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From: DesertSoundgardenia
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  • These guys did this song better than anyone back then

    They really rocked the cochran original

    The WHO copied Blue Cheer on this one

  • The drummer is so metal. I can seriously see how metal was influenced by these classic bands.

  • WOW IT'S FUCKING HOT!!!!!

  • this is good

  • great song!!!

  • this is such a dirty sound even sabbath would wish for it ...!! i love it !!!!

  • una completa demencia el trio mas ruidoso y escandaloso de la epoca!!!

  • These guys were the first raw sounding

    Rock Band.. When they showed up the other

    bands were Beach Boys, Herman's Hermits,

    Sugar coated music ...I love the way

    they miked the drums..

  • Well they did see Hendrix and The Who before they got their act together, The Beatles and Stones had been around awhile also. The initial reaction was a response to the airplay they got with Summertime Blues. Those who bought Vincebus Eruptum got the full BC treatment. If you weren't into long hair music you probably didn't buy the LP because of the cover. I bought it and I would say it took about a year to really get into it. As Hendrix asked, Are You Experienced? I wasn't at the time.

  • What about Jimi Hendrix (Voodoo Child (Slight Return)? Iron Butterfly (In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida)? Steppenwolf (Born To Be Wild)? And these are the bands that were with Blue Cheer at the same period...

  • Hendrix early stuff was out, but not Voodoo Child. I think Iron Butterfly was put together to cover Blue Cheer. Steppenwolf came a little later. Blue Cheer was definitely early, but they saw Hendrix and The Who at Monterey. Of course Sgt Peppers was very popular then.

  • Hendrix new stuff was in, (well mostly in Britain), until Jimi played at Woodstock, he wasn't famous in America. Purple Haze, Foxy Lady, Fire and Voodoo Child (Slight Return) were all famous at that time... Iron Butterfly made their own song, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, and it was very famous, helped creating the raw rock sound...

  • Purple Haze, Foxy Lady & Fire were on the LP released in the US at the time BC came on. Electric Ladyland had Voodoo Chile and I doubt BC would have been aware of it before then, but who knows. In-a-Gadda-Da-Vidda was popular, but did not come out until after BC released Vincebus Eruptum. I was there buying the records as they came out but memory does get foggy. I am just saying BC predated most of the heavy sounds. I think I bought VE about time I bought Strawberry Alarm Clock, pretty early.

  • Voodoo Chile and Voodoo Child (Slight Return) are completely different songs, the song that got famous was Voodoo Child (Slight Return)...

  • I just remember the one that was on Electric Ladyland. That came out in 69, I believe. BC was in Europe in 68, obviously from this video, so who knows what they heard from Hendrix. But they saw him in 67 at Monterey and released Summertime Blues in early 68. The point of this whole discussion from me is to say that BC was definitely early, but the music did not go from Herman's Hermits to Vincebus Eruptium in one step. They were influenced by other heavies including Hendrix, a power trio.

  • Lol, in Electric Ladyland there's the two songs: Voodoo Chile and Voodoo Child (Slight Return)... If you listened to Voodoo Chile, it's a soft blues song...

  • I don't think I've listened to it in 35 years so I don't recall, but Revisited has a ring to it.

  • wow, how old are you? cuz I'm 16 and listening to this and it's awesome, also other types of music... I mean music for is awesome and changed my life...

  • Oh, about 59. I started college in the fall of 1967 when all the music started to get really good. It was quite a time, majoring in rock music and minoring in engineering.

  • "music started getting really good"... Music is all good, you meant when the revolution in music was happening... Because all music is good, there's no specific bad music... Except for the talentless who do it for the money and popularity...

  • I agree, but music does have its ups and downs. The 1950s saw the first generation of rock and was cooling off when the Beatles turned everything upside down. That culminated in 1970 when Jim, Janis and Jimi died. I would say that pulled the plug on the hippie era which unfortunately gave way to disco. I recently began looking at YouTube to see some of my favorites of that era. There were no videos then except TV so I never had a chance to see them unless I went to a concert & I did that often.

  • First of all... RIP! Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix! Led Zeppelin made another revolution in music too... I found out that the 3 most revolution bands were:

    1: The Beatles

    2: The Rolling Stones

    3: Led Zeppelin

    That's what I found out, but there was a lot of bands before to increase into these musical climaxes...

