Blue Cheer`s Dickie Peterson Passes Away

[Echo In Light]

Hey all ... I doubt many here will even recognize the name, but suffice it to say this band had a major influence on me while growing up and finding music. I was forever marked upon scoring a well worn copy of Blue Cheer's psych-acid-amphetamine-volume-freak-out LP, Vincebus Eruptum (Latin, roughly translated as 'control of chaos') at a used record shop when I was a young kid.

Yes, it was the early 80s, and while I was jamming (and learning to play the drums) to the likes of Black Sabbath and Motorhead, Blue Cheer was always one of my favorites. They embodied the dark ending of the Peace & Love era.

For those unfamiliar, BC established the classic American metal/punk trio prototype, and, along w/Britain's Black Sabbath, basically created the original HEAVY music DNA formula that druggies, outcast musicians and metalheads would forever emulate ... including the younger ones who although may be unfamiliar with the sources were and are indirectly influenced nonetheless.

Several yrs after discovering BC records I ended up playing in a bar band w/a bassist who delivered pizzas w/another guy who used to party w/Peterson in SF way back in the day, claiming Peterson would eat entire sheets of blotter at a time! lol

You're familiar w/the Spinal Tap bit about the Marshall heads that "go to 11...?" well, for Dickie, that's what it was all about.

God speed, brother Dickie :headbang: :hippie:

+ + +

Los Angeles, CA – Friends, fans and heavy metal rock and rollers around the world are mourning the death of Blue Cheer bassist and lead singer Richard Allan “Dickie” Peterson (b. September 12, 1946), after a long fight against cancer. Peterson, age 63, died in Erkelenz , Germany , where he lived, on the morning of October 12, 2009. He is survived by wife Ilka Peterson, ex-wife Marilyn (Peterson) Stephens with whom he had a daughter, Corrina Peterson-Kaltenrieder, and a grandson. He was a founding member and leader of the San Francisco band Blue Cheer; a band known to heavy metal fans for being louder and heavier than any band before them and for laying the blueprint for much of what would come after. The band debuted with a ground shaking cover of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues” on their 1968 album Vincebus Eruptum. In the early days, the Cheer regularly played shows with their San Francisco peers including such era luminaries as The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Big Brother & the Holding company and Cream.

The band’s last US tour (members Peterson, founding drummer Paul Whaley, and guitarist Andrew “Duck” MacDonald) was in support of their 2007 release What Doesn’t Kill You… and had the band playing shows with the fourth generation of bands to follow in their path. “He loved the younger musicians,” said MacDonald of his bandmate, “he thought of all of them as his children.” Zach Gabbard of the band Buffalo Killers, one of Dickie’s favorite new generation rock bands, said “You never know what it is going to be like to play with your heroes, but we walked into the club and Dickie stopped and said, ‘Buffalo Killers, cool name.’ We played and hung out with Dickie and the rest of the band all night. It was a gift. Dickie was worthy of his hero status and will be missed by many.”

Plans were underway for the band to tour in support of the 2009 Rainman Records DVD release of Blue Cheer Rocks Europe when Dickie’s cancer was found. Tour plans were put on hold, but the first full length concert DVD in the band’s more than forty year history was released without delay. The DVD includes not only the concert footage with 5.1 audio, but also included a Peterson voiceover commentary and a complete interview with the late leader of the band.

Dickie and Blue Cheer cherished their fans, the 1%ers as they were called, and considered them the fourth member of their band. “Without you, what we do is completely pointless” Peterson said to an audience in 2006, continuing “you’ve got to take care of each other, you’re all you’ve got.” MacDonald says that Dickie believed in the best of people “the people loved him and he loved them right back. It was the best relationship he had in his life.”

+ + +

"Dickie Peterson, the bassist/vocalist and founding member of BLUE CHEER, passed away Monday morning (October 12) at 5 a.m. in Germany. He was 61 years old. Peterson had reportedly been battling prostate and liver cancer, and according to BLUE CHEER`s message board, had developed a fatal infection following a surgical procedure to help alleviate his fight.

BLUE CHEER was an American blues-rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and has been sporadically active since. Based in San Francisco, BLUE CHEER played in a psychedelic blues-rock style, and was also credited for pioneering heavy metal (their cover of "Summertime Blues" is sometimes cited as the first in the genre), punk rock, stoner rock, doom metal and grunge.

Throughout his life, Peterson`s relationship to music has been all-consuming. He was quoted as saying, "I`ve been married twice, I`ve had numerous girlfriends, and they`ll all tell you that if I`m not playing music I am an animal to live with. . . Music is a place where I get to deal with a lot of my emotion and displaced energy. I always only wanted to play music, and that`s all I still want to do."

Despite the fact that BLUE CHEER was considered a pioneer in many different genres, Peterson downplayed the band`s influence, stating in an interview, "People keep trying to say that we`re heavy metal or grunge or punk, or we`re this or that. The reality is we`re just a power trio and we play ultra-blues, and it`s rock `n` roll l . It`s really simple what we do."

Peterson spent much of the past two decades based in Germany, performing with BLUE CHEER and with other groups as well. In 1998 and 1999, he played a number of dates in Germany with the HANK DAVISON BAND and as an acoustic duo with Hank Davison under the banner DOS HOMBRES."



Summertime Blues:
http://www.flix.co.il/tapuz/showVideo.asp?m=882692

[xchrom]

1. sweet memories from younger times -- you are gone too soon, sir. nt

[livetohike]

2. R.I.P. Dickie and thanks for all the music

:hippie: I saw Blue Cheer in 1989 out in CA - they were great.

[DBoon]

3. Ethan James passed away a few years ago, too

Another Blue Cheer alumnus, he founded LA's Radio Tokyo recording studio, which pioneered many early 1980's LA post-punk bands

Another '60s stalwart leading a younger generation of musicians

Ethan James (born Ralph Burns Kellogg (1946 - June 19, 2003)) was a musician, record producer, and recording engineer best known for his work on the Minutemen's seminal album Double Nickels on the Dime. He also produced and engineered albums for such acts as Black Flag, The Bangles, Rain Parade, Dos, and many others. Many of these recordings were undertaken at Radio Tokyo Studio, the recording facility he founded in the early 1980s.

Blue Cheer has had an influence way beyond the band's recorded music sales

[Wickerman]

4. Sad

I used to love Blue Cheer, hadn't thought of them in a long time, need to dig some out today. Back in the early 80's when I was a projectionist in a small art theater I used to play an eight track of Blue Cheer - The Original Human Being before every movie. Well, until the management told me to stop, apparently our well-heeled audience felt they were worthy of something more than that noisy little gem.

R.I.P. Dickie, thanks for the memories.