From Born to Be Wild to Dazed and Confused

Emerging from a period of protest and social unrest, 1968 was the year that ushered in gut-punching sounds that would define classic and hard rock-the formation of bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath rolled away the light sounds of psychedelic music and Flower Power. Celebrated music journalist & author John Einarson provides the first detailed account of this crucial period. Einarson begins by examining the birth of psychedelic music and experimentation beginning in 1965 and the resultant Summer of Love, showing how The Who and The Jimi Hendrix Experience planted the seeds for the harder rock sounds at The Monterey Pop Festival. Music and popular culture always reflect prevailing social and political conditions, and 1968 was no exception. Events like the Tet Offensive, student protests around the world, the My Lai massacre, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, the Chicago Democratic National Convention protests, and the election of Richard Nixon set the stage for a more visceral music that reflected the sense of alienation, frustration, and violence among young people who rejected the vacuous platitudes of Flower Power. Einarson traces the evolution of a harder rock sound throughout the year as well as the formation of pivotal hard rock and heavy metal bands in 1968, including Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin who would provide the all-important foundation for what we know today as classic rock.

John Einarson is an award-winning author of more than twenty music biographies including Neil Young, Randy Bachman, John Kay of Steppenwolf, Ian & Sylvia, The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Arthur Lee & Love, and Buffalo Springfield. Four of his books have been on the Globe and Mail bestsellers list while several have been ranked among the top ten best music biographies in the UK. Einarson received the Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in 2006. He has written for Mojo, Uncut, Goldmine, Discoveries, Record Collector, and Classic Rock and is a regular contributor to the Winnipeg Free Press.He lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: More Than A Feeling Chapter 1: The Times They Are A-Changin' Timeline of significant events: 1967 Chapter 2: If You're Going To San Francisco Chapter 3: There's Something Happening Here Timeline of significant events: 1968 Chapter 4: Everywhere I Hear the Sound of Marching, Charging Feet, Boy Chapter 5: I Like Smoke 'n' Lightning, Heavy Metal Thunder Chapter 6: Rock My Plimsoul Chapter 7: You Say You Want A Revolution Timeline of significant events: 1969 Chapter 8: Teenage Wasteland Chapter 9: I Know It's Only Rock 'n' Roll. Recommended Listening Notes About the Author