Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band from San Francisco, a pioneer of the LSD-influenced psychedelic rock movement. Various successor incarnations of the band have performed under different names, reflecting changing times and performer lineups, known as Jefferson Starship, and later simply Starship.

Jefferson Starship

During the transitional period of the early 1970s, Paul Kantner recorded the album Blows Against The Empire with an ad-hoc group of musicians whom he dubbed the Jefferson Starship, marking the first-ever use of that name. The Starship (such as it was) included David Crosby (of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), Jerry Garcia (of The Grateful Dead), and even former members of Jefferson Airplane. It was while that album was made that Kantner sealed his love affair with Grace Slick, and their daughter China Kantner was born shortly after. A very similar ad-hoc group of musicians celebrated China's birth with an environmentalism-tinged album titled "Sunfighter", credited to Kantner and Slick.

Related Topics:
1970s - David Crosby - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Jerry Garcia - Grateful Dead

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1974, the Airplane was formally reborn as Jefferson Starship, with Kantner and Slick as charter members; Balin came on board in time to record the hit single "Caroline" for the first Jefferson Starship album, Dragon Fly. The line-up included late-Airplane holdovers drummer John Barbata, fiddler Papa John Creach, and bassist-keyboarder-vocalist David Freiberg (from the Quicksilver Messenger Service), along with Pete Sears, also playing bass and keyboards, and guitarist Craig Chaquico. This line-up proved to be the band's most commercially successful so far, although some Airplane fans were less than happy with its more mainstream direction. Balin's sophisticated ballad "Miracles" helped 1975's Red Octopus achieve multiple-platinum status. The follow-ups, Spitfire (1976), and Earth (1978), were both big sellers. However, Slick's alcoholism became a problem, which led to two nights of disastrous concerts in Germany in 1978. The first night, fans ransacked the stage after Slick failed to appear. The following night, Slick, in a drunken stupor, shocked the audience by using profanity and sexual references throughout most of her songs. After the debacle, she left the band.

Related Topics:
1974 - Dragon Fly - John Barbata - Papa John Creach - David Freiberg - Quicksilver Messenger Service - Pete Sears - Craig Chaquico - 1975 - 1976 - 1978 - Germany

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Towards the end of 1978, the Starship (now without Grace Slick) recorded Light The Sky On Fire for The Star Wars Holiday Special (under its original title Cigar-Shaped Object), after which Balin too left the group, leaving Kantner and company to find a new lead singer in Mickey Thomas (who had sung lead on Elvin Bishop's "Fooled Around And Fell In Love"). Thomas's soaring falsetto steered the band toward a harder rock sound, leading to comparisons to Journey. It didn't help that former Journey drummer Aynsley Dunbar had replaced Barbata, who had been injured in a car accident.

Related Topics:
The Star Wars Holiday Special - Mickey Thomas - Elvin Bishop - Journey - Aynsley Dunbar

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After the 1979 release of Freedom At Point Zero (which spawned the hit single "Jane"), Grace Slick suddenly returned to the band for one song, "Stranger" on their next album, Modern Times in 1981. Winds Of Change followed in 1982 and Nuclear Furniture appeared in May of 1984.

Related Topics:
1979 - Nuclear Furniture

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~