Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to achieve international commercial success. They appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival (1967), the first Isle of Wight Festival (1968) as headliners, Woodstock (1969), and Altamont Free Concert (1969). Their 1967 breakout album Surrealistic Pillow was one of the most significant recordings of the Summer of Love. Two songs from that album, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", are among Rolling Stones "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
The October 1966 to February 1970 lineup of Jefferson Airplane, consisting of Marty Balin (vocals), Paul Kantner (rhythm guitar, vocals), Grace Slick (vocals, keyboards), Jorma Kaukonen (lead guitar, vocals), Jack Casady (bass), and Spencer Dryden (drums), was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Balin left the band in 1971. After 1973, Jefferson Airplane effectively split into two groups. Kaukonen and Casady moved on full-time to their own band, Hot Tuna. Slick, Kantner, and the remaining members of Jefferson Airplane recruited new members and regrouped as Jefferson Starship in 1974, with Balin eventually rejoining them. Jefferson Airplane received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
History 1965–1966: Formation and early development In 1962, 20-year-old Marty Balin recorded two singles for Challenge Records, neither of which was successful. He then played in a folk quartet, the Town Criers, from April 1963 to June 1964. With the Beatles-led British Invasion, Balin was inspired by the emerging folk rock genre to form a group in March 1965 that would follow that lead, as well as opening a nightclub for them to perform. With a group of investors, he purchased a former pizza parlor on Fillmore Street in San Francisco and converted it into a club called the Matrix. Meanwhile, he searched for like-minded musicians to form his group.
Balin met fellow folk guitarist and singer Paul Kantner during a hootenanny at another local club, the Drinking Gourd, and invited Kantner to join him in putting together a band. A native San Franciscan, Kantner had started out performing on the Bay Area folk circuit in the early 1960s, alongside fellow folkies Jerry Garcia and David Crosby. He cited folk groups like the Kingston Trio and the Weavers as strong early influences. He briefly moved to Los Angeles in 1964 to work in a folk duo with future Airplane/Starship member David Freiberg (who subsequently joined Quicksilver Messenger Service).
Balin and Kantner then recruited other musicians to form the house band at the Matrix. They hired bluegrass acoustic bassist Bob Harvey and former Marine Band drummer Jerry Peloquin. Both Kantner and Balin wanted the group to have a female singer. After hearing vocalist Signe Toly Anderson at the Drinking Gourd, Balin invited her to be the group's co-lead singer. Anderson sang with the band for a year and appeared on their first album before departing in October 1966, following the birth of her first child.
They still needed a lead guitarist. Kantner recruited an old friend, blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, who auditioned for the group and joined them in June, completing the original lineup. Originally from Washington, D.C., Kaukonen had moved to California in the early 1960s and met Kantner at Santa Clara University in 1962. Kaukonen was invited to jam with the new band, and although initially reluctant to join, he was won over after playing his guitar through a tape delay device that was part of the sound system used by Ken Kesey for his Acid Test parties.
Kaukonen came up with the band name "Jefferson Airplane". It was based on the nickname "Blind Thomas Jefferson Airplane," which was given to Kaukonen by his friend Richmond "Steve" Talbot, inspired by the name of one of Kaukonen's influences, bluesman Blind Lemon Jefferson. According to Kaukonen, "The band was coming up with all these really stupid names and I said, 'If you want something really silly, try Jefferson Airplane.'"
At a music shop near the Matrix, Peloquin encountered Matthew Katz, a music manager who was searching for a band to work with. Katz had beforehand offered to manage the Town Criers, Balin's previous group, but was turned down because of disagreements over his terms. Peloquin reintroduced Katz to Balin, who had been trying to find a manager for Jefferson Airplane. Katz enticed the band by mentioning that he had access to an unreleased Bob Dylan song, "Lay Down Your Weary Tune", and they appointed him as their manager, although they did not officially sign a contract with Katz until December 1965.
After rehearsing throughout the summer, the group made its first public appearance as Jefferson Airplane at the opening night of The Matrix on August 13, 1965. The band expanded from its folk roots, drawing inspiration from the Beatles, the Byrds and the Lovin' Spoonful, and gradually developed a more pop-oriented electric sound. Later that month, John L. Wasserman of the San Francisco Chronicle praised the band's "musical approach and style"—noting their blend of folk, blues, and rock and roll—and remarked, "Although there are but hints at this time, it is entirely possible that this will be the new direction of contemporary pop music."
A few weeks after the group began performing, Peloquin left because of conflicts with his bandmates, in part because of his disdain for their drug use. Although he was not a drummer, singer-guitarist Skip Spence (who later co-founded Moby Grape) was then invited to replace Peloquin. Spence quickly adapted and made his debut at the Matrix in September. In October 1965, after the other members decided that Bob Harvey's bass playing was not up to par, he was replaced by guitarist-bassist Jack Casady, an old friend of Kaukonen from Washington, D.C. Casady played his first gig with the Airplane on October 30 in the Harmon Gym at the University of California, Berkeley.; .
The group's performance skills improved rapidly and they soon gained a strong following in and around San Francisco, aided by reviews from music journalist Ralph J. Gleason, the jazz critic of the San Francisco Chronicle. After seeing them at the Matrix, Gleason wrote in the September 13 edition of his "On the Town" column that the band, still without a record deal, would "obviously record for someone" eventually. Gleason's support raised the band's profile considerably, and within three months Katz was fielding offers from recording companies, although they had yet to perform outside the San Francisco Bay Area.
Two significant early concerts featuring the Airplane were held in late 1965. The first was the historic dance at the Longshoremen's Hall in San Francisco on October 16, 1965, the first of many "happenings" in the Bay Area, where Gleason first saw them perform. At this concert they were supported by a local folk-rock group, the Great Society, that featured Grace Slick as lead singer, and it was here that Kantner met Slick for the first time. A few weeks later, on November 6, they appeared at a benefit concert for the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the first of many promotions by rising Bay Area entrepreneur Bill Graham, who later became the band's manager.
By late 1965, Jefferson Airplane, under Katz's management, had turned down recording offers from Capitol, Valiant, Fantasy, Elektra, and London. In November 1965, Jefferson Airplane signed a recording contract with RCA Victor, which included a then unheard-of advance of $25,000 (). Before this, they had recorded a demo for Columbia Records of "The Other Side Of This Life" with Harvey on bass, which was immediately rejected by the label. On December 10, 1965, the Airplane played at the first Bill Graham-promoted show at the Fillmore Auditorium, supported by the Great Society and others. The Airplane also appeared at numerous Family Dog shows promoted by Chet Helms at the Avalon Ballroom.
The group's first single was Balin's "It's No Secret" (a tune he wrote with Otis Redding in mind); the B-side was "Runnin' Round This World", the song that led to the band's first clash with RCA Victor over the lyric "The nights I've spent with you have been fantastic trips". After their debut LP was completed in March 1966, Skip Spence quit the band and he was eventually replaced by Spencer Dryden, who played his first show with the Airplane at the Berkeley Folk Festival on July 4, 1966. Dryden had previously played with a Los Angeles group called the Ashes, which later became the Peanut Butter Conspiracy.
Original manager Katz was fired in August, sparking a long-running legal battle that continued until 1987, and Balin's friend and roommate Bill Thompson was installed as road manager and temporary band manager. It was Thompson, a friend and staunch supporter of the band and a former Chronicle staffer, who had convinced reviewers Ralph Gleason and John Wasserman to see the band at the Matrix. Thanks to Gleason's influence, Thompson was able to book the group for appearances at the Monterey Jazz Festival.
The group's debut LP Jefferson Airplane Takes Off was released on August 15, 1966.; . The album was dominated by Balin, who provided most of the lead vocals and had a hand in writing all of the original material, including "It's No Secret" and "Come Up the Years." It also contained covers of "Tobacco Road", Dino Valente's "Let's Get Together", and "Chauffeur Blues", which became a signature tune for Anderson. RCA Victor initially pressed only 15,000 copies, but it sold more than 10,000 in San Francisco alone, prompting the label to reprint it. For the re-pressing, the company deleted "Runnin' Round This World" (which had appeared on early mono pressings), because executives objected to the word "trip" in the lyrics. For similar reasons, RCA Victor substituted altered versions for two other tracks: "Let Me In", changing the line "I gotta get in/you know where" to "you shut your door/now it ain't fair." In the same song, they also switched the lyric "Don't tell me you want money" to "Don't tell me it ain't funny". "Run Around" was also edited, changing the line "flowers that sway as you lay under me" to "flowers that sway as you stay here by me". The original pressings of the LP featuring "Runnin' 'Round This World" and the uncensored versions of "Let Me In" and "Run Around" are collector's items.
Signe Anderson gave birth to her daughter in May 1966, and in October she announced her departure from the band. Her final performance with the Airplane took place at the Fillmore on October 15, 1966. A recording of the performance, subtitled Signe's Farewell, was released in 2010.
1966–1967: Commercial breakthrough
The next night, Anderson's successor, Grace Slick made her first appearance. Slick had seen the Airplane at the Matrix in 1965, and her previous group, the Great Society, had often supported them in concert.
Slick's recruitment proved pivotal to the Airplane's commercial breakthrough—she possessed a powerful and supple contralto voice that complemented Balin's and was well-suited to the group's amplified psychedelic music. A former model, her good looks and stage presence greatly enhanced the group's live impact. "White Rabbit" was written by Slick while she was still with The Great Society. The first album she recorded with Jefferson Airplane was Surrealistic Pillow, its 1967 breakout album. Slick provided two songs from her previous group: her own "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love", written by her brother-in-law Darby Slick. Both songs became breakout successes for Jefferson Airplane and have ever since been associated with that band.