On 21 February 1970, pianist Peter Evans sat at a piano in Watter’s Gallery, Sydney and prepared himself for a performance of French composer Erik Satie’s 1893 composition Vexations. The piece is notorious for its weird intervals and disturbing effects on both the performer and audience… and the fact that Satie gave instructions that theContinue reading “Satie’s Vexations: Weird Musical History #14”
Category Archives: weird musical history
The Corsets of Immortality: Professor Charles Munter
In June 1912 over one hundred music teachers, singers and physicians gathered at the New York Music Teaching Convention at Columbia University. They were to witness an extraordinary musical demonstration that seemed to come straight out of a lurid novel. Professor Charles Munter, a little man in a white suit and green waistcoat, introduced theContinue reading “The Corsets of Immortality: Professor Charles Munter”
Sects, Cults and Rock ‘n’ Roll
Weird Musical History # 13: Krishna Rock The Hare Krishnas were a common sight in cities around the world. You might have seen them in your high street with their hair shaven but for a pigtail and their flowing robes, clinking finger cymbals and chanting their mantras. In the 70s and 80s, they might evenContinue reading “Sects, Cults and Rock ‘n’ Roll”
The Grumbleweeds Take A Trip
Weird Musical History #12 I loved this Leeds comedy cabaret band as a kid, so when I heard they’d recorded a ‘psychedelic’ album in the early 1970s I had to track it down. And it’s really rather good. If you’re of a certain vintage, you’ll most likely remember the Grumbleweeds from their TV appearances andContinue reading “The Grumbleweeds Take A Trip”
Doris Stokes – Welcome to my World
Weird Musical History #11 Doris Stokes was Britain’s foremost medium in the eighties. She was a regular on television, had a series of autobiographical books and toured the world selling out theatres with her displays of mediumship. She was spiritual advisor to the stars – John Inman, Freddie Starr and members of the cast ofContinue reading “Doris Stokes – Welcome to my World”
It was 80 years ago today… Cycling Scientists on Acid
Weird Musical History 10 – Bike Psych On the 19 April 1943 chemist Albert Hofmann became the first person in history to give themselves a dose of a newly synthesised mind-altering drug. When things got too weird in his laboratory, he went on a psychedelic bicycle ride home through the mother of all bad trips.Continue reading “It was 80 years ago today… Cycling Scientists on Acid”
Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft
Weird Musical History #9 In 1977, NASA launched the probes spacecraft Voyager 1 and 2 on a journey that will eventually have them leave our solar system far behind. They each carry a twelve-inch golden phonograph record with a message to any aliens who might in the distant future find one of the probes. TheContinue reading “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft”
Music for Plants Weird Musical History #8
I recently came across an odd vinyl album on Hebden Bridge flea market called Music for Plants by the Baroque Bouquet (pictured above). The record’s back sleeve claims that playing it to your plants will keep your plants happy and healthy. What kind of music do plants like? Well, that was worth coughing up myContinue reading “Music for Plants Weird Musical History #8”
Uri Geller ~ The Album
Weird Musical History #7 In the early 1970s a young Israeli self-proclaimed psychic called Uri Geller made his first appearances in Britain, gaining tabloid headlines and demonstrating his supposedly supernatural powers on TV. The superpower that Geller became best known for was the rather prosaic one of bending spoons with the power of his mind,Continue reading “Uri Geller ~ The Album”
Splatter Platters – Top Ten Teen Tragedy Death Discs
Weird Musical History #6 One of the strangest sub-genres of pop music and one that I have a macabre affection for is the death disc – songs of teenage tragedy – that rode high in the charts of the early 1960s. These splatter platters told tragic stories of teenagers and their loved ones meeting stickyContinue reading “Splatter Platters – Top Ten Teen Tragedy Death Discs“
Paul Weatherhead 