BOB SEGER? WHAT HAPPENED MAN?

A few days ago my buddy over at DEREKS 45S POSTED a little blurb on BOB THE SILVER BULLET SEGER ! WHO AT ONE TIME REALLY MADE SOME GREAT SOUNDS!

Those of you who blanche – understandably –at the mention of the nameBob Seger should relax, because I’m about to hep you to a time when Dr Jeckyll was still in control and the Chevy-shilling Mr Hyde we’ve all come to fear was still years away from materializing.

Back in the day – the mid-60’s to be exact – Seger had yet to grow a beard and was the very essence of soulful garage punk. He prowled the streets, stages and recording studios of his native Detroit with his band the Last Heard, and laid down some absolutely shit-hot 45s, crossing paths with local giant Del Shannon (who discovered Seger and made his first recordings), as well as future classic rock bigshot Glen Frey (who played in local band the Mushrooms and later sang backup on Seger’s classic ‘Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man’).

One of these records – his first big success (in 1966), on a local level anyway, selling tens of thousands of copies in Detroit alone – was the blistering ‘East Side Story’. Issued locally on Hideout Records, and then picked up for national distribution by Cameo, ‘East Side Story’ driven by a deadly fuzz guitar riff and Seger’s injured howl was a garage punk masterpiece.

Though ESS, and ‘Heavy Music Pt1’ were big local hits, and starting to spread into other regional markets like Florida and Pennsylvania, Cameo soon went bust, sucking Seger’s career down the drain, at least temporarily until he signed with Capitol Records in 1968.(larry)