[purchase]
I wrote not
too long back (perhaps somewhat misguidedly) about how AM radio play lists were
dictated by guidelines set by the record company moguls, but I’ll stick by my comment
that the length of a pop song in the 60s was limited to what was perceived as
commercially viable: anything over 3 minutes was pushing the limits. And then,
towards the end of the 60s, there came various musical innovations that pushed
these limits.
One of the
first that comes to mind is the extended drum solo perpetrated by Ginger Baker
on “Fresh Cream” – “Toad”. It didn’t achieve
commercial success. At about the same time, however, Iron Butterfly managed
commercial success with a similarly lengthy song entitled “In a Gadda Da Vida”,
pushing the limits of endurance at 17 minutes: way over the AM playlist time
slots. However, this song was a commercial success, and so some formula had to
be found to accommodate public clamor. The result was a short alternative
version that could fit the AM radio format: my alternative version post.
The song is
legacy enough that various other bands have revisited it with success, and I am
including some of their alternative versions below in addition to the originals.
short play version
long play version
Blind Guardian version
Slayer version