Hugh Hefner, Playboy And Rock & Roll

Hugh Hefner isn't normally thought of as a figure with a connection to R&R but part of his "Playboy" esthetic, or ideology even, included the idea that a Playboy Man should have god taste in literature (Hemingway, Capote, Mailer, Miller, Vidal and Baldwin all wrote for him), art (Pop Art, Abstract Expressionism, Dali) and music. At a time when "swingers" were still listening to Mantovani or Jackie Gleason's "Songs For Lovers" albums Hefner promoted some fairly hip music. Starting with the obvious choices like Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan in the 1950's he moved into Cool Jazz and before embracing the Summer Of Love in the mid sixties. One of his projects in the late 1960's was a late night TV show called "Playboy After Dark which had on some of the coolest bands around, including a number of black musicians hosted by Hef in a somewhat incongruous tuxedo.

IKE & TINA TURNER;


STEPPENWOLF ~ "AMERICA";


PETER GREEN'S FLEETWOOD MAC ~ "RATTLESNAKE SHAKE";


THE BYRDS ~ "YOU AIN'T GOING NOWHERE" & "THIS WHEELS ON FIRE";


DEEP PURPLE ~ "HUSH;


IRON BUTTERFLY ~ "INNA-GADDA-DAVIDA";


CANNED HEAT ~ "ON THE ROAD AGAIN";


JAMES BROWN;


MARVIN GAYE ~ "CHAINED";


JAMES COTTON & LUTHER TUCKER;


BUDDY MILES;


BB KING ~ "THE THRILL IS GONE";


BUDDY RICH;


DAVE BRUBECK ~ "TAKE FIVE";

Steely Dan and Can

Pro-Rock gets a bad rap. And deservedly so. Most of it was laughably bloated, pompous, stoner-fart attempts to graft a middle-brow idea of high culture where it has no business being. That is on jazz-influenced hard rock. There was good reason why the not only the angry anarchists of Punk but also the reactionary revisionists of Neo-Rockabilly , Neo-Garage and Cow-Punk despised Prog-Rock so much. However not all of it was crap. Pink Floyd had some genuinely good, even great music. Then there were a few Prog-Rockers that even many punks had to agree were pretty cool. King Crimson for example, and FM. Then there were the German variety called Kraut Rock which was somehow less pretentious than the British version leading to bands like Can and Faust.

Holger Czukay, co-founder of Can with whom he played who played guitar, bass, keyboards, drums and horn, starting in 1968 died at age 79. He would alo record many solo albums and record with David Sylvian, The Edge, and PIL bassist Jah Wobble.

Jaki Liebezeit ~ 78 ~ Drummer w/1970's German Prog-Rock band Can also died earlier this year

CAN ~ "MOONSHAKE";


CAN ~ "PAPER HOUSE";


The term Prog Rock isn't usually used for American band Steely Dan, that tern normally being reserved for British and Canadian bands however it's hard to know what else to call Steely Dan with their slick Jazz influenced take on 1970's pop. Walter Becker, guitarist and bassist for Steely Dan also died this week aged 67.

STEELY DAN ~ "DO IT AGAIN";


STEELY DAN ~ "REELING IN THE YEARS";


After Steely Dan broke up in the early eighties Becker surprised some by returning to pkay with British New Wave band China Crisis.

CHINA CRISIS ~ "KING IN A CATHOLIC STYLE";


CHINA CRISIS ~ "BLACK MAN RAY";