Psychedelic Rock Innovator Sky Saxon Dies
Being a friend of Sky and a former band-mate I received a call this morning: Sky Saxon, lead singer of ’60s rock group The Seeds, is dead.
The Seeds were contemporaries of The Doors and played the same clubs, recording hits such as ‘Pushin’ Too Hard’, ‘Mr. Farmer’ (later featured on Nixon’s Black List), ‘Can’t Seem To Make You Mine’, and many others.
Their ‘garage’ sound went on to influence legions of rock musicians, knowingly or not. Those who point to The Stooges as the first punk band may need to reconsider — The Seeds beat them by a few years, and one wonders at the similarities between Sky’s voice and Iggy Pop’s.
Sky collapsed Monday during a performance due to heart failure. He’d been gaining ground in his pursuit for recognition — Morrison is a household icon,
and I was on a tour bus with him for weeks before I even had an idea of who occupied the back room of the bus. Sadly, even on his dying day, no respect: Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson both were fated to die today, denying Sky even this hollow recognition.
Sky, you will be missed.