  • The Beatles and the Stones were pretty much concurrent in the early days. The Beatles wrote the Stones first hit and for the most part the Stones followed the Beatles lead. But the Stones introduced me to a lot of bluesy music I otherwise may not have found. And certainly the Stones are longer running than the Beatles. Led Zepelin did come on pretty strong. What about Cream, Hendrix, the Doors and Big Brother? I can't comment on what happened in the 70s because I turned to bluegrass music then!

  • I know all these bands, but out of the research I did, these were the top 3 bands said were the most revolutionary... Cream and Hendrix are almost my favorite! The Doors are great too! Love The End, but some people don't... I see you don't listen much to Led Zeppelin, because usually a fan wouldn't make a mistake like that when you spelled Led Zeppelin wrong... Lol... But still you could be a fan, but Led Zeppelin is an interesting band, because each song they did were always different.

  • Like I said, its been a long time. I did buy their first LPs and enjoyed them. With the Doors, I loved their first 3 especially the 2nd. Many of those bands had 2 or 3 great LPs and then seemed to fizzle out. I was a fan of County Joe & the Fish. Saw the Grateful Dead a few times too.

  • Hendrix was definitely famous in the US before Woodstock. I listened to his first LPs during 67 and 68. Knowing that he was at Woodstock is something I looked forward to. He may have not been known in the US before Monterey, but after that he was very popular. Also Iron Butterfly did have one hit, but there wasn't anything else on their LP I cared much for so they were quickly forgotten. On the other hand, BCs album was full of gems that became "cult favorites."

  • and also Steppenwolf came soon after this song...

  • Summertime Blues was sanitary enough for the time to get a lot of air play, but the real heaviness was on the LP, tunes like Doctor Please, Parchman Farm, Second Time Around. This tune is just a teaser to get you inside.

  • You sir are 100% right Blue Cheer is one of the hardest rocking band I have ever listen to Its hard to beat Blue Cheer. best band on the Planet at least I thank so.

  • They were the original hippie hate band! Just awesome!

  • I think this was the first band and record that combined both the garage rock/proto-punk sound w/ the psychedelica and combined the angst coming out of all over the world in

    the news of 1968 to come up w/ anything that finally sounded like the percursor of the actual punk rock sound that we would all hear by 1969 w/ MC5 & the Stooges into the 1970's w/ the Sex Pistols, Ramones, etc. into today.

  • Yeah, there's no way he was doing those dives on a guitar with a hardtail bridge.

  • that isnt a hard tail... look again you may see a vibrola tail piece thanks fot being ignorant!

  • Doesn't matter what kind of bridge he had, he wasn't playing.

  • Oh, I can see it now.

  • true rocker and pioneers way light years ahead of time. must have been the tystick.

  • Deep Purple may have been louder, but in 1968, the loudest was Blue Cheer. I saw them in Chicago and I thought my pants were crumbling off me from the sound. My teeth were jangling in my head. I had to keep my mouth wide open because my ears hurt so bad even with my fingers in them.

  • anybody know their line-up here?

  • Yeah, Dickie Peterson, vocals, bass

    Leigh Stevens, guitar extroardinaire

    Paul Whaley, great drums

    This was 1968. They are generally considered the first Heavy Metal group of note. And they were the loudest U.S. group playing live. The Who was considered to be the loudest rock bad. Hard to say because these groups were measured with sound level meters set at different weightings and set at various distances from the loud speakers.

  • This is Randy Holden on guitar, not Leigh Stevens, and the band was faking it at the Beat Club, as was common practice. I read about the Cream doing the same thing there. There was a video of Summertime Blues with Leigh Stevens that was just taken down, but he played the guitar quite differently from Randy Holden.

  • Since this is the version from "Vincebus Eruptum", I assumed that was Leigh Stevens playing guitar.

  • It is and I thought the same thing. I chatted by email with some knowledgable people and this is definitely Randy Holden. I thought it pretty amazing that they could fake a concert but apparently that's the way Beat Club operated. There was a great vid of Blue Cheer from American Bandstand, but it just got pulled. It showed Leigh playing in the true fashion, but even that may have been faked for TV. I didn't think that Randy could play completely differently and sound the same as Leigh.

  • I thought Deep Purple was the loudest...

  • blue cheer------->stoner rock

  • Agreed..

    The rhythm section shares alot of similar sound with Sabbath. You can almost hear the intro to "Children of the Grave" here.

  • Blue Cheer's cover>>>>>>>>>>>>>Who's cover

    ¡Viva Blue Cheer!

  • this song sure rocks! The Who's Live at Leeds version is also great, but I like this one slightly more because of its demented, disorienting groove.

