Intro. This is a band my friend Ken turned me on to years ago. He started collecting albums while we were still at University of Maryland, College Park; he managed to get me into them a few years after graduation, about the time I was in law school (early 90s). I started off with The Beast Is Back, a comeback album from 1985, followed that with the compilation Good Times Are So Hard To Find, and then managed to get all six original studio albums on CD in short enough time to annoy Ken. Of course, he’s now hanging out with the band on a regular basis, so he’s clearly not complaining anymore.
Style. They started out as a loud, aggressive rock band, out of the 1967 San Francisco music scene, though shunned and ignored by the mainstream – which focuses on the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and other more aural-friendly acts. If there was one thing early Blue Cheer was notorious for, it was being LOUD (“Louder Than God”), one of the first bands to line the back of their stages with a wall of Marshall stacks, cranked up to maximum volume. “They turn the air into cottage cheese,” their Hell’s Angel manager Gut was reported to have claimed. Iron Butterfly, often compared to Blue Cheer, have noted that they consider Blue Cheer “more of a vexation than an inspiration,” and it seems to the extent they get any attention at all, 80% of it is badmouthing, writing them off as obnoxious noise, using an excess of volume to conceal a lack of talent. I have to disagree with this blanket assessment.
Unfortunately, after three albums of fairly original material, they drifted off into commercial oblivion for the second three albums before disbanding in 1971. Their last album of this era, Oh! Pleasant Hope, reads like a cover of each of the most popular bands at the time. Not bad (I really like this album), just not original.
When they reformed in 1985 with Dickie Peterson, Paul Whaley, and Tony Rainier for The Beast Is Back, the distortion was back on, the Marshalls cranked to 11, and they have continued to remain loud and proud since then. They’re frequently cited as the “first heavy metal band” – before Black Sabbath – and compared to their contemporaries, especially such “heavy” ones as Cream and Iron Butterfly, they are certainly the heaviest of that era. Likewise, they continue the heavy blues-based rock. Of course by now, we have Metallica, death metal, etc., so Blue Cheer are no longer the heaviest act around – but they’re certainly competitive. They clearly succeeded at making the transition from 60s rock to contemporary metal, without simply copying the hair, thrash, or New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands. They have their own sound.
I wouldn’t, however, call them psychedelic, even if they are named after an LSD variant, as they never dissolve into the kind of space jams we expect from Pink Floyd, Hawkwind or the Grateful Dead. The closest to this is the extended jam song “Doctor Please”, from Vincebus.
Albums. The original six albums (1968-71), are Vincebus Eruptum, Outsideinside, New! Improved!, Blue Cheer, The Original Human Being, and Oh! Pleasant Hope. Then modern era (1985-) is The Beast Is Back, Highlights and Lowlives, Blitzkrieg Over Nuremburg (live), Dining With The Sharks, Live In Japan ’99 (live), Bootleg: Live Hamburg-London (live), and their most recent studio album, What Doesn't Kill You.
Lineups. The focal character of all BC lineups to the present is bassist/vocalist Dickie Peterson. There would be no Blue Cheer without Dickie – he IS Blue Cheer. He’s honest, down-to-earth, and very cool, considering who he is. A remarkable survivor. He sprinkles the concerts with thoughtful commentary between songs – it’s like he teleported here from San Francisco, 1967, but still knows exactly where he is.
They’ve had various drummers, with Paul Whaley being the original and most consistent. The popular legend was that they had to nail his drums down, he hit them so hard. He’s more from the Keith Moon & John Bonham school of heavy drumming. Lately Joe Hasselvander of Pentagram has been filling in for Whaley, though as of now Whaley is back in the group.
The original guitarist was Leigh Stephens, who plays on the first two albums. He was followed by Randy Holden (half of New! Improved!), Bruce Stephens (no relation to Leigh) (the other half of New! Improved! and Blue Cheer), Gary Yoder (The Original Human Being and Oh! Pleasant Hope); Tony Rainier (The Beast Is Back) and Dieter Saller (Dining With The Sharks); and finally Duck McDonald, the current guitarist, who has now been with the band for over 20 years and can play Leigh Stephens’ material better than Leigh himself. He started off as a George Lynch kind of poser, but ended up more of a laid-back, blues-based guitarist. He plays Stratocasters through Marshall amps, the classic combination.
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