MetaChat - Battle Of The Acid Casualties

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09 February 2006

Battle Of The Acid Casualties →[More:]

Skip Spence - Little Hands

Skip Spence was the original drummer in the Jefferson Airplane and singer/guitarist in Moby Grape, one of the lost treasures of the psyche era. At a gig in NYC he took some very powerful acid that kicked already present diturbed tendencies into overdrive and landed him in Bellvue pumped full of psyche meds. He lived the next thirty years in near complete dissolution, but he also cut a brilliant album called Oar, that has the deep-fried folk-rock flavor of Beck 30 years early.

Roky Erickson - Click Your Fingers Applauding The Play

Roky Erickson was the leader of The 13th Floor Elevators who did the classic "You're Gonna Miss Me," that opnes High Fidelity. After being busted with pot in Texas in the 60's, he took the unusual step of pleading insanity, which landed him in the booby hatch getting meds and shock treatment. Since then he's been churning out wonderfully bent rock and roll like the track linked above.

post by: jonmc at: 20:51 | 15 comments

Roky actually seems to have gotten himself together lately. He's out of the institution, on the proper meds, and his brother is looking out for him. So, yay, a happy ending. Hopefully.

Also, no Syd Barrett?

posted by bmarkey 09 February | 20:53

Syd's a little too obvious, and I have to admit to personal bias in that Roky and Skip's stuff is more to my taste, dude.

posted by jonmc 09 February | 20:56

No prob. I'll post some Syd when I get home.

posted by bmarkey 09 February | 20:57

WTF? No Peter Green stories outta you, John? He's a full-on fruitcake and plays better geetar than either of these two fry-babies.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 09 February | 21:05

I've posted Peter Green here before, thes, and yes he is indeed brilliant, but these two crazy fuckers deserve exposure to the young'un's as well, I think.

posted by jonmc 09 February | 21:06

Well, so be it. The Donnas rock. Who wants to mess around with old crusty Mickey Mouseheads when the Donnas are young, hot, ripe and totally shred?

How can you argue with a song like Do You Wanna Hit It?

You can't, Jon, you jes' cain't.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 09 February | 21:23

What? Is Jerry Gacia BEYOND obvious. :-( Maybe he is more of an acid survivor.

posted by Cryptical Envelopment 09 February | 21:44

Crypt, compared to these two guys, Jerry was a monument of stabilty and coherence. Listen to the tracks and you'll see what I mean.

posted by jonmc 09 February | 21:46

I respectfully present to you an awesome acid casualty/survivor track. (In case you mouse over the link, no, it's not Dylan ;-) OK, time for bed. Kelly Clarkson wore me out.

posted by Cryptical Envelopment 09 February | 21:51

Will do tomorrow, jon. Sorry for being an opportunistic drunken deadhead. :-)

posted by Cryptical Envelopment 09 February | 21:52

Hmmm, I'm not going to run and track down any primary sources but the story as I recall it was a fracas in a hotel room, where Skip didn't agree with the cop that showed up to hassle him and ended up throwing a fire extiguisher, or at least brandishing a fire extinguisher, that was ruled a weapon.

Again, my recollection, but he did some actual non-hospital time on Rikers I think, and wrote all of Oar in his cell.

Upon being released he went from the prison door to an old Harley and drove non stop to Nasheville were he recorded Oar basically in one take upon arrival.

posted by StickyCarpet 09 February | 22:22

Salon sez he attacked a fellow member of Moby Grape with a fire ax. That gibes with the stories I've heard.

posted by bmarkey 09 February | 22:28

That's the way I read it in Unknown Legends Of Rock and Roll, but he did spend time under psychiatric care.

posted by jonmc 09 February | 22:34

No matter which story you go with, the upshot is that he wasn't particularly stable at times, enough so that he was institutionalized at one point.

posted by bmarkey 09 February | 22:42

As promised:

Syd Barrett - Terrapin

Syd was the driving force behind the origianl Pink Floyd. (Roger who?) Acid took its toll, though, and he left the band, made a couple of cracked solo albums, and retired. I don't recall if he was ever institutionalized. I do know he's a recluse now, living with his mother (if I recall correctly).

posted by bmarkey 09 February | 23:48

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