Shape of Things to Come
Max Frost & The Troopers — Shape of Things to Come (1968, lyrics)
Seriously. What the fuck happened to positive, inspiring, forward-looking music? Why did the wave roll back? Was it just brief drug-fueled madness without a sensible end as certain interpretations of Vanishing Point would suggest? Can anything like this ever happen again?
1969 was just a perigean high tide (moon was in the seventh house?). There have been later high tides (check out Phish in 1989-1990, when they were still a Vermont band).
The 1960s wave disintegrated and rolled back because the Apollonian ideals of the early Pranksters turned into Dionysian ones.
Something mystical became entertainment. The people involved began trying to label an unspoken experience.
Actually, the Troopers (inspired by garage bands, surf guitars and LA bands and usually featuring a Farfisa organ) is an example of this — a producer’s vision of what psychedelic music should sound like and attempt to distill it into a marketable form.
While HST is hilarious, but I find Tom Wolfe a lot more useful for understanding the dynamics of the hippie movement.
Though that monologue is sharp writing, if I were HST I would be even more proud of some of the comic scenes. For some reason, I never got the sense that he was actually in San Francisco in 1965-1967. I don’t know why.
I’d love to know. Were you in San Francisco during the great wave?
Not born yet. I only made it there in 2000.
I always tend to miss waves when they crest and chase the undertow, waving my arms.
Good blog, BTW.
Seemed like those questions were more up my alley than Eternal Rainfall.
Thanks! Come again and bring friends!
I gotta put some Tom Wolfe in my next Amazon batch. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test any good? Or what would you recommend?