The Great Society

THE GREAT SOCIETY
 
 
The Great Society  was a 1960s San Francisco rock band that existed from 1965 to 1966, and was closely associated with the burgeoning Bay Area acid rock scene.  Best known as the original group of model-turned-singer Grace Slick, the initial line-up of the band also featured her then-husband Jerry Slick on drums, his brother Darby Slick on guitar, David Miner on vocals and guitar, Bard DuPont on bass, and Peter van Gelder on flute, bass, and saxophone.  Miner and DuPont would not remain with the band for the duration of its existence.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
I once read frequent Jefferson Airplane lead singer Grace Slick described as “the voice that launched a thousand trips”.  She was not an original bandmember, however; Slick was previously in another San Francisco band called the Great Society.  In the band’s entry in AllmusicRichie Unterberger notes that the Great Society “were nearly as popular as Jefferson Airplane in the early days of the San Francisco psychedelic scene.  Instrumentally, the Great Society were not as disciplined as Airplane.  But they were at least their equals in imagination, infusing their probing songwriting with Indian influences, minor key melodic shifts, and groundbreaking, reverb-soaked psychedelic guitar by [Grace] Slick’s brother-in-law, Darby Slick.”  In 1967Grace Slick joined Jefferson Airplane and brought with her the Darby Slick song “Somebody to Love” and her own song “White Rabbit”.  They became her new band’s biggest hit songs, with both reaching the Top Ten, and she became the most prominent member of the group.   

 

(June 2014)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021