Wow. My dad is Nick Taylor from Bloodrock. While they broke up the year I was born, I was fortunate to see them come together for a reunion concert in Fort Worth several years before my dad passed. It was amazing to see the utter joy of them playing one last time. I became a fan of the music that night. Nick was a wonderful musician and played music up until the hours before passed. Thank you for highlighting the band, DOA, and the story behind the song. Forever grateful.
That is such a cool story. You must be really proud of your Father. May he rest in peace. Lucky in the morning is one of my favorite songs of all time.
That is so cool! Anytime someone's talking about how hip their parents were back in the day, it must be fun to casually mention who your dad is! 😂 I'm really glad you got to see this tribute by the Professor. I love how much he loves the music we grew up with, and his respect for musicians is genuine. To me, he's our modern day Casey Kasem. (I wonder if he does a "Shaggy" impression?) ♥
I. Pray that they know Jesus Christ before they died. Jesus is the only way to heaven. , Please , turn to Jesus. And trust him , cry out to him , that you are a sinner. He loves you
I remember leaving a party one snowy night, with no one else on the road, and getting stuck on a hillside, and trying to back down to get another run at it, and DOA starts playing on the radio, and at 2 in the morning backing down an icy road in the dark listing to this song with the sirens coming from the back seat, just adds another layer of strange, to an already surreal landscape,
Wow! That is spooky! For me, that would've been an omen-- get out now! Walk! Crawl! Hell, even sleep in the car til it's safer conditions!😶🌫️ Glad you're still here to tell the story, hon! Take good care!😊
I had this album. This tune caused quite a stir on the AM stations in Miami. I was 16 in 1971, and listened with morbid curiosity. I later became an ICU nurse, often working in Trauma and Burn ICUs. I took care of four plane crash victims from three separate crashes. Most healthcare professionals go their entire careers without seeing a crash victim, since not too many make it to the hospital. Thankfully, all four of my patients survived and resumed their lives. One, a co-pilot who was severely burned, returned to flying for the airlines a few years later.
I was in the 4th grade in ‘71 and the teacher would play this song on the classroom record player, believe it or not! Of course, this was a little north of Boston in an elementary school with a lot of project kids, me being one! I’ve never heard it on the radio but remembered it 40 years later which prompted me to find it on iTunes. Still gives me chills.
@@ghost-ez2zn WFUN and WQAM were the leading top 40 AM stations in Miami late 1960s early 1970s. After that we moved away so I don’t know what stations were popular then.
I was in High School when it came out and we all thought it was talking about a car crash. It scared all of us to death listening to it and even thinking about it made a lot of us SLOW DOWN when we were teenagers. It is hard to know for sure but I would bet that song kept a lot of teenagers from getting killed in cars because the song sounded so real to us. Like it could happen to us.
Yeah, we all used to think that it was about driving stoned and getting in a car crash. It didn't stop us but we drove a lot more carefully because of this song.
I remember DOA being a "thing"; I don't recall being particularly disturbed by it, but I think it influenced my conclusion that teenagers go through a phase of being kind of morbid. How about "Don't Fear the Reaper"? It got more play. Geez, Some guy trying to talk his girlfriend into a suicide pact? Anyway, my favorite was a satirical version of "Dead man's Curve" where the guy sings something like, "I looked up, and there was my baby. ....And over there was my baby. ...And waaaay over there was my baby." I prefer silly over morbid any day. 😆
@@floatsting20 What does that have to do with school shootings? I meant, you don't want to hear that song on the radio before you drive home from a party or something, because you're afraid it's a sign from "God" that you're going to die in an accident. A superstitious thing.
Saw Bloodrock in concert in ‘71, and when they closed the show they blacked out all lights and then after a few moments in the dark the ambulance siren started accompanied by red flashing lights. The crowd roared so loud that it drowned out the sirens. It had to be a ten minute + version of the song staged to be just as macabre as the lyrics. Don’t remember much about the concert before that, but the finale was unforgettable!
I was 10 when this song came out, I bought the album when I was 11, babysitting money, I wore it out. 2 years ago I realized I could find it on u tube 🥰 d.o.a.was my favorite, my dad had been killed and this song was my obsession. It got me thru, weird I know but I was 11.
I'd never heard the song until a girl I knew, Rosemary Doxsee, played it for me. She had the single and in autumn 1971 brought it over for me to hear, and I was stunned at the lyrics; one that I still vividly remember was "I try to move my arm but there's no feeling/I look and see there's nothing there." (At least that's what I remember hearing, but it was 1971 and I was 11 years old.) The only time I ever heard it on the radio was one night in the '80s on the Dr. Demento show, and they played the single version, not the album version. Rosemary passed away in early 2014 after a battle with IPF, so I associate the song with her. We were neighbors in my hometown of Brockton MA during 1971 and 1972, and she was basically my first girlfriend. RIP Ro, your memory is immortalized on TH-cam! Thanks for posting this video Prof, and you have a new subscriber!
I was a faithful Dr Demento listener through the 70s, too! I am sorry for your loss, seems so strange that back in the day the reality of death was such a surreal concept. Now in my 60s, I am privileged to still be here unlike many of those I grew up with…😢 I am, and will forever be, a Cal Jam ‘74 Alumni!!!!
