Mistakes were made.
Musings on the Most Ridiculous Band I Can't Stop Listening To
© 2025 Thoughts On The Dead
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
Musings on the Most Ridiculous Band I Can't Stop Listening To
© 2025 Thoughts On The Dead
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
Jay Lane,
If you focus on Jay Lane..
Think only of Jay…
Close your eyes and remember Jays drumming..
Can you see him…
Are the Drums covered in Faux Fur..
Is he drumming like an enthusiastic, stoned, muppet and killing it..
Yes he is..
Think of that..
Now imagine the band has someone… anyone playing either keys or guitar
And viola.. you now have had a good Wolf Bros show.
I heard Casey Kasem top 40 from 1975 today on Sirius.
Caught Sugarloaf, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you”
And I thought..
Who would know something interesting about Sugarloaf,,
So anyhow, is JES around?
98,666 monthly listeners. Green eyed lady from 1970 has 3 million listens and I recognized it as soon as he started singing. From Spotify bio: Best known for their 1970 AM pop classic “Green-Eyed Lady,” Sugarloaf was formed in 1969 in Denver out of the ashes of the Moonrakers, which had released an album in 1968. Singer/keyboardist Jerry Corbetta and guitarist Bob Webber founded the group, adding Moonraker mates Bob MacVittie on drums and Veeder Van Dorn on rhythm guitar, plus bassist Bob Raymond. Originally dubbed Chocolate Hair, the band lost Van Dorn after just a few months when he joined Mescalero Space Kit. On the strength of their demos, the band was signed to Liberty, and changed their name to Sugarloaf, after a Colorado mountain popular with skiers (the record company was concerned about the possible racial overtones of Chocolate Hair). Sugarloaf recorded their self-titled debut album in 1970, and the single “Green-Eyed Lady” — co-written by Corbetta and based on a piece of a scale exercise in a practice book — slowly became a nationwide hit, catching on in more and more markets until it finally peaked at number three on the pop charts. For the follow-up album, 1971’s Spaceship Earth, Sugarloaf added guitarist/songwriter Bob Yeazel, who had previously played on two albums as part of a Denver band called the Beast. Spaceship Earth didn’t produce any hits, and disagreements over the band’s choice of producers followed. Yeazel wound up leaving prior to the release of 1973’s I Got a Song, which appeared on the smaller Brut label and featured former Beast drummer Larry Ferris. Resurfacing on Claridge in 1975, Sugarloaf finally scored that elusive follow-up hit with the title track from their fourth and final album, Don’t Call Us — We’ll Call You. However, they subsequently disbanded. Corbetta went on to release a solo album on Warner Bros., and later worked with Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons as a writer, producer, and backing musician. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
Well, I learned something new there. I actually like both “Green-Eyed Lady” and “Don’t Call Us” (good memorable AM pop melodies there), but I would not have guessed that they were the same band!
Now . . . What is the Grateful Dead connection to Sugarloaf? Because there is always a Dead connection.
Music nerds, start your engines . . . .
The Sugarloaf Mountain in Colorado isn’t a ski destination(too low) but it is rather close to Caribou Ranch of Guercio fame. Is there a Dead connection through that scene?
Sugarloaf opened for Quicksilver at El Paso County Coliseum on Aug 7, 1971, and for Delaney and Bonnie at Florida Gymnasium on Feb 20, 1971. They also shared bills with The Doors, Fleetwood Mac and Van Morrison in ’70/71 . . . if they were playing those rooms with bands at those levels, would think a co-bill with Dead might have been possible to probable?
(I feel like I had seen a list of all known Dead opening bands online at some point in the past, but I cannae find it now . . . )
Other possible connections via Pickett –> Detective (a band with Michael Des Barres, Michael Monarch of Steppenwolf, and Tony Kaye of Yes/Bowie/Flash/Budgie/etc.), or via “Don’t Call Us” songwriter John S. Carter, who was an A&R/production guy who worked with Steve Miller Band, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Bob Seger, Bob Welch, and Sammy Hagar.
Woo!!!
Bingo, I think . . . . the song “Asia Minor” from the Kingfish with Bobby album is credited to (John Carter, Tim Gilbert, Hovey, Scott Quigley); it’s a cover from the Horses eponymous album . . .
http://www.deaddisc.co.uk/ot/Horses.htm
Carter and Gilbert were the co-writers of “Incense and Peppermint.”
So at a minimum, Bobby played a song by the writer of “Don’t Call Us.” I suspect there was more via that thread.
There is always a Dead connection.
Rock nerd out.
Oh, and “Jump for Joy” from “Kingfish” is also a Carter-Gilbert song.
Thanks everyone,
Sugarloaf may have been AM hits, but it seems like those guys can play,
So I thought perhaps the keyboard player had ended up in some crazy prog band in the late 70’s
That was my suspicion,
But nice to see Strawberry Alarm Clock show up in the comments.
Stuff like, the Seeds, Strawberry Alarm clock, movies like Psych-out and Eeasy Rider, DeathMaster (weren’t the seeds in that movie) were important fun weird things to pick out of pop culture in the late 70’s
No one’s posted the show to bt.etree or Lossless Legs yet, which cannot be a good sign.
What the fuck are you guys talking about? Sugarloaf? I take my eye off of you for one day and there’s chaos.
(Pssst, Tor . . . . . he’s back, man. Did you grab the Bad Co albums or leave them in his apartment? I got the Residents box set, so all good there. Sorry about spilling the salsa on the amp. Hope it works when it dries out. We have to get our story straight if he notices).