Hard-rock and heavy-metal were born in 1968 thanks to the efforts of a trio who relocated to San Francisco. In that year Blue Cheer released two albums with a terrifying sound that staked it all on deafening amplification of the guitar riffs of Leigh Stephens and the bass riffs Dickie Peterson. The group belonged to the psychedelic platoon ("blue cheer" was a name for LSD) and played out its acid trip with a vengeance. Their atomic version of Summertime Blues (1968) by Eddie Cochran, followed by the anthem Out Of Focus (1968), made them famous.
