Alexander "Skip" Spence

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Windsor, Ontario, Canada (April 18, 1946 – April 16, 1999)

Alexander Lee “Skip” Spence (April 18, 1946 – April 16, 1999) was a musician and singer-songwriter best known for his work with Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape and as a solo artist. He was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and his family relocated to San Jose, California in the late 1950s. His career was plagued by drug addictions coupled with mental health problems, and is described by a biographer as man who “neither died young nor had a chance to find his way out.” During his tenure in the public eye, he had a profound impact on the outsider music and psych-folk genres.

1966-1969: Moby Grape and Oar
Spence was a guitarist in an early line-up of Quicksilver Messenger Service before Marty Balin recruited him to be the drummer for Jefferson Airplane. After one album with Jefferson Airplane, their debut Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, he left to co-found Moby Grape, once again as a guitarist. It was with Moby Grape that Spence found his greatest musical fame, writing among other songs, “

Omaha”, from Moby Grape’s first album (1967)—a song identified in 2008 by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time.

Spence is acknowledged as having been instrumental in the formation of The Doobie Brothers, by way of introducing John Hartman to Tom Johnston, and encouraging their musical development.

During the recording session of Moby Grape’s second album, Wow, in 1968, Spence attempted to break down a bandmate’s hotel room door with a fire axe, while under the influence of LSD. Spence’s deterioration in New York and the “fire axe incident” are described by bandmate Jerry Miller as follows: “Skippy changed radically when we were in New York.

Tagged as:

psychedelic, singer-songwriter, folk, 60s, rock
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Oar
Alexander "Skip" Spence
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Skimma wrote:
last week

jesus fuckin christ is he good or what?

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Jokapaikanapina wrote:
last week

Dunno why youre all talkin bout the Beatles but they sure are the best

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thelukemaxwell wrote:
last week

@hornygirl3- you obviously use the internet as a main way in which to communicate, on account of you being deaf

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hornygirl3 wrote:
last week

@thelukemaxwell- the Beatles didn't make that great of music.

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thelukemaxwell wrote:
12 days ago

@Alphavillain- your views on The Beatles are absurd

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sdenholm wrote:
15 days ago

http://www.beck.com/ Record Club updates every Thursday!

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sunshinefactory wrote:
last month

I always get my groove on if I go to your play lists! How are you Miss C.Hiltone? Sincerely, Mr. T.

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zues wrote:
last month

hey come join this groovy new group http://www.last.fm/group/Saccharine+Underground

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antoniozgz wrote:
August 2009

oh!

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HerrHerr wrote:
July 2009

Beck and Wilco covered Oar together: http://pitchfork.com/news/35990-beck-and-wilco-cover-skip-spence/ I hope it will be released!

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TheDiceMan wrote:
July 2009

Maybe because their music really isn't that similar? Just because they had health problems shouldn't make them similar artists!!! Skip Spence far more acoustic driven, americana, folk type and Syd Barret more avant-garde, spacey and progressive.

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rottmadgers wrote:
July 2009

Good question.

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Jon_Biedron wrote:
May 2009

how is syd barret not the top similar artist?

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rottmadgers wrote:
April 2009

Man, I could listen to "Oar" over and over and over... Then go and listen to some Moby Grape... Then listen to "Oar" again.

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IAJP wrote:
April 2009

really hard to listen to this album and not think "woah..this man was really not right"

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fjosjd wrote:
April 2009

brilliant stuff

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ElectricSoul921 wrote:
January 2009

Little Hands :-) This guy was a genius.

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Alphavillain wrote:
January 2009

@IanCat87: I agree that the album is creepy, but it's trying to overcome its creepiness. Like "Tonite's The Night" by Neil Young, it's made out of tragedy but tries to overcome it. The creepiness is there, but it shivers all the way into melancholia. Skip +1.

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Alphavillain wrote:
January 2009

The Beatles get 142,000,000 plays, and "Oar" gets only 128,000? That annoys me. I'd swap all the Fabs stuff for this one album. A superb album.

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nixhex4311 wrote:
December 2008

Good stuff. Reminds me of the first time I heard the Mad Cap Laughs.

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