Summer of Love

SUMMER OF LOVE
 
The Summer of Love  was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions of dress and behavior, converged in San Francisco’s neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury.  Although hippies also gathered in many other places in the U.S., Canada and Europe, San Francisco was at that time the most publicized location for hippie subculture.  

(More from Wikipedia)

 
 

Tomorrow – back when they were called the In Crowd – also had a part in an early rock opera that was actually called A Teenage Opera; the project was spearheaded by Mark Wirtz, who had had the idea as early as January 1966.  After writing the lyrics for the song, Keith West released a single from the rock opera called “Excerpt from A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)” in late July 1967 – he also performed on a second song called “Sam” – and Grocer Jack” became an instant hit in the U.K. during what is known as the Summer of Love”.  Keith West then mounted a modest solo career based on this hit. 

 

(July 2013)

 

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To some extent, the psychedelic movement in rock was winding down when Cheap Thrills came out in August 1968, or at least it was old news:  Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band had come out the year before, the Summer of Love in San Francisco was also in 1967, and Hair opened on Broadway in late 1967.  There was even a mock funeral for “The Death of the Hippie” in San Francisco in October 1967

 

(February 2014)

 

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Also present at the sessions was John (Junior) Wood on bass; Wood had been a member of one of the earliest British psychedelic bands, Tomorrow, along with Twink, future Yes guitarist Steve Howeand Keith Westwho appeared in the early rock opera masterminded by Mark Wirtz called A Teenage Opera.  West’s single Excerpt from A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack) was an instant hit when it was released in July 1967 and became part of the soundtrack of the Summer of Love

 

(March 2014/1)

 

Last edited: April 3, 2021