  • If you ask me, both Blue Cheer and Black Sabbath had a hand in the creation of Heavy Metal. Blue Cheer came up with the heavy sound, the distortion in the guitars and boom in their drums. With Black Sabbath, it was the formation of Heavy Metal's image as the dark, sinister look we all know and love.

    So in actuality, credit of Heavy Metal's birth goes to both bands. No question about it.

  • Also Sir Lord Baltimore, they were the first band in print at least to be described as 'heavy metal'. Similar to this, but not quite as good.

  • This style, in a hard rock setting, one could say it is the type of sound produced IN BETWEEN the phase of "Psychedelic/Acid" rock, and a style that would later come to be called "Heavy Metal" originated by Black Sabbath.

  • A transition, so to speak.

  • they were before black sabbath they invented heavy metal lol and there named after lsd :)

  • Nirvana anyone?

  • The heaviest of their times along MC5

    RnR will never die...

  • Cream is good but Blue Cheer kicks the crap out of them!

  • What amps?

  • Could be Orange or Green.

  • Cheers!

    Btw, do they still make green? Or what is the actual key to their heavy sound? Linked trebleboosters with mods?

  • Im not entirely sure, I just took a educated guess on that one sorry.

  • They still make Green amps, but there's a damn long wait. Search google for green amps and click the first link.

  • Old school Marshalls with an Arbiter Fuzz Face.

  • Cheers man, hope to one day get a rig like that ^^

    A lot of the incredible sound is probably in his fingers too though!

    Thanks a lot =)

  • This cover is the best cover of the song Summertime Blues, original Eddie Cochran !

  • great number, really outstanding

  • Sabbs great blue cheer greatest!!!

  • wow

    talk about having no taste

  • There ARE NO INFLUENCES in Heavy Metal without the talk of Leslie West and Tony Iommi. And even Iommi has said without the work of Leslie West, their would be no Sabbath as we have all known it. When Sabbath came to America for the first time they opened for Mountain. Leslie's trick was including the blues... call it southern rock, call it classic rock... its te part the current shredders of today forgot all about... the Blues. There aint no more soul in Rock n Roll.

  • bro

    i totaly agre

    but ur missing 1 think

    eric claptan

    cream

  • Clapton was a great player, and a HUGE influence. But Leslie & Tony took a different path. They wanted to make the blues HEAVIER. They both succeeded and became 2 of the hardest rock n roll bands of all time. However Leslie to THIS DAY STILL preaches the blues, and noone plays quite like him. Check out my page for a few jams with Joe Satriani. YES Leslie played the blues with Joe Satriani.

  • judas priest??? lol

  • Well then how would you define a metal band? An entire metal album? A song? I can see your point with Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Blue Oyster Cult. Even coming from a speed/thrash metal fan would argue that the songs "Just a Little Bit" by Blue Cheer and Symptom of the Universe by Black Sabbath are truly metal.

  • well see a Judas Priest started in i believe 1975, they were the first to have brought in the duel guitars, the tone used by KK and Tipton is the definitive metal tone. i suppose its all in the opinion, but from where im standing Judas Priest was the first metal band, Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer were still very much blues bands at the time. not like its a bad thing though

  • True but you're forgetting that Black Sabbath guitarist would overdub himself giving a twin-like guitar effect in some parts. Besides that's a NWOBHM configuration. If you want to get techinal the MC5 and the Stooges used the twin guitar figuration. The Power trio started the Heavy metal thing because Cream started it and it progressed from Heavy Blues to Heavy metal with Blue cheer.

  • well not to troll anyone but,

    Judas Priest started in 1970

  • True but they weren't Thrash or NWOBHM-like back then. They only started becoming a heavy metal act somewhere in 75-76. The Misfits started in 1977 and they sounded nothing like what they would become in 79 and 80.

  • THIS SHIT IS FUCKING BR00TAL

  • so totally KVLT

  • isnt this the first heavy metal band? this is the band that influenced the heavy bands?

  • no, that would be Black Sabbath, but these guys are pretty fucking heavy too.

  • No. Mountain and Black Sabbath.

    I LOVE Blue Cheer, but if you want to hear the birth of Heavy Metal, listen to Leslie West.

  • Mountain is Heavy as hell but there more like Blackfoot. I don't know what you would call it but it's like Southern Heavy Metal. True they have a heavy metal sound but there topics are more of that of southern rock and progressive rock. I wouldn't call them conventional metal. If that even makes sense lol.

  • yes this is the first heavy metal band

  • This is a REAL COOL version of the original one ! I´m a hardcore punk rocker, but this really kick ass.

