Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield (1966)

"For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield


After the Au Go-Go Singers broke up, a couple remaining members formed a similar group called The Company for one last tour through the Northeast and Canada.  While touring Ontario, Stills and Furay met a young Neil Young who was playing with surf-rockers The Squires at the time.  Young would go on to play in another band The Mynah Birds where he performed with AWOL American vocalist Rick James and bassist Bruce Palmer.  The Mynah Birds met with difficulties with Rick James's imprisonment and a lack of success that would break the group apart.  Stills, Young, Furay, and Palmer all found their way to California, taken with the LA folk-rock scene.  They found each other when Stills and Furay recognized Neil Young's converted hearse driving in the opposite direction.  Finding out that all four of them flew to LA for the same reason, they decided to form a band whose manager could already find work for them as the house band at the Whisky a Go Go club along Sunset Strip.  Buffalo Springfield made for a five-piece band when they brought in Dewey Martin from Nashville (who had some non-success with the Beatles-esque Sir Raleigh & the Cupons) through the mutual connection of Jim Dickson, manager for The Byrds.

Stills and Young shared songwriting duties.  Stills, Young, and Furay all played the guitar.  Bruce Palmer played the bass.  Dewey Martin played drums.  Stills and Furay usually swapped as lead vocalist and the two harmonized together with Martin.  Neil Young could sing but he wasn't allowed to on their debut album because his voice was too weird.  They released their debut album Buffalo Springfield in 1966 and garnered good reviews with little success.  This would change when theirs and the performances of other bands at the a Go Go proved too loud for Los Angeles locals.  The locals pushed for a strict ten p.m. curfew and loitering laws to stifle the noise and the congested crowds.  Young rock and roll fans saw this as an infringement on their rights and protested against the curfew.  Stills witnessed the demonstration and resulting arrests and quickly wrote a song to chronicle the pent up emotions of the time.  Seeking to capitalize on the memory of the event, Buffalo Springfield quickly recorded the song and released it to local radio stations.  "For What It's Worth", the band's third single, was an immediate hit locally and helped Buffalo Springfield garner a national audience.  Their debut album was re-released, this time with their new hit single leading off and replacing a weaker track ("Baby Don't Scold Me").

Here is the discography surrounding Buffalo Springfield's debut album:

Mustang (1963 single by The Squires)
The Sultan (1963 single by The Squires)
White Cliffs of Dover (1964 single by Sir Raleigh & the Cupons)
While I Wait (1964 single by Sir Raleigh & the Cupons)
Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day (1965 single by Sir Raleigh & the Cupons)
Tell Her Tonight (1965 single by Sir Raleigh & the Cupons)
I Don't Want to Cry (1965 single by Sir Raleigh & the Cupons)
The Mynah Bird Hop (1965 single by The Mynah Birds)
It's My Time (1966 unreleased single by The Mynah Birds)
The Lost Recordings (1966 unreleased recordings)
Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing (1966 single)
Buffalo Springfield
Burned (1966 single)
For What It's Worth (1967 single)
Buffalo Springfield (1967 album re-release)

"Go and Say Goodbye" by Buffalo Springfield


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