Music Events and News of 1967, Part 2

Another notable debut: Janis Joplin (featured with the band, Big Brother and The Holding Company-their ALBUM debut at this time).

The Ohio Express also made their debut this year.

Atlantic Records, which was established in 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun (a son of the Turkish ambassador to the United States and an avid jazz and blues collector), came into its own this year. Ertegun auctioned off 15,000 78-rpm discs to start the company with fellow record collector Herb Abramson, who was a part-time producer for National Records.

In 1949, Atlantic had its first hit with the R + B song, "Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O Dee" by Stick McGee. The company went on to become a powerhouse record label, with such R + B/soul superstars as Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Ray Charles, Solomon Burke, LaVern Baker, and Percy Sledge, among others.

The Detroit race riots caused Motown owner/founder Berry Gordy to move to Los Angeles; by 1972 the label had followed suit.

Music entrepreneur Bill Graham (real name: Wolfgang Grajonca) also came into his own this year. He is as much a major part of the San Francisco Sound as the groups themselves. It was Graham that staged the concerts for many up-and-comers such as Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, and others. He even managed several of these groups. It was Graham that owned, operated, and leased the now legendary Fillmore, Fillmore East, and Avalon Ballroom. You could say that he was the "Alan Freed of San Francisco".

In this year, 1967, the Underground Press Syndicate (UPS) was founded. Two years later, more than 500 underground newspapers printed stories about the counterculture that reached nearly 1 million readers.

Even Dick Clark produced a movie called "The Love Children" which featured music by The Seeds and the Strawberry Alarm Clock-and a young actor named Jack Nicholson.

The hippie movement wasn't a long-lived one; It fell victim to its own drug-based logic. Many hippies initially used drugs to increase awareness and "open their minds" to alternative realities, but became wasted addicts who burned out from frequent use.

Robberies increased, because once you got hooked, you needed money to support your habit, particularly if you were bummed out on an expensive drug like methedrine ("speed").

Businessmen, who were more interested in individual gain than universal cooperation, began to exploit the counterculture. There were "love burgers", hippie costumes for those weekenders, and "Hippie Hop" bus tours by Greyhound ("the only foreign tour within the continental limits of the United States").

On October 6th, a procession of original hippies in the Haight district filled a coffin with beads, peace signs, flowers, and other symbols of their lifestyle and publicly burned it, announcing "the death of hippie." That same day, there was a similar procession in the East Village, organized by counterculture group The Fugs.

The original hippies then began moving out, heading to the country and rural areas. More drugs came in Haight Ashbury and an angrier crowd. There were murders and other crimes: the area became a dangerous, unsafe place to be.

Even the countercultural music became consumed by "The Man". And though the psychedelic rockers complained, they readily signed contracts with the major record labels. Even Janis Joplin had to change her original band, Big Brother and The Holding Company, to please her record company, who were spending megabucks to polish her sound; "The suits" thought Big Brother's music was too raunchy and not commercial enough to sustain her popularity.

By late this year, the entire counterculture had been co-opted into the corporate society it attacked.

Probably the two biggest "breakout" stars of the year were Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. Both appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival and became sensations, were heavily influenced by the blues growing up, and had difficult childhoods.

Joplin, born in Port Arthur, Texas, was always regarded as an outsider there, never quite fitting in, and was often subjected to great cruelty by her peers. She championed civil rights in her segregated town, and pursued the non-traditional, a fact which didn't sit well with most.

But there was a group of boys (or fellow outcasts; accounts vary) that allowed her to tag along. One of them, Grant Lyons (he may have been a local football player; accounts vary here, too.), played her the blues for the first time (Leadbelly!). Joplin was hooked.

She listened, learned, and began singing the classics of Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, and many others. She began singing in several local Texas clubs, and later ventured to Venice, North Beach, and the Village in New York. Joplin returned home for a year to ponder her life direction, attending the University of Texas in Austin (where she would be subjected to more senseless cruelty). She excelled in her studies, but decided to continue with the music.

An old Austin friend, Chet Helms, was now living in San Francisco. He offered Joplin a singing audition with an up-and-coming local group. She passed with flying colors(!), and was now the new lead singer. The group? Big Brother and The Holding Company.

And by the way, Joplin was now in her niche and element, and was fully accepted by the hippie culture (She was ultra-cool to them!).

Jimi Hendrix was a poor, part African-American, part Cherokee Indian from a broken home in Seattle, Washington. Both his parents were alcoholics, there was often not enough money, and there were frequent split-ups. Jimi and his siblings were often left by themselves, or in the care of family friends. He eventually flunked out of high school.

The young Hendrix also listened to and became fascinated by the great blues singers. He dreamed from an early age of becoming a famous rock star. Before he even owed a proper guitar, Hendrix played "air guitar", using a broom! When he was 16, his father bought him a right-handed electric guitar that he had to entirely restring (Hendrix was a lefty!).

After being discharged as a paratrooper from the 101st Airborne Division in 1962 (some accounts say 1961, but more evidence leans toward '62. It turns out that he enlisted to avoid jail time-Hendrix was repeatedly arrested for stealing cars. And he wanted to escape the Army to play music).

Hendrix then formed a band with former Army pal and fellow paratrooper Billy Cox, playing backup around Nashville for blues acts such as Nappy Brown and Slim Harpo. The band then toured southern clubs on the "chitlin' circuit"; from 1963-1965, they backed up the likes of Solomon Burke, Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield, Little Richard, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and B.B. King, among others. In 1964, Hendrix relocated to New York City as backup for The Isley Brothers and soul singer Curtis Knight.

Then in 1966, he went to London, and proceeded to wow England and the rest of Europe. Hendrix had a now-polished blend of soul, blues and rock, with a large dose of psychedelic thrown in. Within eight days of his arrival, he floored established guitar gods Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck (who were no slouches themselves!). Hendrix remained in London for nearly a year, forming the Jimi Hendrix Experience and releasing his first album.

Hendrix and the Experience also freely experimented with drugs, believing that "good dope equaled good music."

The Monterey Pop Festival, like Joplin, was where he first received American acclaim and a bit of notoriety; for it was here, during the last notes of his version of The Troggs' "Wild Thing", that Hendrix ceremonially doused his guitar with lighter fluid and set it on fire. (Some thought this was cool; some like The Beatles' George Harrison, were shocked that he would destroy a perfectly good guitar like that!)

One thing was for certain, though. A star was born.