Dinosaurs (band)
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Dinosaurs, formed in 1982, was an American,
Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...
-based supergroup, that emerged from the
psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as Dmt, DMT, Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, mescaline, ...
era of
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
. The core group consisted of Peter Albin of
Big Brother and the Holding Company Big Brother and the Holding Company are an American rock band that was formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane. After ...
,
John Cipollina John Cipollina (August 24, 1943 – May 29, 1989) was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. After leaving Quicksilver he formed the band C ...
of
Quicksilver Messenger Service Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, ...
,
Spencer Dryden Spencer Charles Dryden (April 7, 1938 – January 11, 2005) was an American musician best known as the drummer for Jefferson Airplane and New Riders of the Purple Sage. He also played with Dinosaurs, and the Ashes (later known as the Peanut Butt ...
of
Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...
, Robert Hunter of the
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...
, Barry Melton of
Country Joe and the Fish Country Joe and the Fish was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Berkeley, California, in 1965. The band was among the influential groups in the San Francisco music scene during the mid-to-late 1960s. Much of the band's music was writ ...
and keyboardist
Merl Saunders Merl Saunders (February 14, 1934 – October 24, 2008) was an American multi-genre musician who played piano and keyboards, favoring the Hammond B-3 console organ. Biography Born in San Mateo, California, United States, Saunders attended Poly ...
from the Saunders-Garcia Band. Over time
Papa John Creach John Henry Creach (May 28, 1917 – February 22, 1994), better known as Papa John Creach, was an American blues violinist who also played classical, jazz, R&B, pop and acid rock music. Early in his career, he performed as a journeyman musician w ...
of
Hot Tuna Hot Tuna is an American blues rock band formed in 1969 by former Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen (guitarist/vocals) and Jack Casady (bassist). Although it has always been a fluid aggregation, with musicians coming and going over the ...
,
Jack Casady John William Casady (born April 13, 1944) is an American bass guitarist, best known as a member of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Jefferson Airplane became the first successful exponent of the San Francisco Sound. Singles including " Som ...
of
Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...
,
Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. He performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, including on songs recorde ...
, Dave Getz,
Country Joe McDonald Joseph Allen "Country Joe" McDonald (born January 1, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who was the lead vocalist of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish.Richard Brenneman"Country Joe McDonald Revives Anti ...
and other prominent San Francisco musicians guest starred with the group. In the 1990s, David LaFlamme of
It's a Beautiful Day It's a Beautiful Day is an American band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1967, featuring vocalist Pattie Santos along with violinist David LaFlamme and his wife, Linda LaFlamme, on keyboards. David LaFlamme, who as a youth had once p ...
and
Jerry Miller Jerry Miller (July 10, 1943 – July 20, 2024) was an American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He performed as a solo artist and as a member of the Jerry Miller Band. He was also a founding member of the 1960s San Francisco band Moby Grape, ...
of
Moby Grape Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966. Part of San Francisco's psychedelic music scene, the band merged elements of rock and roll, folk music, pop, blues, and country. They were one of the few groups of which all members were lea ...
also toured with this group. The Dinosaurs became active in 1982, with Albin, Dryden, Cipollina, Melton, and Hunter at its center. Hunter left the group in 1985, before the end of its "classic" run, although he returned to record a track for their only album. By 1987, Merl Saunders had more or less taken Hunter's place in the band. The original group presumably ran its course up through 1989, at which point the group broke up. John Cipollina died just two weeks after the band's final concert, during which he had to sit in a wheelchair due to health issues. In 1988, the band released its only studio album, ''Dinosaurs''. In 2005, the band released a retrospective album on the Evangeline label, entitled ''Friends of Extinction''. They were the band that forced Dinosaur Jr. to add on the "Jr." in 1987, shortly after that band released '' You're Living All Over Me''.


Discography

* ''Dinosaurs'' (
Relix Records ''Relix'', originally and occasionally later ''Dead Relix'', is a magazine that focuses on live and improvisational music. The magazine was launched in 1974 as a handmade newsletter devoted to connecting people who recorded Grateful Dead concer ...
, 1988) * ''Friends of Extinction'' (2005)


References


External links


The Dinosaurs homepageDinosaurs : Free Music : Free Audio : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dinosaurs 1982 establishments in California 1989 disestablishments in California American supergroups Musical groups established in 1982 Musical groups disestablished in 1989 Psychedelic rock music groups from California