In 1965, the Charlatans played a six-week residency at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada. Their shows were part of a communal LSD trip, with band and audience all joining in. These experiences laid the groundwork for the psychedelic shows of the Haight Ashbury later that year. The poster promoting this residency is today called "The Seed" and recognized as the first psychedelic music poster ever created.
After the Red Dog Saloon residency was over, members of the social circle formed the Family Dog and took their psychedelic shows to San Francisco, this time to be held at venues like the Avalon Ballroom and the Longshoreman's Hall. This ecosystem launched bands such as the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin (with Big Brother and the Holding Company), and Jefferson Airplane. The Charlatans were initially equal parts of this mix, but they never broke out as some other bands did.
By March 9, 1968, Michael Lydon in Rolling Stone was starting off his piece "The Charlatans: Pioneer San Francisco Rock Group" with the epitaph, "While record companies and poster dealers are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into San Francisco to capture some of that real old authentic hip to sell, The Charlatans, the band which many people say started it all, are just where they began: poor, but still cool." This same feature quoted Grateful Dead's manager as saying, "There are so many new kids around. I bet a lot of them don't know who the Charlatans are."
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.