  • Increible para la epoca

  • Strange, i thought all Dragonforce solos were in that top 100...

  • Obviously guitar world doesn't know shit

  • They do have a point.

  • saw these guy's play about every other week. they'd open for any headliner that came through town... and we'd get so stoned when they started that great drum beat ,,,,,,,

    remember boy....you're to young to vote.

  • This song is heavy as hell!

  • How obsessed am I with Blue Cheer? I ONLY buy Philips lightbulbs and video equipment, because BC was on the Philips record label--the same company that made all that other stuff!

  • how much for my original posters i have from the good old..Shrine Auditorium day's....but they played in the Exposition Hall part of the shrine......i have the pink floyd, jeff beck, blue cheer on me wall.....1968.

  • ja ozcar seguro te graduaste de un conservatorio o que???? al menos ellos hicieron algo en cambio usted solo para criticar sirve por lo visto

  • This blows me away...

    When I was 17 (1966) I worked for a band called the Driftwoods. They opened for these guys at Swing Aud. in San Berdo!! I haven't seen them since thanks for the post! Steppenwolf was the headliner! Backstage was ... well wild! Peace

  • que solo mas malo!!!! hahahaha

  • When Blue Cheer came out with Summertime Blues, they set the record for the most decibels produced; Of course, it's been superseded, but man, for its time, 3 guys making that much noise! God bless the '60s and don't bogart that joint! WOOHOO!!!

  • awesome

  • definitely not metal. the beatles meet the mc5

  • Wow....So brutal!

  • Blue Cheer's "Vincebus Eruptum" which means "Controlled Chaos" was & always will be the heaviest album up to that time. It is just plain RAW! I've loved this album for 40yrs. & counting. You just had to be there & then you know. I couldn't care less if one calls it metal or polka. It simply assaulted the sense's at the time. Power trio is an understatement. This album weighed tons!!!

  • i'd call this early metal, i mean listen to the drums.

  • great song

  • en algun momento de los 60's fueron catalogados como la banda mas ruidosa del mundo!

  • Here in Brazil, in the begining of 80s, any Rock with distorted guitar was called heavy metal.

  • 60's headbang!!!! \m/_

  • Loudest live band at the time.I mean they were earbleeding loud. It was great.

  • They still rock it live...

  • amazing, one of the firsts heavy metal songs

  • how the hell does he play the guitar??

    thats crazy, what a vibrato(?) or is it feedback(?)

  • Watch Leigh Stephens on the other YouTube version of this song.

  • LOVE IT

  • Fucking awesome head kicking start of the hard rock thing that's been moving like an insane dinosaur ever since, except for the last few years of mind numbing rap and the dead dreams of overcast skies.

  • One of my favorites!!!

  • This was and is still great. Heavy without the metal.

  • one of the first heavy metal bands right up there with the who black sabbathled zepplin and hendix

  • the who weren't really metal just Hard Classic rock

  • the who weren't heavy metal.and zep,sabbath,cream and hendrix too.noone was heavy metal like judas priest,iron maiden or metallica.thay were heavy rock'n'roll.they played loud and heavy music but still quallity.for me that's the dif between rock and metal(or punk);rock is quality

  • Ignorant elitist. Open your fuckin' mind before you spread your slander.

  • This track never bothers me.

    Of all really old music Blue cheer sounds best.

    They don't sound dated so much as others.

    (Still playing the Outsideinside album once in a while up here :)

  • The drumer is so aggressive! Awesome

  • Proper respect should be given to the rebel who wrote not only this song, but also "Something Else", "C'mon Everybody", and the original "Communication Breakdown".

    Thank you Eddie Cochran for helping fuel the fires of Blue Cheer, The Who, UFO, Humble Pie, Led Zeppelin, and the Sex Pistols, who all covered your songs! You did more for heavy metal than Elvis, Jerry Lee, Chuck Berry, or even Little Richard!

  • They are great but not better then Cream.

  • You really can't compare Cream and Blue Cheer they were two different bands. Cream was more blues and rock Blue Cheer was Hard rock from the word go. Don't get pissed because i said this. I love Cream as well. these bands are not even alike in music style, But I love them both.

  • I totally agree. I like them both too.

  • This Kicks fuckin ass

  • To see the real deal look at the other version of Summertime Blues on YouTube featuring Leigh Stevens.

  • how COULD they sound this way?? did they have fuckin' jesus christ on guitar?

  • R0CK & ROLL!!!!!!!!

  • These bands from 1959-1974 are the founders of Heavy Metal. Some were blues, some were rock, some were folk, but all contributed to the birth of Metal.

