General Music Chat

Los Angeles, CA – Friends, fans and heavy metal rock and rollers around the world are mourning the death of Blue Cheer bassist and lead singer Richard Allan “Dickie” Peterson (b. September 12, 1946), after a long fight against cancer. Peterson, age 63, died in Erkelenz, Germany, where he lived, on the morning of October 12, 2009.

He is survived by wife Ilka Peterson, ex-wife Marilyn (Peterson) Stephens with whom he had a daughter, Corrina Peterson-Kaltenrieder, and a grandson. He was a founding member and leader of the San Francisco band Blue Cheer; a band known to heavy metal fans for being louder and heavier than any band before them and for laying the blueprint for much of what would come after.

Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues-rock style, and are also credited as being pioneers of heavy metal (their cover of "Summertime Blues" is sometimes cited as the first in the genre, punk rock stoner rock, doom metal, and grunge.) According to Tim Hills in his book, The Many Lives of the Crystal Ballroom, "Blue Cheer was the epitome of San Francisco psychedelia. The band is named after a brand of LSD and promoted by renowned LSD chemist and former Grateful Dead patron, Owsley Stanley." Jim Morrison of The Doors called the group, "The single most powerful band I've ever seen"


http://www.bluecheer.us/obit.html

Dickie...you will be missed!!

They played the Hi-Tone in Memphis last year and I missed it, damn it.

Thanks for the heads up, I hadnt heard this.

A friend went to the show and said that they had 4 Marshall stacks in a room thats can be played with a 20 watt amp and were loud as f**k. Makes me feel good that someone at that age still feels the rock enough to "make some ear drums bleed".

This is sad Ive played their version of Summertime BLues in a bunch of bands and they are credited with being one of the forerunners of heavy metal music.

I will say if some of your musical Idols come thru your town and play, try and make the show, cause you never know like in this situation if they will be back. I go and see Robin Trower everytime he comes to Memphis, now I wish I had gone to see BLue Cheer.

RIP, maybe that means Rock In Peace in this case!

From what they are saying on their message board, he died of an infection while being treated for cancer. There had been a lot of talk about Sainte Anthony's Fyre doing a few shows with Blue Cheer when Dickie felt better and a spring tour for 2010 was in the works. Sadly now this won't happen.

Ace Frehley's guitar tech, Bill Baker, built Dickie a custom bass and flew out to give it to him and made this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSSyTBr4Lnw Probably the most intimate video of Dickie out there.

Dickie always said he would probably die on the road...but he did keep going to the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78HBfH0vwMM Rock on in heaven Dickie!!!

HJ will be hurtin' to hear this, I'll bet. He talks about them a lot.

I didn't know that much of their stuff all that well, but from what I've heard, this is another damned shame.

I saw them a couple of years ago. Definitely one of the loudest bands I've ever seen; the floor was shaking and you could feel the sound in your chest.

Sad to hear about Dickey's demise.

I never had the pleasure (abeit, bone shakin') experience of hearing the Cheer live, however, I do recall seeing a live performance on The Steve Allen Show back around 68, replete with the wall of Marshalls! The cameraman kept sweeping the audience to reveal a throng of old ladies holding their ears with a truly terrified expression on their face's .

Vincebus Eruptum forever!

Howlin'