A lot is made of the film adaptation, and it is a decent movie, but Kesey's novel much better captures the sort of cultural paranoia that marked the era and did a much better job of capturing how the juggernaut of American cultural expansionism came at the cost of the new and unique. Given the current state of the U.S. and the seeming end of the era of American dominance on the global level I thought it would be fun to revisit the era, and take a look at one of the bands that pushed back.
The Holy Modal Rounders are responsible for one of my favorite records, Indian War Whoop, and though they are largely overlooked when people talk about the music of the 60s, they were pushing the envelope further, and earlier, than big names like Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, etc... Their sound essentially fused traditional folk music with psychedelic music and Van Dyke Parks-esqe song-cycle type material, and dealt with lyrical content that served as a bridge from the 1930s to the 1960s. A more recent literary comparison to I.W.W. might be Pynchon's "Against The Day" as there are elements of serialized sci-fi adventure sprinkled throughout talk of anarchists and bizarre psychedelia. For a further literary connection, playwright Sam Shepard (Buried Child) played drums with the group on this album.
Anyway, they are an under-rated and under appreciated band and you should definitely know about them. The song I chose for this post is "Sweet Apple Cider" because it sort of shows all sides of the bands sound and also because I think it is pretty great, and I love apple cider. Enjoy!