The moment I read the title of this episode, I knew you were going to showcase D. O. A…. It has to be the most bone-chilling song ever recorded. I was 13 years old when this song came out. I had a part-time “job”, and I also received an allowance. I saved the money I made to buy clothes, and 45s. Much to my parent’s dismay, I bought the 45 of D. O. A., and I played it incessantly on my little portable turntable. I still have D. O. A., in fact, I have all my 45s, and my albums. Thank you for your research, and your excellent program!
I've had this album 40 years and never heard anyone talk about it. I appreciate the song more knowing the story behind it. I use to play it to freak people out, it was scary, thought it was about a car wreck....again Thanks!
I remember that song from my grade school days, they used to play it in the morning when I was getting ready for school. My mother used to tell me to turn it off. "I remember, We were flying along and hit something in the air". DOA, it always sent a chill down my spine. The way they sang with a wavering sound was part of it and the sirens wailing. Professor, I'm always amazed at the stories you get from the artists. Bravo. Keep them coming.
I was a chick of the 70s and I remember this song!!!! All of my friends were so freaked out by it because it was the closest thing to reality that our 40s parents would have intercepted at all costs. I remember being in the Chevy Nova and hearing the sirens and my friend’s mom pulling over and then getting so upset from the confusion and flashbacks from the War of the Worlds broadcast memories. Then DOA just disappeared and I never knew why…? Censorship was in full swing and we just did not know it…thanks for the trip down Memory Lane! Cal Jam ‘74 Alumni!!!!
I was 16 when this song ( D.O.A.) hit the airwaves, so I bought the album almost immediately. "Dier not a Lover" is still a great song imho . I was sorry to hear of Nick Taylors passing, and it was cool to see that his daughter came here and left a really nice post. Great job , Professor, as always !
For someone who’s experienced a traumatic event, like witnessing a plane crash, they say it’s very therapeutic to write it down and get your feelings out. This guy happened to write it in a song and release it commercially. Unfortunately, if the general public doesn’t know the backstory of said song then they think it just came out of thin air by someone’s twisted and sick mind. I know a lot of people who think that about other songs besides this one. Really sad. But this is a phenomenal song with that horror movie atmosphere.
@TuffEnuffIII Well, Mr TuffZnuff, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who does pop culture / music better, and who sets the table just so, but you're welcome to leave posthaste and go out there N' try
This is definitely a new one for me, but that's why I love this channel. You're one of the few content creators that I watch every video regardless if I am familiar with the subject matter. I'm sure that I'm not alone in that.
Count me as one of those. There isn't a video where I don't learn some interesting fact or gain appreciation for something, whether it's a production technique, an accidental occurrence in the studio, or some other weird bit of trivia.
New to me also. This video reminds me why I do not miss the 70s at all. From sappy garbage like Captain & Tennille, to horribly depressing songs and a whole lot of nothing in between. Being forced to listen to country music by my mom wasn't all that bad actually. I wasn't like "forced" but mom controlled the main house radio and definitely the car radio. I have to admit I liked a lot of disco also, especially when drinking age was 18. LOL Finally Boston and The Knack and a whole new genre appeared at the tail end to usher in the 80s. Love the 80s!!
@@juniorjohnson9509, I was 10 in 1971, so that's probably why it escaped my attention. I was into Carole King, James Taylor, Marvin Gaye, Carly Simon, Janis Ian, Cat Sevens, Jethro Tull, the Beatles, and Joni Mitchell. A song like this definitely wouldn't have been on my radar.
Big John, by Jimmy Dean, was kinda eerie in a way, too. Big John dies while saving his fellow miners. They get out- he’s never found. All these songs had intense lyrics, and broached the darkness we don’t normally like to think about. This one, Prof, is a lost gem! Good stuff….. again!👍🥁🎸🇺🇸❤️
Our band played this song in 1971/72. Our keyboard player brought it into practice. One evening, we could not believe the content. But, it was like, "damn we have to do that". I think we only played it a couple of times in public. Iconic song.
Professor Adam (as usual) NAILED it!! He's a bit too young to have remembered it when first dropped, but he describes the mood and the vibe absolutely spot on!
I bought the album in ‘71 at college and played it a LOT! We had NEVER heard a rock song like it - cranked it loud every time on my 4 JBL L-100s and McIntosh amp and acted out the song (we thought it was either a car crash or plane crash…) I never listened much to radio that year- too busy listening to all the incredible albums that were coming out. It’s definitely a chilling song to listen to- full 8 minute version 👍
Never heard of the band or song, but I’m gonna give it a listen. One of the first disturbing songs I can remember was Metallica’s “One” in 1989 I believe. The slow guitar parts were creepy to me, and the music video helped me understand what the song was really about. Being alive but lifeless at the same time is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone
That whole idea, of being deprived of all senses but left alive, has always been my worst nightmare. Of course, once you become a parent, your fears mostly get transferred to your children, and that's one hell of an unpleasant thought.
In 1971 my brother, and I worked at a local skating rink in Marshall,Texas. My brother slipped the record DOA on the record player that was providing the music to skate by. It was placed between Donny Osmond, and The Jackson Five. The funniest part was the reaction of the skating rink manager ripping the record from the player.
