#silverhead

[stxrrysilver]

silverhead groupchat on insta for anyone who wants to join!! (please note that if you do join, make sure everyone has read "happyhead", "dead happy", and "traumaland" fully!! some people may know him differently [such as when he was an actor or from one book but not the other]!! and with the films too, please make sure as well!! WE ARE WELCOME TO NEW SILVERHEADS!! THE MORE THE MERRIER!!

[rockingreads]

Pamela des Barres: I'm With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie (1987)

We watched Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous with friends and family over the holidays, and it prompted many Millennial and Zoomer questions about ancient music business practices, rituals, and specifically groupies.

So I inevitably cited Pamela des Barres' seminal memoir, I'm With the Band, as perhaps the ultimate document of the groupie culture that arose and then flourished alongside classic rock in the late '60s and into the '70s.

In today's far more enlightened world, it can all seem a little complicated ...

But no one that I know of contextualized the groupie experience more earnestly, eloquently, romantically, authoritatively, and candidly than the legendary Miss Pamela (née Miller).

From her innocent upbringing in Southern California, to her scandalous liaisons with stars like Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Mick Jagger, Flying Burrito Chris Hillman, and her eventual husband, Michael des Barres (Silverhead, Detective, etc.), to her membership in the Frank Zappa-endorsed G.T.O.'s, this is simply one of rock 'n' roll's essential reads.

And whatever your opinion about Pamela's exploits, right or wrong, her motivation -- same as the story told in Almost Famous -- ultimately boils down to the search for individual freedom and an unquenchable passion for MUSIC -- something many us can relate to.

I briefly met Miss Pamela at SXSW, one year, and then it was my turn to act like her fawning, wide-eyed, slack-jawed groupie ... well, not like that, but you know what I mean.

Featured Records:

Silverhead: Silverhead (1972)

Frank Zappa: Hot Rats (1969)

The Flying Burrito Bros.: The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969)

The Who: Quadrophenia (1973)

Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin III (1970)

Buy from: Amazon

[orvillepeckofficial]

michael and pamela des barres, early 1970s

[queen-of-the-scene]

Michael and pamela des barres

[vinylspinning]

Skyhooks: “Women in Uniform” / “BBBBBoogie” (1978)

For years and years, all I knew about Australian hitmakers Skyhooks was that they were frequently ridiculed by their countrymen AC/DC (or at least in books about AC/DC) and that Iron Maiden grudgingly (but quite effectively) covered 1978’s “Women in Uniform,” at their label’s insistence.

But when I finally took the time to investigate Skyhooks further, via the no-cost, risk-free convenience of YouTube, I was both perplexed and strangely obsessed with that song’s contagious original version, and the low-budget music video in which the group rocks surprisingly hard whilst clad in black from head to toe.

This was not what I expected from Australia’s most flamboyant glam rock band of the ‘70s, notorious for simultaneously scandalizing and tantalizing prudes and dudes with their generous make-up, silly halloween costumes, and best-selling albums like Living in the ‘70s (1974), Ego is Not a Dirty Word (‘75), and Straight in a Gay Gay World (‘76).

Even more confusing, most of the hits in that catalog proved to be pretty awful novelty numbers (see “Horror Movie,” “All My Friends are Getting Married,” “Party to End All Parties”), and not even their tongue-in-cheek, self-effacing humor could spare Skyhooks from falling flat when they risked a doomed and disastrous foray into America.

Upon their return to Australia, tails between their legs, amid the violent uprising of punk (and the growing international success of AC/DC), Skyhooks decided to undertake a radical transformation -- from androgyny to misogyny, if you will -- embodied by the amusing “Women in Uniform”: 

“Beehive hairdo, forty-five on the hip; Patrolwoman Saunders don’t you give her no lip; Took me to the station for a breath test; Then back to her bedroom for some house arrest.

Flying to my hometown on a 747; Stewardess made me feel like I’m in heaven; Looking up the aisle trying to see what I could see; She leaned over and said coffee, tea, or me.

White apron and brown leather shoes; The nurse at the clinic left my heart all bruised; Broke my left leg and sprained my right; Now she takes my temperature every night.

Commando raid on the Lebanese border; Sergeant Anita she gives the order; Khaki jacket and a sten gun; Baby I surrender let’s have some fun.

Women in uniform, sometimes they look so cold; Women in uniform, but ooh they feel so warm; Women in uniform, khaki white and blue; Women in uniform, coming after you!”

Written (as were most all the band’s songs) by bassist Greg Macainsh, belted out with flirty sass by frontman Graeme ‘Shirley’ Strachan in a high, natural alto, and backed with unusual force by guitarists Bob Spencer, Bob Starkie, and drummer Imants ‘Freddy’ Strauks, the song briefly silenced Skyhooks’ critics by shooting to No. 8 on the Aussie charts 45 years ago.

It also dragged the band’s fourth long-player, Guilty Until Proven Insane (*), along for the ride (it crested at No. 7) and then, oh so many decades later, worming into my psyche and my Ultimate Classic Rock list of the Top 10 glam rock songs of the ‘70s.

Oh, and there’s a B-side, of course: a stuttering hard rocker called “BBBBBoogie” that was far less compelling, but also reflected Skyhooks efforts to toughen up their sound ahead of Strachan’s departure for a solo career and continued success as a national TV and radio personality.

As for Skyhooks, they recruited a new singer named Tony Williams and absolutely bombed with 1980’s fifth and final studio LP, Hot for the Orient (which truly sounds like a Spinal Tap album title, don’t it?), after which they accepted the inevitable and split up.

But occasional reunions with Strachan eventually took place, to the delight of nostalgic Australian fans, until the singer tragically perished in August of 2001, at the age of 49, when the helicopter he was piloting plummeted into a hillside.

Today, few people outside the Land Down Under obviously even remember Strachan or Skyhooks, but if you’d like to learn more, there’s a touching, 20-minute news piece on YouTube narrated by the band’s founding guitarist Red Symons.

* Produced by Jack Douglas and Eddie Leonetti, this LP finally delivered a studio recording of longtime on-stage fan favorite, “Why Dontcha All Get Fucked?”

More ‘70s Glam Rock: Alice Cooper’s Killer, Angel’s Helluva Band, Billion Dollar Babies’ Battle Axe, Blackfoot Sue’s Nothing to Hide, David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Diamond Reo’s Diamond Reo, Gedō’s Gedō, Geordie’s Don’t Be Fooled by the Name, Kiss’ Kiss, Neil Merryweather’s Space Rangers, Mott the Hoople’s All the Young Dudes, The New York Dolls’ The New York Dolls, Skyhools’ “Women in Uniform,” Suzi Quatro’s Suzi Quatro, Queen’s Sheer Heart Attack, The Runaways’ The Runaways, Silverhead’s Silverhead, Slade’s Slayed?, The Sweet’s Sweet Fanny Adams, T.Rex’s The Slider, Tiger B. Smith’s Tiger Rock, Rita Lee & Tutti Frutti’s Fruto Proibido, The Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack.’

[rodpower78]

Michael Des Barres performing live with Silverhead in around 1973.

[julio-viernes]

Sidney Poitier, Lulu, Michael Des Barres y la chavalada swinging en una de las escenas finales de “Rebelión en las Aulas” (”To Sir With Love”, 1967). The Mindbenders (Eric Stewart) interpretan en el escenario ”It's Getting Harder All the Time”. 

[glamidols]

Michael Des Barres –  Silverhead 1974