During the mid 60s, suburban garages across America rocked to the fuzz-drenched frenzy created by kids hoping to emulate The Seeds who were one of the biggest and best bands to emerge from this garage-band phenomenon.
Their style was undeniably simple but nonetheless brilliantly original. Muddy Waters once called The Seeds “America’s own Rolling Stones.”
The Seeds’ debut album arrived in April 1966. Saxon’s lyrics were infected by a wondrous charm, while the blend of British and blues influences served notice that The Seeds were developing a sound quite distinct from that of their “Louie Louie”-based rivals. “Evil Hoodoo,” is a piece of high-octane freak-beat that was as much a genuine slice of punk as anything the 70s threw up.
Best known for their rock & roll standard “Pushin’ Too Hard,” the Seeds combined the raw appeal of garage rock with a fondness for psychedelia. They were the creation of the charismatic SKY SAXON (vocals), who recruited Jan Savage (guitar), Daryl Hooper (keyboards) and Rick Andridge (drums), and made a deal with a local L.A. label, which was home to several other legendary garage punksters, for a debut 45, “Can’t Seem To Make You Mine” (1965). This was a slow, driven piece which highlighted Saxon’s unique vocal style. “Pushin’ Too Hard” (1966), the ultimate Seeds song, reached 36 in the Billboard chart. It was based around a simple driving riff, over which Saxon vented his teen angst, and was characterized by a masterful minimalism that would make the band a source of inspiration for countless bands.
A second, more adventurous LP, A WEB OF SOUND, appeared in October 1966. The album brimmed with rockin mid-60s classics, including the fourteen-minute “Up In Her Room” and the tight groover “Mr. Farmer,” which provided The Seeds with another smash into the American charts. “Mr. Farmer” was included on the soundtrack of the recent movie Almost Famous by director Cameron Crowe, which won a grammy for Best Soundtrack.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll is an unordered list of 500 songs, created by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, that they believe have been most influential in shaping the course of rock and roll. "Pushin' Too Hard" was named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.
The band then changed their garage style and threw the lot in with the emergent flower-power movement. The Seeds coined the term, “Flower Power” only to watch it crumble in commercial media hype. The result was FUTURE (1967). Saxon’s compositions now contained a strong element of acid-tinged horticultural playful whimsy (“Travel With Your Mind” and “March of The Flower Children”), while the band, like The Beatles were innovators with Eastern-style instrumentation. Success seemed just around the corner, especially when the group cameoed in Jack Nicholson’s Psych Out movie, they had a follow-up 45, “The Wind Blows Your Hair” (1967).
At this point in their success, The Seeds headlined over bands like: The Doors, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, Vanilla Fudge, The Kinks, Four Seasons, Diana Ross and The Supremes and others. They also split bill with Jimi Hendrix in New York. Then came A SPOONFUL OF SEEDY BLUES (1967), released under the moniker Sky Saxon Blues Band and featuring sleeve notes by Muddy Waters. The Seeds were back, however, for the 1968 album RAW AND ALIVE: MERLINS MUSIC BOX, which featured powerful versions of the band’s classic materials as well as a new stormer, “Satisfy You.”
Saxon reunited the original Seeds for a short tour in 1989 in which The Seeds were the headliners, in a show with Love, Big Brother and The Holding Company, and The Strawberry Alarm Clock.
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