Buffalo Springfield was a short-lived Canadian-American classic rock band which was formed in 1966 in Los Angeles, California. They were initially active for two years during the late 1960s, more specifically between 1966 and 1968, before reuniting many years later in 2010 and performing together until 2012. The founding line-up of the band consisted of Canadians Neil Young (guitarist, harmonist, pianist, and vocalist), Bruce Palmer (bassist), and Dewey Martin (drummer and vocalist), on the one hand, and, on the other hand, Americans Stephen Stills (guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist) and Richie Furay (guitarist and vocalist). Their music was a mixture of folk rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, and country rock. They were also influenced by the British Invasion (i.e., the British classic rock bands which gained popularity in the United States of America throughout the 1960s, such as, most notably, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, or The Who). The name of the band was inspired by a certain steamroller which was parked outside of their house. Buffalo Springfield signed to Atlantic Records in 1966 and released their first singled entitled ‘Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing‘ in August of that year.
Buffalo Springfield, a Canadian-American classic rock band, photographed in the 1960s. From left to right, the band line-up was as follows: Dewey Martin (drummer), Stephen Stills (lead vocalist and guitarist), Richie Furay (guitarist), Neil Young (vocalist and guitarist), and Bruce Palmer (bassist). Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Throughout the band’s relatively short existence, the musical group managed to release three studio albums as follows:
- Buffalo Springfield, the debut self-titled studio album of the band (1966);
- Buffalo Springfield Again (1967);
- Last Time Around (1968).
They also released several singles out of which the most successful one was the hit song ‘For What It’s Worth’ which was certified Platinum in Britain. The hit and social protest song ‘For What It’s Worth’ was released in January 1967 and became an anthem of the American counterculture of the 1960s. Many years after they disbanded, more specifically in 1997, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by none other than legendary Tom Petty. Below you can listen to and watch the music video of the well known hit and social protest song ‘For What It’s Worth’ by Buffalo Springfield, an anthem of the American counterculture of the 1960s. All the best and rock on!
Moral of the song, if you will: Paranoia strikes deep, into your heart it will creep… and, stop children, what’s that sound, everybody look what’s going down! Oh, I was about to forget, last but not least: nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong, naturally!
In addition, you can also listen to another hit of the band, more specifically ‘Mr. Soul’ (which bears a certain riff-based similarity to Rolling Stones’ ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction’) embedded via YouTube below.
Documentation sources and external links:
- The band’s page on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
- The band’s page on Encyclopaedia Britannica online on www.britannica.com
- The band on Spotify on www.open.spotify.com
- The band’s page on the website of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on www.rockhall.com
- The band’s YouTube channel on www.youtube.com
P.S. On a personal note, I used to listen to ‘For What It’s Worth’ a lot back when I was in high school, namely during the mid 2010s and then once more when I was an international student abroad in Aalborg, Denmark during the late 2010s (especially during late 2017 and early 2018; Christmas 2017 was a special one thanks in part to them as well as I felt significantly less lonely and for this I am deeply grateful to them to this very day and beyond).