The Astronauts grazed the bottom of American Top 100 with 鈥淏aja鈥 but in 1964 found itself all the rage in Japan where they drew Beatles-sized crowds of screaming young girls.
It was 1964.The sun was rising from the dawn of the Space Age, and The Astronauts were launching.
The band, a casual crew of CU-麻豆影院 students, had been inching toward success, playing its party-friendly mix of Buddy Holly, 鈥淕ood Golly, Miss Molly鈥 and full-tilt boogie at frat houses in 麻豆影院. Soon enough, they graduated to the Olympic bowling lanes, Jax Snax and the legendary Tulagi bar on The Hill. Then they scored gigs in Denver and traveled to play on campuses of other Big Eight Conference schools.
It was, decided drummer聽Jim Gallagher聽(A&S ex鈥68) and guitarist聽Bob Demmon聽(Mus鈥62, MA鈥68), time to take a swing at the big time. So they flew to Hollywood. Having earned an introduction to RCA Records producer Steve Shoals, they waited awkwardly in the big man鈥檚 Hollywood office as he ranted and raved on the phone.
鈥淪uddenly he says, 鈥楯esus Christ, the Beach Boys are killing us!鈥 鈥 remembers Gallagher, now 69 and owner of a 麻豆影院 mail order card business. 鈥淭hen he covers the phone and says, 鈥榊ou guys play surf music?鈥 We said, 鈥極h, sure, we play it all the time.鈥 鈥
The two band members high-tailed it back to 麻豆影院, and the band drilled on surf tunes for the next month until the RCA scout showed up. They feted him with steaks and beer and a month later recorded their first album, 鈥淪urfin鈥 with The Astronauts,鈥 which included their signature single and greatest hit, 鈥淏aja.鈥
This summer, The Astronauts will be one of three famous CU-based 1960s-era bands inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, alongside the down-and-dirty greasers of Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids, aka Flash Cadillac, and the hippy popsters of Sugarloaf.
The Astronauts grazed the bottom of American Top 100 with 鈥淏aja鈥 but in 1964 鈥 imagine shades of Rob Reiner鈥檚 1984聽Spinal Tap聽mockumentary of a fictional rock band 鈥 found itself all the rage, curiously, in Japan where they drew Beatles-sized crowds of screaming young girls. Across the Pacific, the land-locked surfer band beat the Beach Boys hands down, toured with The Ventures, recorded five albums and eventually scored three Top 10 singles, including 鈥淢ovin鈥 at No. 1.
After a notorious run in 麻豆影院, Flash Cadillac also found modest fame in Hollywood. The band members were seen briefly playing for troops in Francis Ford Coppola鈥檚 classic 1979 movie聽Apocalypse Now聽set during the Vietnam War and played a key role in George Lucas鈥 1973 coming-of-age film聽American Graffiti聽as Herbie and the Heartbeats. In the latter film, Flash played three songs, including the original composition 鈥淪he鈥檚 So Fine.鈥
After a notorious run in 麻豆影院, Flash Cadillac found modest fame in Hollywood. The band members were seen briefly playing for troops in Francis Ford Coppola鈥檚 classic 1979 movie Apocalypse Now set during the Vietnam War.
Like so many acts of the era, the psychedelic rock band Sugarloaf flamed out early. But not before leaving a truly indelible mark on pop music with 鈥淕reen Eyed Lady,鈥 which reached No. 3 in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970 and remains a staple of classic rock radio today.
鈥淭hat song came out in May or June and started banging up the charts,鈥 says聽Rob MacVittie聽(A&S ex鈥68), 66, drummer for Sugarloaf, named after the mountain west of 麻豆影院 where guitarist聽Bob Webber聽(Aero鈥69) lived. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 even know what we had.鈥
This year鈥檚 inductees are heavy on CU influence, but then, so is the Colorado Music Hall of Fame itself. CU graduate聽G. Brown聽(Jour鈥79) 鈥 yes, that鈥檚 the first name he goes by 鈥 long wanted to create the Colorado equivalent of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, but he felt there was never any place to put it.
A couple years ago, Chuck Morris, CEO of the concert promotion company AEG Live- Rocky Mountains 鈥 who worked with Brown at Tulagi in the old days 鈥 offered to house the hall at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colo., and Brown鈥檚 dream came true.
