#12 Jefferson Airplane (+ Jefferson Starship bonus)

1991 Pro Set MusiCards #12 Jefferson Airplane. 

While the previous card had probably the coolest picture of the set so far, this is the worst we've seen yet. Was this even shot by a professional photographer, or just a random fan in the audience snapping a polaroid? Seems pretty far away from the action. If not for the name poking out in the upper right, only a 60s rock aficionado would have any idea what band this was based on the photograph alone.

Here's my custom attempt at an improved version using a fun posed photo. In fairness to the team at Pro Set putting these cards together circa 1990, they didn't have the luxury of being able to browse a Google image search and find a cool shot that worked with the design, but rather probably had to make due with limited options provided to them.

Jefferson Airplane has 2 consecutive cards in the Legends subset (the next one has a better photo), plus another 2 cards later in the Historic Concerts poster subset. The offshoot band Starship has a couple cards in the main set as well.

The back features another distant on-stage photo. The write-up might go a little overboard with the aviation puns.

I never really got into Jefferson Airplane, honestly. I know/like their two big hits, but that's pretty much it.

  Jefferson Airplane - "Somebody To Love" (live at Woodstock)

For a brief history: They were a psychedelic rock band out of San Francisco that headlined several big festivals in the late 60s, including Woodstock and Monterey Pop. Their classic lineup was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996: Marty Balin (vocals), Paul Kantner (guitar, vocals), Grace Slick (vocals), Jorma Kaukonen (lead guitar, vocals), Jack Casady (bass), and Spencer Dryden (drums).

For a more in-depth history of the band, I'd point you to their Wikipedia entry.

As for where are they now?, many of the original members have passed away, and Grace Slick has been retired from music for several years now, feeling that rock & roll isn't for old people to create. "You can do jazz, classical, blues, opera, country until you're 150, but rap and rock and roll are really a way for young people to get that anger out."

Up until this point in the blog, I've had an idea in my head about which other artist I wanted to pair up in the Custom Corner section for each post, but I'm drawing a blank on this one.

I guess I'll go with Jefferson Starship. I have a tendency to think of them as the same band as Jefferson Airplane, just with a modernized name, but they were kind of a different band. And while (just) Starship was included in the MusiCards set, Jefferson Starship was not (Again, kinda different bands but with some overlapping members at times).

 Jefferson Starship - "Jane"

I don't know much of Jefferson Starship, but I love that "Jane" song of theirs, familiar to me thanks to it being used as the theme song for the Wet Hot American Summer franchise.

Wet Hot American Summer (2001) is a fun, silly flick that you should be sure to check out if you're into National Lampoon style comedies. Somewhat of a not-very-raunchy parody of teen comedies of the era, it tells the story of a crazy last day at summer camp in 1981. The two follow-up miniseries on Netflix are great too.

Dig the baseball card appearance in Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. '64 Koufax on the front and '88 Donruss on the back. LOL

That'll do it for this post. If you've got any recommendations for other Jefferson Airplane or Jefferson Starship tunes you think I should give a listen, let me know in the comments. Next up is the other Jefferson Airplane card.

#9 The Doors (+ Creedence bonus)

1991 Pro Set SuperStars MusiCards #9 The Doors

We've made it to the last of the four cards The Doors got in the Legends subset. It features a photo of the band members looking somewhat disinterested whilst standing in front of a brick wall.

I found another photo from the shoot; Must have been snapped just a moment before or after.

The picture used on the back seems to be from the same day as the front photo (same outfits), though in a different setting.

The write-up focuses on Robby Krieger, which is a refreshing change of pace from Jim Morrison getting all the attention, and I suppose sort of makes up for Pro Set mistakenly calling him "Bobby" on the back of one of the previous cards. Krieger is still rocking at 73, recording and performing from time to time. He tossed out the first pitch at a Dodgers game in 2017.

