The Sky has fallen

[Candy Randy]

Friday, June 26, 2009

Jackson Overshadows Saxon
Not since Darby Crash died on the exact day John Lennon did, has a garage royalty death has been ignored. Sky Sunlight Saxon was at the top of the Class of 1966; he died at St.David’s hospital in Austin Texas. The cause of death is unknown.
This whole Michael Jackson media circus is living proof that the corporate news broadcasters view U.S. Americans as simpletons who care only about a mentally ill, song-and-dance man. It’s beyond my comprehension what Gen X kids saw in this nut! And--since we are on the subject--consider Elvis! I didn’t get the abnormal attraction to him, either! Yeah, he was cool in the 1950’s but, shit, howdy! After he left the army, he became a plastic android and a religious figure to every plebeian who graced the stage of Jerry Springer!
Richard Marsh, aka: Sky Saxon, started his school of rock semester in the early ‘60s as a doo-wop singer, then he joined The Seeds in ‘65. The independent label, GNP Crescendo, signed the band to a recording contract and they were off to the races! They were a local favorite on the Los Angeles scene in 1966; however, they didn’t hit the charts until early ‘67. Their song, “Pushing Too Hard” is the one they are most known for. Their follow up, “I Can’t Seem to Make You Mine” is one of the most intense blues songs ever recorded. Saxon emotes the most angst-ridden vocals I’d ever heard. I guess it was too much for top 40 radio. Their sound was really unusual for the times. It was Daryl Hooper’s melodica keyboards that gave their sound a weird edge.
Well, Saxon went from garage punk pioneer in ‘66 to a flower child in ‘67. The Seeds’ second album, A Web of Sound, was released in 1967. Like Arthur Lee and Love’s album, Da Capo, its second side featured a lengthy track, “Up in Her Room.” They released a 45 rpm record “Mister Farmer,” about a pot farmer, but it never charted. Neither did a song about a drug dealer called, “Trip Maker.” Then came the L.P. that killed their careers, Future. Their single off the album, “A Thousand Shadows,” sounded too much like “Pushing Too Hard.” The album’s sound proved too bizarre for popular consumption. They utilized a lot of instruments that were incongruous for rock; i.e. they used a tuba for the song, “March of the Flower Children.” Sky sounded drunk on this atrocity. This album was so bad it was good--in an avant-garde way. In 1968, The Seeds broke up and re-materialized as, “The Sky Saxon Blues Band” (sic). That same year, GNP Crescendo released an L.P., A Full Spoon of Seedy Blues. It didn’t sound like a blues album, it sounded like The Seeds. The label dumped them. After 1970, Sky became a hermit, popping up every so often to do a revival concert.
The Seeds were one of the many bands of the Class of ’66, but in the 80s, a new generation of punk bands idolized them. The Ramones covered “Pushing Too Hard,” on their album, Acid Eaters. Many bands covered The Seeds’ catalogue during that decade.
So another garage legend bites the dust. I raise a can of Bud and propose a toast: Here’s to you, Sky Saxon! Gulp!
Off topic alert! This is a musical video I want to share people who appreciate rock & Roll
If you like this sort of entertainment please click on link. If you don’t, do not click link!
Thank you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkfHXPNYcIA

[Howardx]

1. great post, thanks!

met a guy this weekend who had toured with sky.

[kestrel91316]

2. Sky Saxon?? Never heard of the guy until a couple of days ago

here on DU. And I'm 52.........

The Seeds???

[JuniperLea]

4. Clearly your loss...

They were sort of like Anvil, who were heavy metal giants, but only seem to be known to those who are very, very metal themselves.

Sky Sunlight Saxon was an icon. I'm 52 as well, but the main distinction between us may be that I started rocking at age 3, and had a lot of older cousins who introduced me to the rock and the roll, so I am dead savvy on the rock of the early to mid 60's. Seems not too many other people in my age group woke up until The Beatles and The Rolling Stones became popular.

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. Icon - you keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.

If the name gets a 'huh?' from 99 of a hundred people, he is not an icon, no matter how talented he may have been.

Nevertheless, it is indeed unfortunate timing that even in his last moment he would be completely overshadowed by a pop icon, and not get even a brief homage in his passing.

[JuniperLea]

7. To those in the industry...

He is huge, and every bit an icon. Like I said, Anvil would get a bunch of "huh?" responses here too... but you'd find it very difficult to find any major metal band that would give you that response.

In the 60's, everyone knew who Sky Saxon was. He was on the TV and the radio a lot. He was the undisputed image of the rock and of the roll. By definition, yes, he was and remains, an icon.




Main Entry: icon
Variant(s): also ikon \ˈī-ˌkän\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, from Greek eikōn, from eikenai to resemble
Date: 1572
1: a usually pictorial representation : image
2 : a conventional religious image typically painted on a small wooden panel and used in the devotions of Eastern Christians
3: an object of uncritical devotion : idol
4: emblem, symbol <the house became an icon of 1960's residential architecture — Paul Goldberger>
5 a: a sign (as a word or graphic symbol) whose form suggests its meaning b: a graphic symbol on a computer display screen that usually suggests the type of object represented or the purpose of an available function
— icon·ic \ī-ˈkä-nik\ adjective
— icon·i·cal·ly \-ni-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

[JuniperLea]

3. I partied with some of Sky's friends this weekend...

Heard great road stories from his last Euro tour with The Damned and The Woolly Bandits... he was an icon. RIP, and don't fear the reaper, Sunlight. Rik Collins (lead bandit) gave me a killer DVD and CD he'd compiled of Sky's stuff... I felt honored.

[flakey_foont]

5. thanks for the post

have some old SEEDS music around...I much preferred the psyche-punk stuff to the later hippie-trippy stuff....

some good memories