'Mechanical World' is the first song I ever heard through headphones. Yes folks there was a time when headphones were not available to the general public. This occurred in the library at my high school. It overloaded my brain so I began yelling and got the "shut the hell up sign" from the librarian.
I was in a band with a guy named Jim Ferguson who's cousin
Jay Ferguson was the singer in
Spirit. So we headed on over to the Fillmore West one night to see their show. There must not have been more than a hundred people there. The place reeked of pot, patchouli, and hippie sweat.
The best part of the show was when Randy California debuted a song he was working on called 'Nature's Way' on his acoustic guitar. Randy tragically drowned in the ocean off of Maui saving his son's life.
Spirit toured with Led Zeppelin and
""Jimmy Page's use of a theremin has been attributed to his seeing Randy California use one that he had mounted to his amplifier, and it is now widely accepted that Page lifted the descending guitar figure from Spirit's instrumental "Taurus" for Led Zeppelin's signature tune "Stairway To Heaven". In 2014, Mark Andes, Spirit's bass player, and a trust acting on behalf of Randy California, filed a copyright infringement suit against Led Zeppelin in an attempt to obtain a writing credit for "Stairway To Heaven."
Imo Spirit is an underrated band, ahead of their time, and well worth checking out. The best album is
Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus.