In the whole hubbub surrounding the quick 1-2-3 deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson, the passing of California musician Sky Saxon in Austin yesterday has gone mostly unnoticed.
Born Richard Marsh, Sky Saxon was frontman of the Seeds, a 1960s garage rock combo best known for their track "Pushin' Too Hard," which was included on the first Nuggets compilation by Lenny Kaye. Lester Bangs was a noted fan of theirs, once noting in a piece on the Clash that "punk rock was something which had first raised its grimy snout around 1966 in groups like the seeds."
Saxon was preparing for a summer tour, as part of the California '66 Revue, along with Love and the Electric Prunes. Granted, the "Love" portion would have been a little sad, considering Arthur Lee died several years ago, but it would've been a cool Cavestomp kind of thing to check out.
It sucks that's not going to happen, because "Pushin' Too Hard" was one of those songs that set the pattern for what punk would become, and I think the cover of it by El Klan, from the Rodney on the ROQ Volume 1 compilation proves that fairly well. There was a very short hop from the garage of '66 to the punk of '77, if you catch my drift.
MP3: El Klan, "Pushin' Too Hard" (The Seeds cover)
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Sky "sunlight" Saxon is my GOD brother.
we were in Hollywood together with the Brotherhood of the Source,
the "Source family," in the early seventies.
Sky shared my home occasionally after the death of our GOD father jim baker, "YAHOWHA" in 1975.
He was a very dear friend as well as a brother in GOD. Sky called me his Jesus, the fifth seed, and wanted to introduce me to the world. He said that jesus was going to come from the SKY as was written in the bible.
We will all miss his peaceful presence and his love for music. Sky not only started flower power but was the first person to have the balls to make up a song while performing to a live audience.
jim morrison followed sky, sky being his mentor. Sky will always be remembered as the man who could change a band's performance merely by his psychedelic presence.
Sky has changed the lives of many and will never be forgotten by his friends, fans, and family.
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