In 1967, aged 9 and with a brother and sister 8 and 10 years older than me, respectively, I was desperately trying to make sense of a world that was making little sense at all. You know the story - Vietnam, brothers of kids I knew coming home in flag-draped coffins, protests in the street, and, of course, protests in my house. By that I mean my righteously indignant brother and sister, standing up to "the man" - our mom - and *Joan Baez*, *Byrds*, *Buffalo Springfield*, *Doors*, and *Beatles* on the stereo. Now, I listened to all of these artists; I had no choice, really, and I guess I listened to *Tom Jones* and *Herb Alpert*, too. My mom had those records. But when I had my choice, which wasn't often, I will admit that it was *The Archies'* "Sugar Sugar," which came at first on a paper-thin, square 45 RPM single peeled off the back of a cereal box. That and a *Donovan* 45 given to me by my sister (I think it was "Jean Jean"). Just so you know I wasn't completely eaten up by the pop bug, I also listened, when no one else was around, to *David Peel and the Lower East Side's* "I do my Ballin' in the Bathroom" with the tacit approval of big sis, who owned that particular LP.Then, _he_ appeared. He waltzed across my TV screen one night on some variety show (I'm certain it was not Ed Sullivan), with a flaming dish stuck to the top of his head. He had long hair and a beard. He wore a shiny cape and no shirt, and he was singing a song called "Fire," with the emphatic refrain, "You're gonna burn!" puncutated by heavy Hammond organ. Okay, this was cool in the way a 10-year-old could find it cool: pyrotechnics _and_ a super-hero costume! And it _rocked!_ It was *The Crazy World of Arthur Brown* - the official and only-in-the-sixties-naive name of the band - and it was the genesis of much that rock became in the '70s.
And then it went away. *The Crazy World of Arthur Brown* was a flash in the pan, and while it made a very big impact at first, there was no staying power. They had one hit - "Fire" - that showcased Brown's amazing vocal range (4 octaves), and then they were gone. However, it's notable that Brown managed to get his stage show banned from parts of the US, got himself kicked off of *Jimi Hendrix's* tour, and gave concert promoters the heebee-jeebees with his propensity for setting himself on fire.
What is more important about *Arthur Brown* is the historical impact he had on the music and cultural scene of the time. He was the prototype for so many that came after, including *Alice Cooper*, *Kiss*, *GWAR*, and *Slipknot*. He was the ur-glam rocker. And he understood that young people are drawn to fire - something arena rock shows exploited several years later and that continues today. But more important than any of this, Brown presaged the cultural shape of things to come. the Summer of Love had come and gone and had changed little. Drugs were taking over politics as the main focus of many young people's (and musicians') lives. And Charles Manson was lurking just around the corner, only a year later (Brown, with his wide-eyed stare and beard, has always reminded me of Manson). "Fire," and the attendant "Fire Poem" found on the LP, were dark, foreboding, and not at all full of the peace-and-love message of so much of the time's music. Arthur Brown was the harbinger of the '70s.
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