Much of the Midwest is enjoying an "Indian Summer" today and tomorrow, before the harsh reality of fall descends upon us. Setting aside the irony of an Indian Summer on Columbus Day, I figured I would choose a song today that evokes warm weather. Blue Cheer's cover of Eddie Cochran's 1958 hit "Summertime Blues" is widely considered to be one of the first heavy metal songs. It was originally recorded in 1967 and then released in January 1968 on the band's debut album, Vincebus Eruptum. The album would reach #11 on the Billboard album charts, largely because of the song's success. "Summertime Blues" hit #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it was the band's only song to crack the Top 40 (or the Top 90, for that matter).
The song takes the original and distorts the hell out of it. Listening to it now, you can hear how it foretold early metal and doom metal. It plods, it screams, and it defies convention. Rather than the adult "responses" in the original version, the band members each have a solo, and then there's a gritty, fuzzy guitar solo before the last verse. Dig it.
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