R.I.P Dickie Peterson of Blue Cheer

October 12th, 2009

Chris

Courtesy: Pitchfork
Dickie Peterson, frontman for the hugely influential San Francisco power trio Blue Cheer, died at home in Germany this morning, as Blabbermouth reports and Blue Cheer’s publicist confirms. No cause of death has been reported yet, though Blabbermouth believes he suffered from cancer. Peterson was 61.

On late-60s albums like Vincebus Eruptum and Outsideinside, Blue Cheer perfected a form of thudding, riff-heavy psychedelic rock rooted in a primordial blues lurch. The band landed on the top 40 with a scraggly cover of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues”, but their real impact wouldn’t be felt for years. In the decades that followed, echoes of the band’s stoned, simplistic roar would resonate in metal, punk, and grunge. Peterson’s bored snarl and murky bass crunch, in particular, served as a stylistic bridge between mid-60s garage rock and early metal bands like Blue Cheer contemporaries Black Sabbath.

Blue Cheer broke up in the early 70s, but the band reformed to tour and record at various points over the years. Check below for some YouTubed examples of Blue Cheer’s heaviosity.