The Seeds were an iconic and highly influential American rock band. The group, whose repertoire spread between garage rock and acid rock, are considered an influential proto-punk band.
{...} The Seeds' first single "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" was a regional hit in southern California in 1965. The song was also played regularly on AM rock stations in northern California (and probably elsewhere), where it was well received by listeners, but eventually went on to become, and is considered today, a 60s cult classic song. The band had a national Top 40 hit, "Pushin' Too Hard", in 1966 and performed the song on national television. Three subsequent singles, "Mr. Farmer" (also 1966), a re-release of "Can't Seem To Make You Mine" (1967), and "A Thousand Shadows" (1967) achieved more modest success, although all were most popular in southern California. Musically uncomplicated and dominated by Saxon's vocal style and flair for simple melodic hooks, their albums are today considered classics of '60s garage music. (Read more at Wikipedia.)
Links to Peel[]
The Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard.
Peel knew the Seeds while working in southern California, where the band were based. On the show of 24 September 1979 he recalled: “When I lived in Los Angeles – international man! – I used to hang around with the Seeds. Well, not so much hang around but get in their way I suppose”, and he played their records on his KMEN shows. Their singles and albums feature in the Kmentertainer listings, with "Pushin' Too Hard" spending eight weeks in the charts and peaking at #2 in the week ending 17 December. The LPs The Seeds and A Web Of Sound were both "K/Mentioned albums", while the single "Mr. Farmer" entered the chart in the week ending 28 January 1967 and was still there when Peel left the station in February and returned to Britain. (At the start of that month they played a gig at the National Orange Show Grounds, San Bernardino, alongside Buffalo Springfield).
They never had any UK chart hits, but "Pushin' Too Hard" made the Radio London Fab 40, dropping out of the chart the week before Peel joined the station. Still, he obtained a copy of the LP A Web Of Sound (released in the UK on Vocalion) and played tracks from it on the Perfumed Garden. On the final Perfumed Garden the DJ credited them with originating the "flower power" trend. After 1967, however, the Seeds split up, with singer Sky Saxon switching (unsuccessfully) to a blues style. For a time the Seeds' garage band style made them something of a joke among rock critics (like the Troggs in the UK), but Peel always had time for them and similar 1960s US groups, and played more by them after garage bands came back into fashion in the 1970s. "Pushin' Too Hard" was included on the influential Elektra compilation Nuggets, and as such Peel included it in the playlist of the punk special show of 10 December 1976. He continued to revisit the Seeds' records until the end of his career.
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- None.
Sessions[]
- None.
Other Shows Played[]
- 07 August 1967: Rolling Machine (LP: A Web of Sound) Vocalion VAN 8062
- 14 August 1967: Mr. Farmer (intro: These are the Seeds, who I suppose have started this whole sort of flower power thing, you know, which is just nice commercial word that people can cash in on. It really doesn’t mean anything very much, although the basic philosophies behind it are very important. This is called Mr Farmer.
- 30 June 1976: unknown
- 10 December 1976: Pushin' Too Hard (LP - Nuggets) Elektra
- 15 March 1978: 3 tracks from LP The Seeds
- 15 April 1982: No Escape (7" - Mr Farmer/No Escape) GNP Crescendo GNP 383
- 19 June 1983 (BFBS): Pushin' Too Hard (LP - The Seeds) GNP Crescendo
- 02 November 1987: Mr Farmer
- 03 November 1991: 'No Escape (LP-Raw & Alive In Concert At Merlin's Music Box)' (GNP Crescendo)
- 01 July 1995 (BFBS): Pushin' Too Hard (LP-The Seeds) (Line)
- 04 December 2003 (Radio Eins):It's A Hard Life (LP-The Seeds) (GNP Crescendo)
- Others
- 05 December 1984: Sky Sunlight Saxon & The Stars New Seeds Band: I'm In Love With Life (LP - Starry Ride) Psycho