Robby Krieger 2018 Topps First Pitch custom

The Doors - "The End"

"The End" is one of my favorite Doors songs. It kinda blew my mind when I first heard it as a teenager in the mid 90s. Not your typical rock n roll song, clocking in at nearly 12 minutes.

Listening to the song again today while working on this post, it's especially poignant to me having just had to put down our beloved dog Annie earlier this week. Not to harp on it too much, as I've already mentioned it at Baseball Card Breakdown and other social media I'm on, but it's been a tough few days for me and my wife. Annie was such a good girl and such a key part of our lives. Now lines like "I'll never look into your eyes again" can make me tear up a little, but I suppose that's how it goes when you go through a major life event like a big breakup or the loss of a loved one.. songs really seem to speak to you in a personal, intimate way.

Regarding the line "My only friend, the end", Jim Morrison once told an interviewer:

Sometimes the pain is too much to examine, or even tolerate... That doesn't make it evil, though – or necessarily dangerous. But people fear death even more than pain. It's strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. Yeah – I guess it is a friend...

Though the pairing didn't come to be until several years after Morrison's death, the song is forever linked with the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, where it features prominently in the score. I generally prefer sticking with comedies or fun adventure flicks, but Apocalypse Now is one of the few "heavy" movies I consider an all-time favorite. I remember back in the late 90s I got ahold of a bootleg 5-hour cut of it on VHS. The quality was terrible, and much of the extra footage was just helicopters flying around for several minutes at a time, but I still thought it was awesome. Then in 2001, Apocalypse Now Redux was released-- an incredible extended re-edit that included the best of what had been cut out of the original version. I own Redux on DVD and pop it in once every few years, revering it as "special occasion" viewing.

CUSTOM CORNER

Believe it or not, there were no MusiCards made for Creedence Clearwater Revival or their frontman John Fogerty. As contemporaries of the Doors, and a band whose music is no stranger to Vietnam War flicks, CCR was the natural choice for the Custom Corner bonus band for today's post.

1991 MusiCards-That-Never-Were Creedence Clearwater Revival custom

Creedence Clearwater Revival -"Wrote A Song For Everyone"

I feel like Creedence is a band that everyone can agree on.. one of those special few bands that have something for everyone. Anyone who flat-out doesn't like CCR needs to take a good hard look in the mirror and ask themselves what the hell's wrong with them. LOL

1. I Put A Spell On You
2. Susie Q
3. Born On The Bayou
4. Proud Mary
5. Green River
6. Commotion
7. Wrote A Song For Everyone
8. Bad Moon Rising
9. Lodi
10. Down On The Corner
11. Cotton Fields
12. Fortunate Son
13. The Midnight Special
14. Effigy
15. Ramble Tamble
16. Lookin' Out My Back Door
17. Run Through The Jungle
18. Up Around The Bend
19. Who'll Stop The Rain
20. I Heard It Through The Grapevine
21. Long As I Can See The Light
22. Have You Ever Seen The Rain
23. Hey Tonight
24. Someday Never Comes

I try to keep these "best of" playlists of mine limited to 20 songs, but had to go a little over here. They cranked out so many great tunes! The band infamously dealt with much internal drama and split ways back in 1972, only reuniting for one-offs for Tom Fogerty's wedding in 1980 and a partial reunion at El Cerrito High School's 20th reunion in 1983 (When I read that, I thought it sounded familiar, and turns out it's the same high school that Pumpsie Green attended, and I've coincidentally been reading through his SABR bio lately). John Fogerty went on to a successful solo career, with hits like the baseball-themed "Centerfield", though didn't reach nearly the same levels of hit production as his CCR heyday.

That just about wraps up this post. We haven't quite seen the end of the Doors on the blog, as they'll pop up again down the line with a concert poster card (#255) plus a card in the UK edition of the set, but in the nearer future, up next is the greatest guitarist of all time.

Any thoughts on Creedence or Apocalypse Now? Please sound off in the comments below.

Creedence Clearwater Revival -"Someday Never Comes"