''The Rockets'' is the sole release by the Rockets in 1968. Selling only about 5,000 copies, it was far from a success. Nevertheless, the album found among its fans

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

singer-songwriter

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

, who would soon take rhythm guitarist/lead vocalist

Danny Whitten Danny Ray Whitten (May 8, 1943 – November 18, 1972) was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse (band), Crazy Horse, and for the song "I Don't Want to Talk About It", a hit for Ro ...

, bassist

Billy Talbot William Hammond Talbot (born October 23, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the bassist of Crazy Horse. Music career Born in New York City, Talbot started his musical career singing on street corners at the age of ...

and drummer

Ralph Molina Ralph Molina (born June 22, 1943) is a Puerto Rico-born American musician, best known as the drummer for Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse. Born in Puerto Rico, Molina has been a member of Crazy Horse since they were formed in 1962 as Danny ...

for his backing band on the album ''

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere ''Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere'' is the second studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in May 1969 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6349. His first with longtime backing band Crazy Horse, it emerged as a sleeper ...

''. They first dubbed themselves War Babies, but Young renamed them

Crazy Horse Crazy Horse ( , ; – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota people, Lakota war leader of the Oglala band. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by White Americans, White American settlers on Nativ ...

, a name that would stick. The Rockets soon folded due to Young's insistence on having Whitten, Talbot and Molina keep to a strict practice schedule (although the group was honored by the subtitle of one of Young's songs from ''Everybody Knows this is Nowhere'': "Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)"). Talbot and Molina have remained as part of Crazy Horse to this day, and all of the other Rockets, except for Leon Whitsell, would eventually collaborate with Young. "Hole in My Pocket" was released as a single. Whitten's "Let Me Go" was prominently covered by

Three Dog Night Three Dog Night is an American rock band formed in 1967, founded by vocalists Chuck Negron, Cory Wells, and Danny Hutton. This lineup was soon augmented by Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Joe Schermie (bass), Michael Allsup (guitar), and Floyd Sn ...

on their 1968 debut. "Mr. Chips" was allegedly about

Ahmet Ertegün Ahmet Ertegun ( ; , ; July 31, 1923 – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist. Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and championed many lead ...

's refusal to sign the band to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. The Rockets had been previously known as The Psyrcle on Lorna, a division of

Autumn Records Autumn Records was a 1960s San Francisco–based pop record label. Among the notable acts on its roster was The Beau Brummels, a band who released a pair of top 20 singles, " Laugh, Laugh" and " Just a Little". Also on the Autumn Records rost ...

Track listing

Personnel

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* George Whitsell – guitar, vocals * Leon Whitsell – guitar * Bobby Notkoff –

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, vocals

References

1968 debut albums White Whale Records albums {{1960s-rock-album-stub