#proto-metal

[janwasopimeja]

Question:

Which is better?

I Can See for Miles

Helter Skelter

Results

Voting ended onApr 19, 2025

(I Can See for Miles inspired Paul to do Helter Skelter)

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"STAY ALIVE WITH THE MC5!" -- A THREE-NIGHT STINT -- LIVE & LOUD IN THE CITY BY THE BAY.

PICS INFO: Mega spotlight on three variations of full-page ads for American hard rock/proto-punk band, MC5, including a glossy color version, for the band's performance at the Straight Theater in San Francisco, California, USA, for three nights, on March 14-16, 1969.

Source: www.splattgallery.com/MC5-6.html.

[dry-valleys]

[bongwateronthevancarpet]

ZZ Top - “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers” 1973

[thedevilsgun]

MC5 ‎– Back In The USA, US, 1970

[music-is-my-life-man]

Led Zeppelin, 1969

[vinylspinning]

Demian: Demian (1971)

One band, two albums, each released under a different moniker: that’s the story of Demian in a nutshell -- or rather Demian AND Bubble Puppy, as they were previously known, so I’ll do my best to untangle their peculiar story (stories) here ...

A thoroughly Texan institution, The Bubble Puppy was formed in 1966, out of San Antonio, but they soon relocated to Austin, less than one hour north on Interstate 35, then, a little later, to Houston, after signing with the International Artists label, also home to Roky Erickson’s 13th Floor Elevators.

Fast forward to 1969 and Bubble Puppy scored a global, Top 20 hit with “Hot Smoke & Sasafrass” [SIC], but that same year’s full-length debut, A Gathering of Promises, didn’t fare as well, despite the group’s show-opening stints with The Who, Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter, and others.

Suddenly, band members Rod Prince (lead guitar, vocals), Todd Potter (lead guitar, vocals), Roy Cox (bass), and David Fore (drums) found themselves back in Austin, with no money or real prospects, so they eagerly accepted Steppenwolf bassist Nick St. Nicholas’ offer to manage them, out in L.A. 

And it was there, at the suggestion of Nicholas’ wife, that Bubble Puppy became Demian (*) for both contractual and aesthetic reasons, since they were eager to distance themselves from the fast fading psychedelic scene after inking a new deal with ABC-Dunhill for their self-titled second LP.

So it was that the pioneering Prince/Porter lead guitar tandem let rip with proto-metal intensity on crunchy riff-rockers like “Face the Crowd,” “Coming,” “Todd’s Tune” and “Only a Loner” (all waaaay ahead of their time), even though they couldn’t resist taking a quick look in the rearview mirror with “Love People.”

The talented quartet also showed their versatility (and some fantastic chorused vocals) on the Latin-flavored “Windy City,” the jazzy “No More Tenderness,” and the sublime blues with benefits of “Are You with Me Baby.”

Sadly, consumers didn’t agree with my positive assessment, so there’d be no more music from either Demian or Bubble Puppy (belated reunions notwithstanding), as the quartet broke up and gradually headed back home to Texas to lick their wounds, leaving us this final, near-50-year-old relic to remember them by.

* Based on a Herman Hesse novel, just like Steppenwolf.

More Demian, a.k.a. The Bubble Puppy: A Gathering of Promises.

[holy-mountaineering]

Listen along to a pre-Pentagram hard rock band I had not heard until right now, while I work two of five of my Altars and stay up way too late doing Magick. That's the Hesh Magick Street Wizard Way™

This band is Stone Bunny and this is a private pressing EP called Nothing Left released in 1971 supposedly.