Artist · chart history
Blue Cheer
Band San Francisco United States Active 1966–2009
Blue Cheer formed in 1966 in San Francisco, United States and was active until 2009. Blue Cheer has 2 chart appearances on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations on RockLists, spanning 1990–2012. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Summertime Blues”, which appears on 2 lists with a best position of #267. The station that charted Blue Cheer most often is WXPN (Philadelphia, PA), with 1 appearance.
Blue Cheer came roaring out of San Francisco at the height of the psychedelic era, and they simply turned everything up until it hurt. Dickie Peterson sang and played bass, Leigh Stephens played guitar and Paul Whaley pummeled the drums, and what they called blues rock came out as a sonic assault, acid rock at jet-engine volume.
Vincebus Eruptum, on Philips in 1968, is the proof: a squall of fuzz and feedback, with their bulldozing cover of "Summertime Blues" flattening the old rock and roll song and building something much heavier out of the rubble. That cover sometimes gets cited as the first heavy metal record of all, and it is hard to argue.
Stephens was gone by the end of 1968, with Randy Holden stepping in on guitar, and the band kept shuffling lineups into the early '70s before going on to play on and off until 2009. Their shadow runs long: stoner rock, experimental rock and grunge all owe them something.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Blue Cheer on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Summertime Blues | 2 | #267 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 267 | Summertime Blues | WXPN 885 Greatest Rock Songs (2012) |
| 1990 | 969 | Summertime Blues | Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990) |
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