On January 16, 1968, "Blue Cheer" released it's debut album "Vincebus Eruptum".
Some have defined this album as the first Metal album. Others stated that the band "Blue Cheer" actually invented Heavy Metal. Whether you agree with these definitions or not, you can not ignore the fact that this band has influenced bands like "Led Zeppelin", "Deep Purple", "Black Sabbath" and even "Rush", with the album "Vincebus Eruptum" clearly influencing the development of "Heavy Metal".
"Blue Cheer" is an American blues-metal and psychedelic rock band that was formed in San Francisco in 1966. At the time of its formation, the band had six members, but as early as 1967 there were only three left: Leigh Stephens on guitar, Dickie Peterson on bass and vocals, and Paul Whaley on drums.
The band's name came from a variation of the LSD drug, that was common at the time the band was formed, in San Francisco.
While it is common to think that the roots of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal genres are firmly planted on the other side of the ocean, in England of 1969-1970, these American guys did so even earlier, when in January 1968 they released an album featuring a combination of styles such as: blues, Hard Rock, Garage Rock, Psychedelia, Stoner and Heavy Metal.
This is a powerful band - an American power trio that was among the influencers of another power trio - the Canadian "Rush". The members of "Rush" even made a small tribute for "Blue Cheer" when they performed a cover version of the song "Summertime" Blues" in their "Feedback" mini-album from the 2004. This song was originally performed by Eddie Cochran, but the members of "Blue Cheer" gave it their own powerful interpretation. The song reached number 14 on the Billboard 100 and won the band great success, as it also pushed sales of the album which ranked 11th on the Billboard 200 chart.
"Spin" magazine ranked the album 22nd on the 40 greatest metal albums of all time. The streaming service "Rhapsody" placed it among the ten biggest "Proto-Metal" albums.
This time we prepared for you a Youtube playlist of the album's songs, since it is not to be found in other streaming services: Youtube