Blue Cheer bassist amped up 'Summertime Blues'

By Dennis McLellan
Monday, October 19, 2009

Dickie Peterson, 63, the bassist and lead singer for Blue Cheer, the San Francisco power trio best known for its high-volume 1968 hit rendition of the rock-and-roll classic "Summertime Blues," died Oct. 12 in his home base of Erkelenz, Germany. He had prostate cancer. Taking its name from a potent strain of LSD -- as well as giving a nod to their love of the blues -- Blue Cheer began as a six-piece band in 1966 and downsized a year later to a trio consisting of Mr. Peterson on bass and vocals, Leigh Stephens on guitar and Paul Whaley on drums. The group's 1968 debut album, "Vincebus Eruptum," which included their signature powerhouse version of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues," peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard chart. "Primarily, we were a loud, straight-into-you rock-and-roll band, man," Mr. Peterson said in 2007. "Our whole goal was to make music a physical experience as well as an audio experience." The heavily amped Blue Cheer was a musical sign of the times. They were not only outraged over the Vietnam War, Mr. Peterson said in a 2008 interview, "we were outraged at society in general, and we were expressing it in a way that had never been done." When Blue Cheer came together in 1966, the San Francisco music scene included bands such as the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother & the Holding Co. "The point being," Mr. Peterson said, "is that the S.F. music scene itself was really wide open. That's the only way a band like ours could have been created."

Mr. Peterson recalled that the band had a hard time with the music industry and the rock media, not only for its sound and image but because of its lifestyle. Their early manager was a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. As for drugs: "We took a lot of 'em," Mr. Peterson once said. "I still believe LSD and such drugs have a positive effect, but we took it over the top," he said. "We got very involved in all sorts of drugs, and it's a hard way to go. I was addicted to heroin for years." Richard Peterson, who was born Sept. 12, 1946, in Grand Forks, N.D., reportedly began playing bass guitar at 13. (His brother, Jerre, played rhythm guitar in Blue Cheer when it was a six-piece band.) The trio split up in 1971, but Dickie Peterson reformed Blue Cheer intermittently through the years.

On performing live, Mr. Peterson said in a 2008 interview: "It's the only thing that keeps me alive, my friend. I'll never stop playing. I've said it before. When I go, I want to be standing in front of my microphone with my hammer in my hand." Blue Cheer did its last show in Bilbao, Spain, in December 2008 and was still living up to its high-volume reputation.

-- Los Angeles Times

Thanks, Dickie, for all the great times we shared with you!

Love you, always!