The History of Buffalo Springfield: From their Formation to their First Gig

Ah, Buffalo Springfield - there's not too many times in a year where I write on this band, but when I do get the chance, it's only fitting I celebrate them! Today marks 57 years since their very first gig. Let's look back on what led up to it.

Credit: CBS/Getty Images

Stephen Stills and Neil Young met in 1965 at Thunder Bay, Ontario-based club The Fourth Dimension while they were still with The Company (which was a spin-off of the Au Go Go Singers) and The Squires respectively. The Company, however, broke up at the end of the tour they were on at the time, and after an unsuccessful audition to join The Monkees, Stills was told by record producer Barry Friedman that work would be available as long as he assembled a band. He invited former Au Go Go Singers alumn Richie Furay and former Squires bassist Ken Koblun, who ended up leaving rather quickly in favor of joining 3's A Crowd.

In 1966, Young met bassist Bruce Palmer, who was playing for The Mynah Birds at the time. The band was in need of a lead guitarist, which was a role that was he was supposed to fill, but the band met their end when their vocalist, who later came to be known as Rick James, was arrested by the U.S Navy for going AWOL. He and Palmer pawned off all of the old equipment and Young purchased his signature 1953 Pontiac Hearse, and that's when the duo headed off to Los Angeles in order to find Stills.

After an unsuccessful week of searching through clubs, venues, and coffee houses, they decided to pack it up and head back home, but got stuck in a traffic jam on Sunset Boulevard. Stills and Furay ended up spotting them and managed to switch lanes, getting directly behind Young and Palmer. Both parties pulled off to the side of the road where their fateful reuniting would finally take place.

The final member to join was drummer Dewey Martin, formerly of The Standells. He joined at the suggestion of The Byrds' manager, Jim Dickson, and their live debut took place just five days later on April 11, 1966 at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, beginning their two-year journey as Buffalo Springfield.

Hey there! I'm Olive, and I'm a part-time blog writer hoping to share my love of older music and countercultural history. I started this blog during my freshman year of college as a means to get a head start doing what I love most - writing. I've always loved writing and music, and wanted to do something that would involve doing both. Now, I've got this cool (totally not biased) blog page!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Good News! This Blog is Evolving Again!

Hey there! I would like to start off with an apology for the recent inactivity. I know it has been almost an entire week since my last blog post, and I've been too busy to update until now. Thankfully, I have some news that hopefully makes it worthwhile: I'm looking to expand the amounts of content available to readers starting June 1st, when I start offering more posts dedicated to important events in countercultural history. My most recent post on the Kent State Massacre really got me thinking about how much more I could be covering, and I figured that it wouldn't be a bad idea. While I am unsure on how frequent these posts will be, I want them to operate on an actual schedule unlike my current music-related posts. I will be sure to send out another update when more of the details are worked out.  As the year goes on, I am also hoping to throw new content into the music side of this blog as well. It will hopefully be scheduled like the countercultural history posts, but d...
Read more

April 7th: Today's Many Anniversaries in Brief

Image
Anniversaries: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian Jones Meet for the First Time (1962) Credit: Mark and Colleen Hayward/Getty Images The three then-future members of The Rolling Stones met at Ealing Jazz Club in West London. Jones was still using the moniker of Elmo Lewis at the time and was working as a guitarist for Paul Jones, who was performing under his real name, P.P. Pond. The Rolling Stones officially formed that same year. Alice Cooper Accidentally Hangs Himself in Near-Fatal Rehearsal (1988) During a rehearsal on his European tour in 1988, Vincent Furnier, known professionally as Alice Cooper, accidentally hanged himself when a safety rope snapped. He reportedly dangled there for a few seconds before one of his roadies saved him. Veteran Music Producer and Engineer Andy Johns Dead at 61 (2013) Johns, who had been active as a producer since the '60s, has worked with many artists and bands including Free, Humble Pie, Blodwyn Pig, Jack Bruce, The Rolling Stones, Led Zepp...
Read more

Peace Sells: When John Lennon's Handwritten Lyrics for "Give Peace a Chance" Sold for Almost $800,000

Image
In 2008, a piece of paper with the handwritten lyrics for the John Lennon-penned " Give Peace a Chance " sold for $790,000 at auction after being estimated to be worth about $400,000 or so. Credit: Christie's/The Canadian Press The owner, author Gail Renard was given the lyrics when she was sixteen years old by Lennon during he and Yoko Ono's bed-in against the Vietnam War at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada. Renard was with them for all eight days, helping to keep fans and press controlled and looking after Ono's five-year-old daughter, Kyoko. She also had a hand in the first recording for the song, among many other guests, including Timothy Leary, Tommy Smothers, Petula Clark, and Alan Ginsberg.  She credits Lennon for kicking off her career, with one of her first paid submissions being an interview they had set up.  If you are interested in learning more about her eight day experience, she talks in-depth about it in her book, titled John Lennon: Gi...
Read more