    Blue Cheer

    Led Zeppelin

    Black Sabbath

    Creedence Clearwater Revival

    Mountain

    Steppenwolf

    The Sex Pistols

    Jimi Hendrix

    The Stooges

  • sex pistols = punk

  • They were punk but they helped create Metal

  • I would say the forerunner to all punk bands was the Troggs, who had one hit, Wild Thing.

  • i wouldnt say punk, like heavy grunge....or hippie grunge:P lol

  • Some other bands you should check out that helped shape metal: Sir Lord Baltimore Budgie Buffalo Nazareth (the EARLY stuff) Grand Funk Railroad (all pre-1973 stuff) High Tide Jethro Tull The Frost Highway Robbery Gun Lucifier's Friend Edgar Broughton Band
  • Oh and I almost forgot Uriah Heep!

  • amazing

  • They do the best version of summertime blues, they were also the first metal band. In my books.

  • Totally f-ing rad.

  • ANIMAL! ANIMAL! BANG DRUM1

  • First Hard Rockin' song I ever heard as a kid - I was 9 or 10 years old. There wasn't anything on the AM dial that even came close at the time. I bought this 45 disc and played the SH!t out of it !!!

  • yeah, fucking NOISE!!!

  • Doctor Please should've been their first single instead of this, then no-one would mistake Sabbath as the first metal band. They would've been a bigger hit too, as that song is dripping with so much more awesome.

  • This version of the song is the best

  • love the drums, so powerful :D

  • These guys were the first Stoner-Metal band. A complete wall of FUZZ GUITAR so LOUD as to DESTROY all hearing.

  • Alvin Lee and a wall of Marshall Amps was really a ticket to not being able to hear if your car started after the concert-even if you had Thrush mufflers :):):)

  • I agree. TYA were also a great loud ass band. Too bad I never saw them live (although I do have a poster autographed by them).

  • <3!

  • yeahhhh rrrock! they had there own brand of LSD.

  • sorry to all you kids out there, but i saw so many times at the shrine in LA, that after they did summertime blues, most of us would get up off the floor, and go find some quite place to get high, before the next band came on,,,like jeff beck, or the who, or ......

  • Then you missed out on some good jams.

  • The first metal song.Thanks for that...

  • Blue Cheer is great and so are those "corpse paint wearing Scandinavian faggots"

  • So fucking sludgy...

  • That's 60's Metal for ya

  • Awesome, and very much ahead of its time!

  • I think the original trio might have survived if they had followed Alice Cooper to Detroit in '69, where they would have fit in better with the likes of the MC5, the Stooges, and Ted Nugent, and greeted by a more supportive group of fans who would have better appreciated, and were used to their aggressive style.

    The peer-presure of the wimpy "Dead head" scene in Frisco was too much for bassist Dickie Petersen, and he gave into it musically. And that's when Randy and Paul split.

  • Good points. I never thought of it that way. Blue Cheer most definitely would have fit in more with the Detroit scene. With their music, image, innovation and attitude Blue Cheer should have been a much bigger band. Maybe they were too far ahead of their time.

  • That didn't come out right. This band is great; but like it or not they are part of the evolution of rock that would one day become metal.

  • The Beatles Helter Skelter was harder than this

  • I think this is heavier than helter skelter, but I think helter skelter was faster and more like what heavy metal was in 70`s and

    80`s

  • Blue Cheer's music is a thousand times heavier than the poppy Helter Skelter.

  • sure it is

  • To all the soldiers who at one time or another "strummed" in the Gibson SG army, I salute you: Leigh Stephens, Randy Holden, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Tony Iommi, Steve Marriott, Gary Rossington, Mark Farner, Angus Young.

    Thanks all of you chaps for making such legendary music with one of the greatest rock and roll guitars EVER!

  • You forgot Pete Townsend, apart from Iommi I recognize the Gibson as Pete Townsends guitar the most.

  • You're right! I almost forgot about the Gibson SG that Townshend played at Woodstock-in my opinion, that was the best "sounding" guitar that he ever played and I was MAD when he slammed it and threw it into the crowd! I didn't care about any of the other guitars he slammed, but I was angry about that one!

    I also forgot to mention two other Gibson SG'ers--Glenn Buxton and Michael Bruce from Alice Cooper.

    I might as well honour Jack Black from the movie "School of Rock", as well, just for fun

  • And Jimmy Page twin neck 6/12

  • Songs like this definitely inspired what would become metal just a few years later. Killer cover!