![]() Members of The Lost Planet Airmen moved to San Francisco in 1969 to catch the Haight Ashbury vibe says Tichy. I had a friend who actually managed Iggy for a while and MC5 and brought them from Detroit to play fraternities in Ann Arbor.” That was a time in the history of the universe when there was a shortage of rock and roll bands. “MC5 was the Motor City 5 on the frat rock circuit in Ann Arbor. ![]() “In its own way, country influenced MC5 in its roguish lack of pretentiousness and sophistication,” says Tichy. The general public thinks of Detroit as the home of Motown, but The Motor City and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor also hosted live shows by such hard rockers as Bob Seger, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, and The MC5 best remembered today for their raunchy “Kick Out The Jams” with its dubious distinction of being the first band to record the words “Kickout the jams, Motherfucker.” George Jones and Jimmy Dickens played in Detroit because it was like playing for tip jars in Kentucky or like playing for people who had no money, to playing in the bar across the street from a factory in Detroit.” The high school I went to might as well have been in Tennessee. There was just a pipeline from the south to the auto factories in Detroit. In the early ’60s it was jazz and folk and so forth. “I always had country tunes in my repertoire,” says Tichy, “things from my high school background which was sort of unusual, especially in that era. Tichy would go on to become the head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering a RPI in Troy but not before “Hot Rod Lincoln” went to number 9 on the pop music charts, and the band released several albums that combined what was then called alternative rock with a unique blend of country music influenced by Buck Owens and Texas Swing’s Bob Wills. “At a time when many other bands would be practicing and rehearsing and everything was detailed and getting everything just right, we were night after night in bars and just gritting our teeth and in a certain sense perfecting our chops and the energy but not all the details that went into producing a sophisticated or technically excellent record.” ![]() “We were just rough and ready,” says Tichy today. We were just having a good time, picking and playing and making a few dollars on the side.” They played frat parties together, and released their first album as Commander Cody and The Lost Planet Airmen in 1969.Ĭody told Rolling Stone in 1970, “We didn’t think of appealing to anybody. The genesis of the band was the meeting of keyboardist George Frayne who would become Commander Cody and guitarist John Tichy at the University of Michigan in the early ’60s. The Lost Planet Airmen in 1971 were a cultural anomaly made up of overeducated rock and rollers who took their hybrid hippy/hillbilly music into outer space albeit with fantastic musicianship. Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen ![]() Performing will be founding member John Tichy, Bill Kirchen, Andy Stein, Buffalo Bruce Barlow and Steve Barbuto. former members of Commander Cody’s Lost Planet Airmen present a Celebration of The Life, Music and Art of the late Commander Cody at The Hangar on the Hudson in Troy at 6 p.m. It was written as an answer song to Arkie Shibley‘s 1950 hit “ Hot Rod Race.” “Hot Rod Lincoln” is a roots rock song with heavy country flavors by American singer-songwriter Charlie Ryan, first released in 1955.
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