Yesssir!! Ur the man ! As a music collector , i regret that i let that Blood Rock (45 rpm. ) get away from me , but such is life ! I have never heard another song come along as ‘bone-chilling ‘ as DOA. The ‘seventies’ were the ‘golden -years ‘ of music , by far !!!👍👍
My cousin (who is old enough to be my uncle) turned me on to this song about 40 years ago. He grew up in Houston, TX & said Bloodrock & "DOA" were HUGE at his high school. I distinctly remember him playing this for me & hearing the sirens on it. Very fascinating song.
What I LOVE about The Professor, is his non-exclusionary policy! ALL artists are given consideration, in spite of popularity or success! This is the ONLY way, to truly express the history of rock music! Rick Beato, eat your heart out!
This is great. I missed this one, as I was born the year after it came out. Not sure how you missed (Don't Fear) The Reaper, the biggest death-related song of the '70s (IMO), and certainly one of the most haunting.
Loved that song, blue oyster cult, pretty sure I had the album, because that how we rolled, every time a great song came out we'd run out and buy the album 😁 weird I never thought of don't fear the reaper as disturbing or haunting, great song though, what's disturbing is the song is in the year 2525 by Zager and Evans. Still relevant today.😬
@@carmenkarle4741I totally agree on the Zager & Evans song. I know of someone who couldn't listen to that song when it first came out, it disturbed him so much. It is a creepy song for sure.
About 20 years ago, I was making a playlist of songs for a Halloween party. I asked my mom if she knew of any creepy songs from the '60s or '70s to throw in the list, & that's when she turned me on to this gem. I was transfixed & made everyone listen to it. It was like being transported to this horrible scenario. To me, the song spoke of someone trapped in a dead body. This song still gives me chills every time. Thank you for putting the spotlight on this overlooked masterpiece!
My band did a cover of this one on stage but we added even more creepiness to it. My wife drew a skull face on my own face with red lipstick. The stage was dark except for a red spotlight shining on my face. The red light on red lipstick is invisible. When the lyrics God in heaven teach me how to die the red light switched off and agreed light instantly came on turning the red skull lines to black and you definitely could see the skull!!!! Scared the hell out of the crowd and we got a standing ovation!!!!!!!
That's a good friend, helping this dude work out all his trauma through a song. We're all here to help each other get through stuff, whether it's overcoming an addiction or witnessing a plane crash. We all gotta learn how to help each other through it like they did back then. It's a very rewarding thing.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 that's what's so amazing about the channel to me is im 53 years old and have been listening to music for as long as I can remember being alive. And would've never of such a grim song.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 for some reason when I here "Jackie Brown " by John mellencamp it really makes me sad . And i have no idea why because i grew up in Suburbia and can't relate to the lyrics. Probably just a old softy 😂🤣
Used to hear this song as a little kid. It would seep through the wall from my older brother's room while I was lying on my bed, blanket over my head, trying to cover my ears to no avail. It lead to a recurring nightmare into my early teens. Found the song again about 15 years ago and now fully appreciate it for the genius and sheer BALLS it took to write, record, and release it on the air. If you haven't heard it, it's a must listen in my opinion. Thanks for the video, and the memories!
I was in HS in '71 but I missed this song completely! I have heard all the other songs played, but THIS completely managed to escape my radar. I would have loved it! Maybe it was taken off the air before I got to hear it... I did spend the summer overseas that year. But I was surrounded by musicians who made it their job to play for me EVERY SONG worth listening to. I was cheated!!!
A friend told me about it. I finally heard it and it made my blood run cold. At the time, it seemed like gratuitous shock and horror, but hearing the story that inspired it, it’s more understandable. Wish it had been explained at the time or maybe better described in the song itself.
Glad to see the often maligned term One Hit Wonder renamed Bottled Lightning. Too many great songs are discounted when their creators, for many different reasons, never seem to achieve long term success. Thank you for blowing the dust of this amazing song. I haven't heard D.O.A in many years. My local Rock Radio station used to play D.O.A around Halloween back in the day.
One reason I love this channel, the Professor has such respect and genuine love of music. I don't think I've ever heard him talk disparagingly about any artist. He even had kind words for Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey", one of my least favorite songs ever!
I had heard of the group Bloodrock but knew nothing of their music. One song I remember from 1971 that insinuated death was "Timothy" by the Buoys. I remember that only one station in the L.A. Market that I knew of, played that song. 93KHJ Boss Radio never played it.
wreck of the edmund fitzgerald is much better written, so its creep factor is minimized by the melodic, emotionally charged prose presented as a story.
@@garymiller2237 Another one of my favorites. You need to know me. My all time favorite song is Lucky Man by ELP, my 2nd favorite is Fire on the Mountain by Marshall Tucker Band. Timothy would be my 3rd favorite. People dying in a song kind of attracts me.
The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is an actual historical event. It happened on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. Gordon Lightfoot wrote and recorded the song as a tribute to the sailors who died. He didn't make it up, and he didn't record it just to put something creepy on the air.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is one of most tragic and also most historical songs ever. A song that has a sense of history like that one is worth listening to.
