet aloof in a way as well. Love it!

[@MrZootalores]

yeh that was bonus to see Dick Clark talking with young druggie/biker musicians...almost treating them like they were human-ha ha!

[@kevingriffiths4981]

Blue Cheer forever....!!!!!!!

[@Lee---]

Fantastic time capsule. Sheer power--drums and bass pound like a stampeding cavalry--amped up guitars sing like a revving engine. They blast the roof off the auditorium, then politely answer stilted questions from Dick Clark with humility and shyness. 1968--when rock was about making incredible sounds, not about making money.

[@funstruck1]

Sponsored by Marshall! 😁

[@danielcleveland8879]

One of the LOUDEST things I ever heard was Lee Michaels at the Pasadena Rose Palace. That concert had War, Alice Cooper and Messiah. Lee came out, hit a couple of LOUD cords, went back to his wall of Marshalls, cranked each one,10 or 15 dual cabinets with dedicated heads, then went back into the wing. After a while, he snuck back out to his Hammond, sat down and hit a cord. People who weren't paying attention sat up like they were sitting on a charged cable. The windows in the Palace rattled like they were going to pop their frames. Fuckin' loud, man...

[@MrZootalores]

@@danielcleveland8879 Lee Michaels was good! i saw him & his drummer Frosty at the Granada theater in Santa Barbara in 1972.wow! they were good

[@mamalion123]

This is the second part of my story......So in that time in the late 60's there were so many garage bands (jamming in our parents garage) My brother was one of them and I asked him have you heard of a band called Blue Cheer and he said yes of course he said they were a very heavy band, I told him I was dating the drummer.He was like wow how cool! but that I was too young and that our parents would probably freak out and not approve and blablabla so I decided to end it..Yes I dated Paul Whaley.

[@dixondiaz8448]

Did you beat him off? Hahahaha

[@WarrenPaulHarris]

I saw them several times at the Avalon. And before that when they were still a 5 man band in the Golden Gate panhandle - Free Sunday concerts. They were amazing live. Never adequately recorded.

[@dougpotosky4102]

Classic interview with Dick Clark. ( We like to destroy things)

[@pfordsq]

THANK YOU so much , for including the interview portion. I'd never seen that. Dickie once told me that he and Gut , the band's manager , were smoking a bowl of hash , backstage , at Bandstand . Dick Clark walked in on them , and said "People like you give Rock'n'Roll a bad name !" . They said "Thank you very much !".

[@MrZootalores]

course they laughed at that(smoking a bowl) but the lads were right; they'd just changed the history of Rock forever

[@Johngonefishin]

Saw them in 67' & 68' when they toured up and down the west coast with Dickie driving the old yellow station wagon to gigs, in 67' they were at least a five-piece band with an asian guy on hammond organ, Leigh had a Vox AC-30 with JBLs that would cut thru anything like a razor blade, in 68' they came back as a three-piece (Dickie still driving the station wagon), and had the six Marshall stacks you see here, they played the Crystal ballroom that time and were so loud that the seats we were sitting on were moving, Dickie had installed a vibrato on his Fender jazz bass that had a spoon for a handle and he and Leigh would simultaneously get feedback going from the Marshalls that would shake the building, at the end they leaned their guitars against the Marshalls and walked off letting the feedback howl for five minutes before the roadies came up and shut the amps down.

[@69zenos1]

Johngonefishin what does Asian have to with it?

[@deansuffka6844]

As a roadie for Iron Butterfly & Blue Cheer, we used that feed-back ending after ripping it off from The Chamber Brothers "Time Has Come Today".

[@mamalion123]

One day in Hollywood, I was walking with a friend and suddenly I see this very good looking guy with beautiful long blond hair and walking with a Great Dane dog, I thought Wow!!! We both looked at each other and boom we started a conversation,so that's how it all started we dated and I remember he was so sweet. I was very young about 15. I believe he must of been in his early 20s...He told me he was a drummer for a band called Blue Cheer and I've never heard of them before, so I said "how cool".

[@johnjacobs8350]

:p so blue cheer's drummer was a pedophile

[@quasimoto5656]

martha bourse ew, why do rockstars always have to be pedos🤮

[@mamalion123]

John Jacobs No he wasn’t!! he never raped me or had sex with me, he was sweet and kind, it sure wasn’t a traumatic experience in my youth at the contrary It was a true pleasure to have met such a wonderful and sweet guy and mega respectful with me. So stop being a sick ass by dirtying his memory saying he was a pedophile!!

[@philr5497]

@@johnjacobs8350 Assbite!

[@oatnoid]

I wish somebody would do a show called "Where Are They Now" But so many don't want to look backwards when they were young and beautiful and the world was laid out before their feet. And now they are old and grey , or dead. I think its wonderful to have good memories like yours. Although it can start you on a path of sadness if you haven't learned how to get off of that path by now.

[@tinicum54]

1st band to name themselves as the Best LSD ever. Augustus Owsley Stanley. Prolific LSD producer and supplier to the bands and stars of 1960s counterculture. ... Augustus Owsley Stanley III - and ..... called Blue Cheer and helped publicize them by putting out a line of blue-tinted LSD.

[@steven1822]

powerful words. bravo.