The great Marty Balin has died! I thank him for the Music!! He will be greatly missed.
Marty was a founder member of the fabulous West Coast band Jefferson Airplane and was present in all its incarnations up until 1970.
That band, along with other San Franciscan Bands such as Country Joe and the Fish, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service, were not only responsible for a distinctive Acid Rock sound but were also part of a unique social experiment.
If you look at where Hippie came from it was out of the community of artists, musicians, bohemians and social activists who had congregated in the Haight/Asbury area of San Francisco.
The Jefferson Airplane epitomised their communal approach and social attitudes. They promoted sexual freedom, LSD and a new, more liberal lifestyle.
The band was basically the house band for the counter-culture movement.
They produced a number of iconic sixties albums with After Bathing At Baxters, Surrealistic Pillow, Crown of Creation and Bless Its Pointed Little Head.
I rate their single White Rabbit/Somebody to Love as one of the best singles ever.
Thanks Marty – end of an era!