82. Moby Grape — Moby Grape (1967)

1. Here’s a rock album that slaps you across the face right from the opening of “Hey Grandma” and doesn’t really let up after. Hugely disappointing to find that it’s not available on Spotify; instead I turn once again to Youtube playlists to get my fix. But it’s worth it. This is the kind of rock album that I listen to and wonder why this band wasn’t huge.
2. Turns out the answer to that question is a combination of terrible band management, terrible label management (releasing 5 singles at once was a misfire), band members getting into trouble with the law, and who knows what else. But this is still a tremendous debut. Its centerpiece is the blistering 2-minute jam “Omaha,” but they show themselves capable of lovely acoustic tunes as well on “8:05.” It’s a real damn shame that they never got the airplay they fully deserved; there’s an alternate universe in which Moby Grape could’ve become one of the biggest American rock bands in the world.
3. This is another major band to form in San Francisco around this time. Living here now, it’s odd to think of SF as such a hotbed of new music; I can think of a number of reasons why it fell off the map as such, but it’s still a shame. We’ve got so many incredible venues here; I think it’s a far superior town for live music to Los Angeles. We just no longer have the kind of counter culture needed for a music scene like that to thrive.

One Essential Song:

Listen on Youtube: