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Lecture 10: WOODSTOCK HIGHLIGHTS: A few lectures from now, when I talk about women in rock, we’ll be hearing a lot more about Jefferson Airplane, the psychedelic rock band from San Francisco. The band featured one of the first important female lead singers of the Classic Rock Era, Grace Slick (1939-  ). Slick wrote this song, “White Rabbit,” performed here at Woodstock on August 16, 1969. The song – a beloved favourite of the counterculture – borrowed imagery from the books of nineteenth-century author Lewis Carroll (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass), and infused them with a Sixties psychedelic updating. Many listeners at Woodstock found the Airplane’s version equal parts compelling and trippy.

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Lecture 9: Check out this wild film of a medical LSD test performed on an artist from Los Angeles in 1955. The film shows the power of the hallucinogenic drug, which was tested on a number of people in the 1950s, particularly as part of the Central Intelligence Agency’s MKUltra Program. There are some funny and disturbing moments in the film. Overall, the guy seems to have a great time. To get to the action, skip ahead about 4:30 into the film  

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Lecture 7: Barrett Strong - "Money" (That's What I Want) (Note: This video clip, which belongs with Lecture 7, is out of order, but I neglected to post it at the time and wanted to put it up for those of you who might want to check it out - Enjoy!) Motown's first actual hit was recorded at Hitsville U.S.A. in the summer of 1959, but it was not an instant success. The song “Money (That’s What I Want)” was performed by one of Motown’s songwriters, 18-year-old Barrett Strong from West Point, Mississippi. “Money” was Motown’s eighth single; the other seven received little attention and airplay. Yet, for some reason, this one caught on.

Maybe it was Gordy’s appealing piano riff, or the sudden tambourine accompaniment from songwriter Brian Holland, or the tom-toms played by drummer Benny Benjamin. Front and center of it all was Strong’s raw-throated singing, which hit the listener like an unexpected sucker punch. Demand for the single was so big that Tamla Records could not accommodate it; Chess Records, based in Chicago, ended up assisting with record pressings. By June of 1960, “Money” reached #2 on the R&B charts and #20 on the Pop charts.