What did 1965 give us? New bands

It can be hard to imagine that there was a time when no one had heard of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones were a new obscure band. There was a time when no one had ever heard a single Elvis Presley song. And the '60s were that time. Those stars, which are now known to everyone and everyone, were just coming on stage for the first time. The history of their appearance is a very interesting topic, because it often reflects the character of the band, which would later be reflected in their songs.

Aeroplanes and scorpions ...

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Billboard's 500 greatest hits, America's most in-demand band of the '60s. It's all about Jefferson Airplain. They gave us the song "White Rabbit" that inspires people to this day.

But in '65, the band was just getting together, the flight was just beginning. That year, a wave of folk was sweeping San Francisco. A young musician named Marty Balin was inspired by the success of The Byrds and Symon&Garfunkel and had the idea to form his own band, which would play in the new genre of folk-rock, following the example of the inspirations.

Together with his friends Martin buys a diner, remodels it into a club called The Matrix (this club can be seen in the film "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Terry Gilliam), and there he sets up his "testing ground", where he looks for worthy musicians for the band.

The original line-up of the band eventually included legendary guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, Geri Peloquin and Bob Harvey. On 13 August, the band played their first show at The Matrix.

There is some debate about the name. Jokrma Kaukonen generally claims that "Jefferson Airplain" was a joke by his friend about the unusual band names of the time, like Jefferson's "Blind Lemon".

Gradually the band's line-up changed: Harvey and Peloquin left and Kesidy and Spence took their place. And their vocalist Grace Slick, with whose strong voice we associate Jefferson Airplain, joined the band only in 1966.

Thanks to the rave reviews of Ralph Gleason, a popular critic at the time, the band quickly became popular. Thanks to this, they signed a contract with RCA Victor and released their first single "It's no secret".

Needless to say, the band gained worldwide popularity. It went through several rebirths under the names Jefferson Starship and just Starship, went from folk to psychedelic and changed its line-up, but it is still an icon and one of the most famous rock bands in the world.

If Jefferson Airplain alone had appeared in '65, it would have been a great year already, but it didn't end there.

From hard rock to lyrical ballads, over 100 million album copies, Germany's most famous rock band. It's about the Scorpions.

The band was founded by Rudolf Schenker. Later his brother Michael and Klaus Meine joined the band. The dream of the band members was to join the international world of music. They were fascinated by bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. A big step towards worldwide popularity was the decision to sing in English. At the time, their aspirations to American and British rock were laughed at by their compatriots, but now no one will laugh anymore.

The band entered the international hard rock scene with their first album "Lonesome Crow". This album is different from the Scorpions' subsequent works. Surrealism, a big pinch of gloom, jazz, blues and psychedelic - all mixed in their first studio album.

Tea set

They started by rehearsing in the tea room of the polytechnic college they attended. No wonder that at first they were called "The Tea Set" (actually, there were many more names, but at least this one has some logical roots). And actually, we were talking about Pink Floyd.....

The band started meeting back in '63, but it was '65 that is considered the year of its official foundation. That year, the band members took over The Counttown Club, where they performed night after night. Of course, they needed more songs to diversify their repertoire. It was then that they realised that to avoid repeating songs, they could not only take new ones, but also develop old ones. As Mason said, they realised that "you can lengthen a song significantly with a beautiful solo". And what is the band Pink Floyd now known for but stunning and long guitar solos? A great example of these improvisations is "Interstellar Overdrive", a song recorded in 1966.

The name "Pink Floyd" came about when Barrett learnt of a performance by another band called "The Tea Set". It was decided that a lot of tea sets were unnecessary and it was better to come up with another name. The new name came about very simply: in Barrett's collection was a vinyl record of two bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Counsil. Everything ingenious is simple...

To say that that's the end of it wouldn't be entirely true. That is, not quite true at all, because in the same year of '65 The Doors, Grateful Dead, 13th Floor Elevators and other bands that are still famous today were founded. But that's for another time. 1965 was a special year for music history. All the events that took place during that year would be enough for half a decade. One could even say that after '65 the world of music was never the same again.