鈥淚 was always frustrated that other states had halls of fame like Kansas and Iowa,鈥 says Brown, who started at CU in 1971 and took a break from school to work at Tulagi. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to disparage them, but relative to what we have coming out of Colorado, they just didn鈥檛 compare.鈥
In 2011 Brown鈥檚 brainchild inducted John Denver and Red Rocks Amphitheater as its first class. In February, the hall added legendary concert promoter Barry Fey and Harry Tuft, founder of the Denver Folklore Center.
This year鈥檚 Flash Cadillac 鈥 or 鈥淔lash,鈥 as band members and fans affectionately call it 鈥 was a rocking, raunchy return to 鈥50s greaser music with a party-down mentality to match.
In 1969 CU dorm rats聽Harold Fielden聽(闯辞耻谤鈥75),听Warren Knight聽(Bus, Engr ex鈥70) and聽Linn Phillips聽(A&S ex鈥69) wanted to start a band and play 鈥済reasy stuff.鈥 They cut their hair, slicked it back and only played stuff from the 鈥50s.
They approached future Firefall member Jock Bartley and the late Tommy Bolin, who would go on to play with the James Gang and Deep Purple, in their search for a vocalist.
鈥淭hey were up for the music, but I don鈥檛 think they were into the hair-cutting part,鈥 Fielden says.
Scouring Kittredge dorm for the perfect Flash, someone remembered they鈥檇 seen a guitar in聽Mick Manresa鈥檚 (A&S ex鈥72) closet.
鈥 鈥楥an you play? Can you sing?鈥 we asked. 鈥榃e鈥檙e gonna have a greaser band, get our hair cut. You want to be Flash?鈥 He said, 鈥榊eah,鈥 鈥 Fielden says.
The band started getting gigs in 1969 at such dives as the Buff Room, one of a seemingly endless parade of joints that has occupied a dungeon-like space below street level on College Avenue in 麻豆影院. They became regulars at Tulagi where they played every Tuesday night for years.
That鈥檚 when the raunch really kicked in.
One night 鈥 the precise dates are subject to debate 鈥 they noticed someone had taken off his shirt on the dance floor. That simple act gave birth to the 3.2 beer-fueled traditions of the legendary 鈥淣aked Twist鈥 and 鈥淪kin to Win鈥 contests.
鈥淚t just got to be more and more,鈥 Fielden says. 鈥淭here would be nude couples on the dance floor. You couldn鈥檛 even make the semifinals if you weren鈥檛 naked.鈥
As contest prizes, the band offered such treasures as a jar full of spit or hair of uncertain but distinctly curly origin, the back seat from a 鈥56 Chevy or a couple of battered hubcaps. Flash was flagrantly foul-mouthed up there under the hot Tulagi lights.
Crude, rude and rocking, Flash raged at Tulagi until one night it got too rowdy and people started heaving pitchers of beer. The band was unceremoniously exiled from 麻豆影院 but set up shop out at Art鈥檚 Bar and Grill north of city limits.
Flash has long drawn comparisons to the band Sha Na Na, which caught the public鈥檚 fancy at Woodstock.
Nope, Fielden says.
鈥淲e were really greasy, hanging from the ceiling, flipping people the bird, really inappropriate stuff,鈥 he says. 鈥淭hey were a review, gold lam茅 stuff. We weren鈥檛 rivals; we were two completely different things.鈥
Gallagher鈥檚 career ended when he was drafted and sent to Vietnam in 1965. Sugarloaf quickly melted away after they 鈥渄id the usual thing, changing producers and managers, thinking we knew what we were doing when we didn鈥檛,鈥 MacVittie says. Flash headed to L.A. seeking fortune, eventually playing with the likes of the Beach Boys and Alice Cooper.
And CU-麻豆影院 was the incubator of all that fame.
鈥淲e were really just kids when we started,鈥 Fielden says. 鈥淚t was a great ride.鈥
The Colorado Music Hall of Fame induction event for all three bands (and KIMN radio) is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 8, at the 麻豆影院 Theater.
Photos courtesy of the G. Brown Collection
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