IDIckie Peterson (left) with Serene Dominic in January 2008.
Dickie Peterson, bassist, lead vocalist and founding member of the legendary Blue Cheer, "loudest band in the world, passed away on Monday, October 12 at 5 a.m. in Germany at age 61, after a struggle with prostate and liver cancer. He reportedly developed a fatal infection following a surgical procedure to help alleviate his fight.
Although the San Francisco power trio had only one chart entry in the top 100, their version of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" which let the lead guitar and bass speak for the Cochran's dad, boss and congressman, the band influenced a generation of stoner rockers, grunge outfits, heavy metalists and hardcore grinders. Petersen, a modest man, would probably maintain he was just playing rock and roll and leave it at that.
Peterson was a true gentleman and an original. I had the pleasure of interviewing him in person at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix, Arizona on January 31, 2008 and learned a lot of interesting factoids about this quiet man fronting "the loudest band in the world."
You can stream the entire interview at killingtimeproductions.com or serenedominic.com but here are just some of what you'll hear in Dickie's own words.
1. Blue Cheer held the Guiness Record for "the loudest band in the world" but were overtaken by the Who in 1976.
To add insult to injury, the Who covered "Summertime Blues" in 1970, leading many Classic Rock fans to lose top shelf drink arguments on who had the hit first.Blue Cheer's version predated the Who's "Live at Leeds" version although people argue that the Who had been performing it several years prior, most notably at the Monterey Pop Festival. The last band recorgnized by the Guiness record keepers was Manowar who clocked in at a schreeching 139dB in 2008.
2. Dickie Peterson developed callouses inside his ears.
"A lot of bass players will develop callous over the eardrum wheras as a guitarist, because it's such a high frequency will rip the eardrum." This may explain why Petereson was able to play at maximum volume until his dying day and original guitarist Leigh Stephens plays at a more sonically sensible setting.
3. " Vincebus Eruptum" is the first album cover with raised lettering, beating the Beatles' White Album by several months.
Blind fans were grateful to finally have an album cover they could see but Dickie revealed, "It was actually done when you were stoned on acid, it felt really good."
4. Proctor and Gamble tried unsucessfully to stop the band from using the name Blue Cheer
Said Dickie "It came out in court that they didn't have the name Blue Cheer copyrighted, They had New Cheer with Blue Magic Whiteners. the court said unless we were selling soap, they couldn;t do anything about it." As an extra bit of humiliation the band called its third album New! Improved! Blue Cheer.
5. Blue Cheer went full circle when it rerecorded "Just a Little Bit" from the group's second album on its last album What Doesn't Kill You….
They did that so fans could see the how true to ther original sound the band stayed. Or as Peterson put it, "acknowledge the lack of difference."
Rest in peace, Dickie.
Write to Serene @ serenedominic@gmail.com
Comments
Blue Cheer invented heavy metal, if you ask me. Yes, Iron Butterfly, Cream and Hendrix were playing heavy and loud too at the time, but no one blasted such nuclear thunder through Marshall stacks with the transcendant power of dumbstruck gods first but Blue Cheer.
i hav bin totally indrench with bc ever since i saw them on american bandstand be4 bcs fist single came out. my frends couldnt stand them i was with my own bc club and that sucked bc wus way before there time i was shock to hear dickie peterson passed away if that had been eric clapton or some superstari would uv heard it all i wonder did bc ever make it into the rocknroll hall uv fame?
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