too larry
Well-Known Member
The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
11 hrs ·
If Dickie Peterson was still with us, he would have been celebrating his 73rd birthday today. Some of you will remember Dickie as the bassist and lead singer for the band Blue Cheer. Blue Cheer has been credited by many as the first "Heavy Metal" band.
Dickie's birth names was Richard Allan Peterson. Besides his work with Blue Cheer, he also recorded two solo albums: Child of the Darkness and Tramp.
Peterson cited Otis Redding as a significant influence. He credited his brother, the late Jerry Peterson, as being his lifelong musical influence. Jerry was one of the lead guitarists in the initial lineup of Blue Cheer (the other being Leigh Stephens) and played with various formations of the band in later years.
Peterson spent much of the past two decades preceding his death based in Germany, playing with Blue Cheer and other groups on occasion. In 2001 and 2002, Peterson played, principally in Germany, with Mother Ocean, a group he formed that included former Blue Cheer guitarist Tony Rainier, as well as brother Jerry Peterson.
Throughout his life, Peterson's relationship to music had been all-consuming. Peterson provided the following self-description: "I've been married twice, I’ve had numerous girlfriends, and they’ll all tell you that if I’m not playing music I am an animal to live with. ...Music is a place where I get to deal with a lot of my emotion and displaced energy. I always only wanted to play music, and that’s all I still want to do."
In his early life Peterson was a user of various drugs and was a heroin addict for a number of years. In 2007, Peterson said he believed LSD and other similar drugs can have positive effects, but that he and other members of Blue Cheer "took it over the top". He had ceased much of his drug use by the mid-1970s, and stopped drinking ten years before his death.
Blue Cheer has been considered a pioneering band in many genres. Peterson did not consider that the band belonged to any particular genre: "People keep trying to say that we’re heavy metal or grunge or punk, or we’re this or that. The reality is, we’re just a power trio, and we play ultra blues, and it’s rock ‘n roll. It’s really simple what we do."
Dickie died on October 12, 2009 in Erkelenz, Germany at the age of 63 from liver cancer, after prostate cancer spread throughout his body.
Neil Peart, the drummer for RUSH, who shares the same birthday as Dickie,said in tribute to Peterson:
Dickie Peterson was present at the creation — stood at the roaring heart of the creation, a primal scream through wild hair, bass hung low, in an aural apocalypse of defiant energy. His music left deafening echoes in a thousand other bands in the following decades, thrilling some, angering others, and disturbing everything — like art is supposed to do.
Happy Birthday Dickie. Thank you for the music and the ideas.
11 hrs ·
If Dickie Peterson was still with us, he would have been celebrating his 73rd birthday today. Some of you will remember Dickie as the bassist and lead singer for the band Blue Cheer. Blue Cheer has been credited by many as the first "Heavy Metal" band.
Dickie's birth names was Richard Allan Peterson. Besides his work with Blue Cheer, he also recorded two solo albums: Child of the Darkness and Tramp.
Peterson cited Otis Redding as a significant influence. He credited his brother, the late Jerry Peterson, as being his lifelong musical influence. Jerry was one of the lead guitarists in the initial lineup of Blue Cheer (the other being Leigh Stephens) and played with various formations of the band in later years.
Peterson spent much of the past two decades preceding his death based in Germany, playing with Blue Cheer and other groups on occasion. In 2001 and 2002, Peterson played, principally in Germany, with Mother Ocean, a group he formed that included former Blue Cheer guitarist Tony Rainier, as well as brother Jerry Peterson.
Throughout his life, Peterson's relationship to music had been all-consuming. Peterson provided the following self-description: "I've been married twice, I’ve had numerous girlfriends, and they’ll all tell you that if I’m not playing music I am an animal to live with. ...Music is a place where I get to deal with a lot of my emotion and displaced energy. I always only wanted to play music, and that’s all I still want to do."
In his early life Peterson was a user of various drugs and was a heroin addict for a number of years. In 2007, Peterson said he believed LSD and other similar drugs can have positive effects, but that he and other members of Blue Cheer "took it over the top". He had ceased much of his drug use by the mid-1970s, and stopped drinking ten years before his death.
Blue Cheer has been considered a pioneering band in many genres. Peterson did not consider that the band belonged to any particular genre: "People keep trying to say that we’re heavy metal or grunge or punk, or we’re this or that. The reality is, we’re just a power trio, and we play ultra blues, and it’s rock ‘n roll. It’s really simple what we do."
Dickie died on October 12, 2009 in Erkelenz, Germany at the age of 63 from liver cancer, after prostate cancer spread throughout his body.
Neil Peart, the drummer for RUSH, who shares the same birthday as Dickie,said in tribute to Peterson:
Dickie Peterson was present at the creation — stood at the roaring heart of the creation, a primal scream through wild hair, bass hung low, in an aural apocalypse of defiant energy. His music left deafening echoes in a thousand other bands in the following decades, thrilling some, angering others, and disturbing everything — like art is supposed to do.
Happy Birthday Dickie. Thank you for the music and the ideas.
