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Enjoy the Sounds of the Sixties

The Association and Sly and the Family Stone

By Rasma RaistersPublished 2 years ago 4 min read
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The Association

The Association is a popular band known for playing folk-rock and soft rock, They started out in California and gained the attention of the public in 1967 playing at the Monterey Pop Festival.

The members who created The Association were Terry Kirkman and Jules Alexander. At the time Kirkman was playing in other groups with Frank Zappa, who later became part of the Mothers of Invention. The place for up and coming musicians in 1964 was the LA nightclub the Troubadour. During that time the house band was called The Men and consisted of musicians who would later go on to become well known but at the time were playing in this 13-piece folk-rock band.

The original members of The Association were Jules Alexander and Terry Kirman doing the vocals and wind, percussion, and brass instruments, Brian Cole also vocals and bass and woodwinds, Russ Giguere vocals, guitar, and percussion instruments, Ted Bluechel, Jr. vocals, guitar, bass, and drums, and Bob Page vocals, banjo, and guitar. They had their first big hit with "Along Comes Mary."

Their first album was And Then...Along Comes and it included one of their most popular songs "Cherish''. Other well-known singles by The Association are “Windy” which went to the top of the charts in 1967 and “Never My Love”.

They recorded the soundtrack for the movie "Goodbye, Columbus" which was based on the best-selling novel by Philip Roth, The Association recorded a live album from their concert in Salt Lake City. They recorded the song "One Sunday Morning in 1975 and did a lot of touring in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Association was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003 and got together with other groups from the 1960s for the Happy Together 2011 tour.

“Cherish”, “Windy”, and “Never My Love’ have each been awarded a platinum disc and have sold over a million copies.

Sly and the Family Stone

Sly and the Family Stone are an American rock band that combined soul and funk into their music, They were at the top of popularity from 1967 to 1983 and were part of the creation of funk, soul, and psychedelic music. The leader of the group was singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer Sly Stone. The group included some of his family members like Freddie Stone, other group members were Cynthia Robinson, Greg Errico, Jerry Martini, and Larry Graham. A year later his sister Rose Stone joined them as a singer and keyboardist.

The band came out with their first album A Whole New Thing in 1967 and a year later came out with their first big hit in 1068 "Dance to the Music." The same year they took a tour of England. Their next popular single was "Everyday People."

The other side of the previously mentioned single "Sing a Simple Song" became the lead single for their next album Stand! which came out in 1969. The album was a great success and included such songs as “I Want to Take You Higher”, “Sex Machine”, and “You Can Make It If You Try”. Sly and the Family Stone went on to perform at the Woodstock Festival.

Their next single put them at the top of the US pop charts "Hot Fun in the Summertime." In 1969 they moved to Los Angeles, California and joined the users of illegal drugs. At this time they released one more single in 1970 that went to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)”

Sly and the Family Stone came out with another number one hit in 1971 "Family Affair" which was the lead single on their album There's a Riot Goin' On.

The single from their album Fresh in 1973 was "If You Want Me to Stay" and this single became a Top 20 hit. The next album in 1974 was Small Talk with the single "Time For Livin'" and this became their final Top 40 hit single,

After performing a concert at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City in 1975 Sly and the Family Stone broke up. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number 43 on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2005 the tribute album was released Different Strokes by Different Folks.

60s music
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About the Creator

Rasma Raisters

My passions are writing and creating poetry. I write for several sites online and have four themed blogs on Wordpress. Please follow me on Twitter.

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