Well all I want is to just be free/Live my life the way I wanna be

June 26, 2009 11:56 AM

Sky Saxon, lead singer and bassist for garage rock legends The Seeds, passed away yesterday at the (estimated) age of 63.

Best-known for their 1966 Top 40 hit Pushin' Too Hard, The Seeds came together in 1965, and their first single, Can't Seem To Make You Mine was a regional hit in California. After a few more modestly successful singles, including Mr. Farmer, the group was renamed Sky Saxon and The Seeds, but broke up in 1972. Saxon then joined the Ya Ho Wha religious sect [previously on MeFi] and played on several albums by the Ya Ho Wha 13 throughout the '70s. In '89, Saxon reformed the original Seeds lineup for an oldies tour named "The Summer Of Love," revived the group again in 2003 and continued to perform as Sky Saxon and The Seeds until shortly before his death.

posted by The Card Cheat (27 comments total)

RIP Sky. I'll always remember your appearance on The Mothers-in-Law back when I was a kid. "Pushin' Too Hard" is still one my brother's (who also watched that episode with me) favorite songs.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:03 PM on June 26, 2009

Nice post, The Card Cheat. I was hoping Sky Saxon wouldn't get entirely lost in the shuffle of yesterday. Seminal garage music!
posted by scody at 12:04 PM on June 26, 2009

.
posted by jeremy b at 12:05 PM on June 26, 2009

I was quite bummed to hear about Sky yesterday. There's not an entire Seeds album that I love outright, but they had a better-than-average percentage of great songs compared to most of the other first wave of garage bands. Plus "Pushin Too Hard" was part of my holy trinity of garage songs when I first started delving into the Nuggets stuff in high school (the other two being Psychotic Reaction and "I Had Too Much to Dream...".
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 12:35 PM on June 26, 2009

No no no no no, it's:

Pushin Too Hard
Psychotic Reaction
and
Wild Thing
posted by Restless Day at 12:41 PM on June 26, 2009

What!!!! Him too? Man, what a day June 26th 2009.

His solo post Yahowa stuff is completely fried and awesome. Cool character.
posted by Liquidwolf at 12:42 PM on June 26, 2009

Thanks for taking the time to put together a quality post. "Pushin Too Hard" is still a favorite of mine. R.I.P. Sky Saxon.
posted by Sailormom at 12:44 PM on June 26, 2009

.

Man, I wonder how many celebrities read the news yesterday (Jackson, Fawcett, Saxon) and thought "You know what? I'm staying in tonight."
posted by Stonewall Jackson at 12:44 PM on June 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Nice post, I was afraid his death was going unnoticed way back in the wake of Jackson and Fawcett. The Seeds were a favorite of mine back in my youth.
posted by buggzzee23 at 12:57 PM on June 26, 2009

.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 1:04 PM on June 26, 2009

Scody: K-Earth actually stopped their MJ tribute long enough to talk to Atomic (who was the current lead guitarist for this version of the Seeds) yesterday. They followed it up with "Pushin' Too Hard."

Sad day for music yesterday, but a great one for LA radio. I was driving across from Santa Monica to Hollywood and must've heard "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" on every channel.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 1:32 PM on June 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

If you like the Seeds, and have never heard their live album "Raw & Alive", do check it out. Most live albums suck but this one is really great.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here's the band that's about to make your FEET! MOVE! and your HEAD! SPIN!"

Anyways, you can grab it here [pop-ups!] for free.
posted by stinkycheese at 1:42 PM on June 26, 2009

.

My downstairs neighbor is a poster artist, and has been a fringe figure in the psychedelic scene for decades. When Sky moved to Austin a few years ago, they quickly became friends within the scene here, and began working together on various projects- chief among them partying. I got to meet Sky when my neighbor held an after party for one of his shows a few months back. He was floating around the apartment wearing a cape and dark sunglasses. For the brief moment we talked, he seemed completely ethereal and yet completely genuine in his demeanor. He then ran off to play banjo on the roof.

Sky Saxon was a true gentleman, and a lot of musicians these days should take a few pages out of his book. Namely, his chapter on dedication. He refused to stop playing out, even when his wife would try to stop him because he seemed to ill. He wouldn't see any doctors, perhaps adhering to the "what I don't know can't hurt me". In the end, he had to stop his last show at Antone's at the halfway mark, unable to finish for lack of health.

He was influential beyond what a lot of people might realize, and I hope that a proper memorial will be held here to commemorate a mostly unsung hero of modern music.
posted by self at 2:32 PM on June 26, 2009 [4 favorites]

wow... good memories with that...

I'm officially older than dirt...
posted by HuronBob at 4:03 PM on June 26, 2009

.
posted by Xoebe at 4:07 PM on June 26, 2009

.
posted by shetterly at 4:17 PM on June 26, 2009

If there's garage rock in heaven, then you know they have a helluva band...

.
posted by jonp72 at 4:25 PM on June 26, 2009

Memory is faulty. Apologies to Humble Harv. It's actually:

"Brothers and sisters, it's time to bring on the group you've all been waiting for, the group that's about to make your FEET! MOVE! and your HEAD! SPIN!

It's my proud pleasure to present - SKY! SAXON! - and The SEEDS!"

And then they go straight into a great version of "Mr. Farmer".
posted by stinkycheese at 4:39 PM on June 26, 2009

.

Thanks for the post.
posted by OolooKitty at 4:46 PM on June 26, 2009

.
posted by item at 6:34 PM on June 26, 2009

Twitter 'n me miss Sky Saxon.
posted by wallstreet1929 at 6:35 PM on June 26, 2009

I'll always remember your appearance on The Mothers-in-Law

Yeah, Oriole, I remember that one too. It was pretty surreal. The Seeds for crying out loud on The Mothers-in-Law -- not the hippest show on TV. Of course they only wanted a long-haired band on the show to make fun of them, but even for a sike-a-delik band in 1966, any publicity is good publicity.

Boop boop diddum daddum waddum choo. . .
posted by Herodios at 8:45 PM on June 26, 2009

.

Damn. I was going to see him at a show in Montreal coming up in August. RIP, Sky.
posted by glycolized at 8:44 AM on June 27, 2009

♪
posted by Smart Dalek at 12:10 PM on June 27, 2009

Thanks for the post, Card Cheat. I was about to make one right now, but i was a bit late!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:03 AM on June 28, 2009

And, of course, RIP Sky.

.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:04 AM on June 28, 2009

.
posted by desuetude at 10:44 AM on June 28, 2009