I remember that song!!!!! I have talked to others that are close to my age and they all said they never heard such a song. I tried looking it up in hit lists etc. But couldn't find it anywhere. I am so glad you played this, I remembered it better than I thought I did! And yeah, I always liked "the night the went out in Georgia"
We did some Bloodrock covers in a band I was in from the 70’s. However we never touched D.O.A. Most of our gigs were school dances, and you certainly can’t dance to THAT one. I’ve always been crazy about the first 3 Bloodrock albums. Every so often, I treat myself to a marathon listening of this trilogy. Whenever I come to DOA, I ask myself, “Should I skip it this time?” But I can’t. Like any accident you come upon, you can’t help but “watch!”
Funny: I was also in a band that covered Bloodrock songs. We learned D.O.A. as one of them, but didn't play it much at gigs. The strange this was, when we played the song, couples WOULD slow-dance to it! Always creeped me out, but I guess they didn't want to waste an opportunity to grope on the dance floor. (Especially if it was the long version!) It's a shame that the combination of the morbid song and the band's name ended up sinking their mass appeal. They actually had some other, more interesting tunes!
@@brucewahler6789 There were always interesting dance moves at those '70's high school dances. I always liked watching the girls dance to our cover of Humble Pie's version of "I'm Ready." They'd be dancing with each other, and looking around to see if some "groovy guy" would notice them. Slow dancing to DOA? That's something that would be a good subject for the opening of a horror flick! I have to say, I was surprised at how quickly Bloodrock "hit the bargain bins." You really put it in perspective...thanks!
I remember hearing this song in January 1971 on one of the Minneapolis radio stations, probably KQRS. I was 11 years old and it was all that the school kids could talk about. My much older brother bought Bloodrock 2 and my dad threw it out!😅 Later on I listened to them, they were really good. Kind of a combination of Grand Funk and Uriah Heep. Lee Pickens is an outstanding lead guitarist, talk about underrated! Thanks for the great memories and your wonderful channel!😋😋
Aaahhhh back in the day. I always thought the song “Timothy” was the most disturbing song, then Bloodrock came along with DOA. But, I’ve always remembered both songs. You brought back the 70’s back to me, thanks so much.
I was going to mention Timothy too. The interesting thing about that song is that it sounds so normal. A nice sounding, melodic tune. Then you listen to the words and…yikes!
@@porridge57 Trapped in a mine a bad cave in the only one's left to tell the tell was me joe and Timothy water enough for two to drink and joe said that he would sell his soul for just one piece of meat Timothy Timothy where on earth did you go Timothy Timothy God why don't I know I lived in Los Angeles I was 9 years old I heard the song twice I learned every single word but I never heard it again because it was banned because they said it was two morbid I didn't know about this until I was older cuz I was so young I just forgot about it I had no clue what it was about and when I did find out I was a bit freaked out and the weirdest thing happened about five years ago there was a post asking what the saddest song you ever heard and Timothy was what I put down and this lady sent me a picture of her brother and her brother was Timothy I was so freaked out I felt so bad I told her how sorry I was she was very nice but that was most definitely a mind blowing experience it's just so bizarre that after all those years I actually talked to the sister of this poor Timothy I'm 64 years old
Thanks for bringing up this song. I was born in the 60s. This song is somewhere in my brain. It holds up well and almost more relevant today. Not surprising that some people did not play the song. It doesn’t fit a top 40 narrative. A song about a reality we all face.
I heard this in elementary school, playing records in homeroom. It was played on local radio stations every Halloween. I loved the eeriness of the sounds and the concept of the victim telling the story. It gave me cold chills and goosebumps then and now because I tried to visualize and feel the story as it unfolded as if I was there, as if I was the one dying.
I'm 60 and I remember my older sister had this record. Like many others, we assumed it was about a car crash. I don't remember it being much more traumatic to me than "Last Kiss" from the early 60's
“God in heaven, teach me how to die.” The most chilling lyrics ever recorded. You never want to hear this song on a powerful psychedelic. Unfortunately I did
So did I, taking acid in 71 .... heard those lyrics a lot because the people I hung out with then all were big on Bloodrock & their music would be playing at every party. Pot and/or acid would be present at most of those parties. I got used to it, & saw them live, double concert w/Grand Funk in April of '71 ... no other concert I was ever at equaled that one in sheer energy & amazing sound of the music.
I was barely over 11 years old when this song came out. I have a bit of a different take from this song--coming from an extremely difficult childhood--this song, well, scared the shit out of me. All I could think about after hearing this, was death and how scared I was to die! Convinced I was going die anyway from abuse, the eerie tune would follow me around for days, I would be in some horrible state of mind, and days went by before I felt "normal" again. What resonated with me was the singer's ability to communicate the "fear" the character in the song felt as he was dying, and watching the horror that surrounded him. Luckily, I grew stronger over the years and even came to appreciate this song. I can only think of one other song from my childhood that left me in a weird mood a song by Napoleon XIV---"They're coming to take me away". I remember thinking, wow, that guy must be really nuts! (I had no idea in 1966 what that song was all about)
Wow, Professor! Without this "class" today, I'd never have known about this song. Fascinating! You do some very important educating through your channel.
I was interning at a radio station at this time and we had a LOT of conversation about this song and whether it should be played on air. Some stations refused but others played it for a couple of weeks. Phones would not stop ringing. I always thought I was one of the few people that remembered this song. I guess there are more of you out there.
Thank you so much for playing this. I heard this once, decades ago on a Dayton Ohio rock station while driving. I always wondered what band it was. I did indeed pull my car over when hearing the sirens in the song. I could not believe what I was hearing, very alarming very dramatic. Great to finally get info on this
I was 13 when I heard this song on the radio in 1971. I bought the 45 that same week. My parents would only let me play it if I kept the volume low. My 4 siblings were all younger than I and would have had some problems if they heard it. I still listen to it a few times a year. It still has that eerie spooky feeling to it.
Same here... 7th grade, WPRO played it only a couple of times and I found the 45. My older sister would complain whenever I played it. Many years later a Metalhead friend gave me the full-length album version on CD. Funny but I never had any doubt that it was a plane crash...
I remember my older brother had the single of this song and it scared the you know what out of me. The music alone was like something out of 70's horror movie, but then add the lyrics and it became a nightmare inducing evening every time. I never knew the story behind the song and can now, as an adult, really appreciate the song better now. Thank you for reviewing this song.
Yes--my older brother tortured me with this record. I never heard it on the radio, but he would play it and laugh and laugh while I cried. Good times. We had the single but I remember this happening around 1973. I was six and he was 10. Hated this song...gave me nightmares. Gah!
My older brother had/probably still has this 45. I think I first heard it in 1974 as a 6 year old. It terrified me and yet I loved it so much I would sneak into his room and play it. To this day I still listen to it and have shared it with many people over the decades. Amazing song.
I was 14 in 1971 and was fascinated by that song. I had the album but I had most of the songs you talked about as well as many others. Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas we had many great musicians and seeing them perform live was pretty easy. Thank you for covering this song. I had no idea of the true back story. A lover of all music and songs the 70’s was a great time to be a teenager. Teen Angel sung by Mark Dinning was one of my favorites although it seemed kind of dumb to die for a ring even at my young age. My sister’s 10 years older than me so I grew up listening to songs from the 50’s also some of the best music ever written and such talented singers. Thanks again. Love your channel.
Thanks so much for even talking about Bloodrock! I was hanging out at a vintage record shop in the 90s when I first heard DOA. It was a small hole in the wall shop that usually was never busy. So the owner and I would sit for hours talking about and listening to obscure and vintage records. He played DOA for me and I was instantly hooked. I began collecting all the Bloodrock that I could get my hands on, until I had all their LPs. They are still one of my favorite rock bands from the seventies and I still listen to them on a regular basis. Great band! Thank you.
Wow. As soon as I saw your title I knew it had to be this song. I heard this at my parent's neighbor's house during a party. I was maybe 14. Never heard it again until today, I'm 53 and it stuck in my head. Don't know if I even want to look it up and hear it again, once was plenty. But thank you for covering it, it sure deserves exposure to a new generation. Creepy as F...
This came out when I was 6. Somehow the 45 got into our collection, and my brother found it. We played it about 5 times and stopped. That night I had a very disturbing nightmare and my brother woke me up to get me to stop screaming. The next morning he broke the single in half and we never spoke of it again. Until this morning when I sent this link to him and we had a talk about it. This brought me back to that night, hopefully I won't be too freaked out tonight.
Great episode, I was surprised to see this song and band being highlighted... very cool!! I was 16 in 1971 and loved Bloodrock 2. My brother and I had cassette players in our cars at that time and we used to listen to Bloodrock 2, 3, and LIVE all the time. D.O.A. was definitely a creepy song, but was also really hard and heavy... we loved it. I have all three of these albums on CD and listen to them pretty frequently. They still sound great all these years later! No one today makes music like we had back in the '70's!!
My older brother bought their first album. I liked it so much I bought their second. DOA creeped us both out yet we thought it was cool. I was 15, my bro was 18. He went to see them at the Sports Arena here in San Diego in 1971. My parents said I was too young so I couldn't go. He said when that played that song there were red rotating lights flashing that added exponentially to the macabre atmosphere. I still have two of their original LPs. It was a great time to be young!
Cassette players? I was 16 in 1971 too and I was jamming out to D.O.A. on my car's 8 track player. I liked their album titled "Passage" too, until the 8 track player ate it.
@@allengator1914 good old 8tracks eh? Remember how they would switch tracks right in the middle of a song. After a while the big "CLICK" became part of the song.🤣 and THEN it would eat your tape! Good times! Rock on bro✌
@@mrled8555 I actually had a home 8 track recording deck and you could record right over the track switch instead of fading out and then back in like the commercial tapes did. It wasn't as noticeable when you made your own tapes that way.
I hadn’t thought of this song in years until visiting with my grandsons the other day and really don’t know why it came to mind. It was a chilling song that frightened me as a youngster, but for some reason couldn’t help but listen to it. The lyrics that came to my mind the other day was, “Something warm is flowing down my fingers…” Creepy, fascinating song. Great episode.
Bloodrock's second album is an exceptionally good album. Well worth a listen Trivia ~ ex -member Warren Ham is currently a part of Ringo Starr's All Star Band.
My favorite still 3 with "The Kool-Aid Kids"...I was in high school when DOA came out and had it on 8 track haha and then ended up picking it up on vinyl
That is an amazing story! Some of the best pop songs ever made are from heartbreak and experience. DOA would have been appreciated in later decades such as other acts that used intense reality and sounds to enhance the narratives of their songs. The Cure, Depeche Mode, NIN comes to mind with some of their topics. Thank you Adam for sharing this, it is important to share the darker side of music to balance the scale- this was a great history lesson and an important one...
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 Ha! This comment thread reminds me of the Mary Whitehouse Show bits with the Cure doing cheerful kiddie songs like The Wheels On The Bus! (Its here on YT if you need a laugh)
@@AllieJ123 I have it also as well as all the other albums mentioned. That was a good year. Six years later Lynyrd Skynyrd would lose 6 people on a plane they were on.
I listened to this song when I was 10 years old with great terror and compassion. I memorized every note and every word. The vocals are extremely prominent and clearly articulated, which made everything worse. There was no escaping an understanding of what is happening to the narrator. The present tense of the lyrics likewise leaves the listener no escape. The singer is not narrating a near scrape with death that obviously he must’ve survived, living to tell the proverbial tale. Something warm is flowing down my body… Complete horror. It would not be many years before I began reading Stephen King.
Great vid, Adam. My (eldest) brother John had (I think, still has) the 45. I was only 10 when he played it, and it creeped me the hell out! IMHO it IS the most macabre and disturbing song of all time.
I always found Blasphemous Rumors by Depeche Mode to be one of the eeriest and most disturbing songs I can remember with its 1 minute long outro of a girl slowly dying while on a ventilator with the song ending on her last breath. Still gives me the chills.
Good call. Depeche Mode is darker on the whole than many people realize. I have a friend, whose affection for Halloween I share, that played deep cuts of Depeche Mode for me. I was surprised: chilling stuff. He also played "King Diamond" for me; I thought THEY were hilarious.😄
Bloodrock is one of the most underappreciated bands from the early 70's. I was fortunate to see them open up for Grand Funk in Raleigh NC. They stole the show. I was already a fan of their first album so I knew what to expect.
Haven't heard DOA in decades. I was in high school in 71 and was totally fascinated by the song. While it was morbid I thought it was one of the most brilliant pieces of song writing I'd ever heard. I still feel that way. So few songs are totally original but this one is. Thanks for the story behind it!
I was 12, & I remember hearing it on the radio a lot. I was so fascinated by it, but still found it disturbing. Morbid curiosity, I guess. I never heard the story behind it, though, so thank you so much!!! Poor little 17 yr/old... I am sure he was traumatized for life! So sad.
I can remember listening to the Doctor Demento show on a transistor radio with the volume so low I could barely hear it because I did not want my mother hearing what I was listening to, even though most Doctor Demento show tracks were relatively innocent enough. My mother was the queen of taking a couple lines of a song out of context and thinking it was sending a horrible message. So I was certain that if she heard me listening to a song like this, my radio was probably going into the garbage. Doctor Demento was all about making you laugh, but every once in awhile, he would throw a song in there to make you cringe.
I love BLOODROCK...I saw them open for Grand Funk at the Boston Garden in 1971... SUPERB live band...Lee Pickens played a Gibson 335 into an Acoustic amp and his tone just cut so nice... brilliant.. BLOODROCK 2 is their masterpiece...
OMG, I have been looking for this song for decades without success. I was only 14 when I heard this record in 1971 but it was so sad it left a mark on my psyche! I was scrolling TH-cam and ran across your channel by accident and I found myself hoping this song was what you were going to play. Thanks so much for the memory!!!!
I was 16 in high school when DOA came out. I was at a stage in my teen years where I started to contemplate life and death and things in between. So that song really made me think. I knew it was a plane crash! I just knew it! But people were saying drugs and some even said a car crash where the cars was flying through the air. But I said no it’s a plane. I often wondered about it but just never looked it up. Thank you for covering this one and clarifying it. I love the songs you cover! Those were my big music years!
The album From The Inside by Alice Cooper has some of the creepiest lyrics. Millie and Billy is one of them. The album is about Alice's time in an asylum and was written by him and Bernie Taupin (Elton John's lyricist).
Alice Cooper has ALWAYS had some of the creepiest lyrics. They're full of double entendres that shock the straight laced prigs of the world, but he's entertaining as hell to everyone who gets what he's doing. I've been a Cooper fan for almost (jeez !) fifty years now ! He also covers the most forbidden subjects in his music. Cold Ethyl really cracked me up. So much great rock n roll !
Oh my, I actually remember being very haunted by this song as a young teen. Only heard it a few times on the radio before it just kind of disappeared but never did forget it. Actually dared to look it up online a few years back. Truly one of the creepiest songs ever. period. I also remember all these other songs from that time, quite a trip down memory lane in this episode.
'71 was my mid-teens. This song came out and blew me away. I ended up with the 45, the album, and eventually all of their other albums. One of my other favorite tracks by Bloodrock was "Breach of Lease", which came out on their third album. You're right about this being a very hot period for rock music. I stayed broke from buying so many records. I recorded what I could from the radio but I hated having the intro and outro yapped over every time.
I was only seven years old when this song came out. Our local AM Top 40 station played it frequently. I was intrigued by it, but it scared the hell outta me! It still freaks me out! Thanks for the video.
I was 14/15 in 1971 when D.O.A came on the radio. It wasn't band here in Utah. It scared the shot out of me. I had nightmares from it and the couldn't days afterwards. I listen tp it now and am not bothered by it. I do remember just how real it felt back in 1971.
I still possess this album that I purchased when it came out. It came back to personally haunt me when my best friend and I were involved in a car wreck in 1975 that ultimately took his life. I couldn't bring myself to listen to DOA ever again and I'm now almost 68 years old.
@@wendigo63music55 Well, that song is about horrendous parenting not abortion - though one could argue little Betty would've been spared a life of misery if her drug addled mom had gotten one. But point taken
So sorry for your loss. I can understand certain songs that I can't listen to any more, songs that I love, that were favorites of my husband & myself but unless I want to be a blubbering mess, I just don't listen to them anymore. I was widowed in my '30s. Lost my best friend, my husband. He introduced me to do much wonderful music, now @56 I'm getting better at listening to the music we both loved so much. Good luck with your future endeavors of reclaiming the music! ❤️
@@tammyblackwell499 , how tragic to lose your husband so young. Thank you for your compassion and words of encouragement. I still listen to the 60's and 70's music we shared while growing up. I choose to live my life to mentor others. My simple prayer each morning is asking God to please let me be a blessing to someone today. You sure blessed me today.
That kind of trauma never really goes away. You can have it treated, decades later, with EMDR though. I'm sorry that you had to experience such a traumatizing accident and to have your friend die in the accident on top of it.
I graduated in 1971 and I just realized from your comment that this song probably saved a lot of teens who'd race on Forest Lane in North Dallas back in the day. None of my high school classmates or anyone from the other high school had fatal car crashes I can recall. "D.O.A." got a LOT of night airplay on KLIF 1190 and KFJZ 1270 before we got cars with FM radios in them where they could play the whole 8+ minute dirge.
Back from riverboat navy vietnam and a paramedic my friends in Sunday school gave to me a 45rpm copy of this. So your video brought back this memory thank YOU!
Thanks for sharing this story Adam! I was 8 years old when United 553 crashed into some houses 2 blocks from where my family lived in Chicago in 1972. It's a memory that you never forget. Interesting song! Great shirt, btw! I can't wait for the Animals remastered release next month!
Funny, I don't remember this song at all. I must have lived in a area who's stations didn't play the song (or played it very little and I just don't remember it). Very interesting song, thanks for covering it.
I was 10 years old in 1971, the first time I heard DOA was in my elementary school classroom. On Fridays, the teacher would let us bring records from home to play, and a boy (known for his mischief) brought this record. To the teacher's credit, she played the whole song but I think she just didn't understand what she was hearing. Most kids were bringing in "The Archies" or "Partridge Family".
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 Ha ha. The good old days,right? I got my nickname (Led) in 1969 when I brought my Led Zeppelin1 album to school. Other albums brought in were like Blood,Sweat,and Tears.Anyway my teacher didn't have the "ear" or the patience yours did. She pulled the needle off about 1minute into Communication Breakdown. 🤣Good Times!🤘✌
@@mrled8555 What a shame! I brought in The Beatles "Sgt Pepper" album, which the teacher liked and had fun telling us who all the famous people were on the cover. I guess I got brownie points that day!
@@mrled8555 Haha, I would have kept Communication Breakdown playing! Reminds me of the time I spent as a little girl thinking that Led Zeppelin was someone’s name.
I first heard this in middle school after I relocated to Wv our teacher told us about the Marshall University plane crash. He was part of the recovery effort and 75 peoples lives were cut short so it took a heavy toll on him.
I grew up in WV, I remember that song came out after the Marshall plane crash, I wasn't 10 years old, they played it on AM Stations in Charleston. Always remembered it, didn't know who sang it. Very chilling song to a 9 year old.
Wow! That’s right! I just watched We Are Marshall last week. Truly inspiring movie about the resilience of the human spirit. This song must have been especially brutal for the families and loved ones of the victims to listen to while bearing such fresh wounds to their hearts and psyches.
Hello, being a music nerd and musician and keyboardist, i played DOA with the band i was in. I don't remember how it went over, i do know that we played other songs from bloodrocks catalog. Their 3rd lp. USA was one of their best; as the saying goes: bands come and go, but it was great to hear the music they made. Music is universal to enjoy and spread to all. Rok on.
It chilled me as a 12 year old boy in Miami. We had a great AM station called WQAM z that was not in the business of banning songs such as this one and Timothy! It still exists but as a sports station. Anyone who grew up in South Florida knows what a great station that was….!!!
They re-united for a concert a few years back to benefit one of the band members who was in failing health. He's since passed away. Search here on TH-cam for a video or two of their re-union concert.
The first time I heard DOA, I was spending a lot of time hanging out on those message boards that served us for social media back in the 1990's and I decided to start a thread asking what the creepiest song to hit the radio and one of my fellow messengers served it up as an offering. Being the morbid 817ch I am, I listened to it over and over and over... I love being creeped out in safe locations.. I actually thought it was about a car wreck, but I didn't see a drug angle. Haven't heard the song in years. Now I want to go listen to DOA again. And again. And again. I'm sick, I'm twisted and I'm utterly unashamed.
I hadn't thought about this song for years! The stations I listened to did play it -- I can't say I liked it but it certainly made an impression on my 13yo mind. Didn't realize it referred to a plane crash -- I always pictured a car wreck (not necessarily caused by drug impairment.)
Great job on this video Professor of Rock, and on the story of DOA and Bloodrock, my all time favorite band. I first heard DOA on their "Live" in Chicago" album and was totally blown away. It was love at first siren! I had their first album and had already fallen in love with the band and their great music and musicianship as well as Jim Rutlidge's vocals. When I finally heard their studio version of DOA, that was a real awakening to the greatness of the song, when at the end it sounds like the plug is pulled on the organ and its pitch grandually descends as the song ends along with the lives of the plane crash victims and slows down and further down to signify the victims' deaths. The song did not need an accompanying video. Bloodrock was able to paint the entire horifying picture using sound alone... and that is the dark beauty of it. But there is so much more to Bloodrock. They are absolutely the most under-rated group ever. I was overjoyed when they reunited. It was just as thrilling to see them perform in 2014 as it would have been in 1971, and with guitarist Nick Taylor's son, Chris Taylor, expertly filling in for the band's 2nd drummer Rick Cobb III who was unable to travel to Texas to participate. Lead singer, Jim Rutledge, was Bloodrock's drummer on their first album. All Bloodrock fans were heartbroken to learn of Nick Tayor's and Stevie Hill's untimely passing. I had idolized Stevie Hill as I am primarily an organist and he was an inspiration to me. I never got to see the band "live" in person. Bloodrock was scheduled to play in Sailorsburg, PA in 1973 (I believe it was). I went to purchase tickets and was told the concert had been cancelled. Major, major bummer. That would have been during the band's period with Warren Ham as lead singer. And there are plenty of memorable tracks from that era as well. But for me, for who the members of Bloodorck are as people, as amazing writers, musicians and performers, with me knowing full well the other musical heavyweights that were "out there" since Bloodrock first got together, I still proudly place Bloodrock at the top of my list of great bands. Thanks for this great video, Prof.
I was only about 5 years old when one of my brothers bought this 45. I remember struggling to sit through the entire song along with my brothers or friends. I sometimes would try to listen to it by myself in my room alone. I never could do it. I’d freak out and run out of the room all the while the record still played. I wouldn’t go back into the room until it was over.
I was 11 when this came out. It was terrifying to me but i was captivated by it. I had a little am radio. I used to take it in the bathroom when i was taking a bath. Never forget that night i was in the tub all soaped up and DOA came on. The first note played and i leaped out of the tub. Didn't grab my towel and was out of there and in my room in less than a second. Standing there naked wet and covered in soap. Stayed there dripping all over the floor until it was over. Took a few minutes after it was over for me to get the courage to go back in the bathroom and dry off. Didn't rinse off and turned the radio off for a few days.
Wow. My dad is Nick Taylor from Bloodrock. While they broke up the year I was born, I was fortunate to see them come together for a reunion concert in Fort Worth several years before my dad passed. It was amazing to see the utter joy of them playing one last time. I became a fan of the music that night. Nick was a wonderful musician and played music up until the hours before passed. Thank you for highlighting the band, DOA, and the story behind the song. Forever grateful.
I'm sure you know you can be proud of his legacy. Glad you get to see that so many were impacted by his work. Take care.
That is such a cool story. You must be really proud of your Father. May he rest in peace. Lucky in the morning is one of my favorite songs of all time.
That is so cool! Anytime someone's talking about how hip their parents were back in the day, it must be fun to casually mention who your dad is! 😂
I'm really glad you got to see this tribute by the Professor. I love how much he loves the music we grew up with, and his respect for musicians is genuine. To me, he's our modern day Casey Kasem. (I wonder if he does a "Shaggy" impression?) ♥
very cool
I. Pray that they know Jesus Christ before they died. Jesus is the only way to heaven. , Please , turn to Jesus. And trust him , cry out to him , that you are a sinner. He loves you
I remember leaving a party one snowy night, with no one else on the road, and getting stuck on a hillside, and trying to back down to get another run at it, and DOA starts playing on the radio, and at 2 in the morning backing down an icy road in the dark listing to this song with the sirens coming from the back seat, just adds another layer of strange, to an already surreal landscape,
Cool story. Had moments like that growing up. Wish I could remember details
Whoa...that had to be freaky
Damn. What a spooky memory
Damn. What a spooky memory
Wow! That is spooky! For me, that would've been an omen-- get out now! Walk! Crawl! Hell, even sleep in the car til it's safer conditions!😶🌫️ Glad you're still here to tell the story, hon! Take good care!😊
I had this album. This tune caused quite a stir on the AM stations in Miami. I was 16 in 1971, and listened with morbid curiosity.
I later became an ICU nurse, often working in Trauma and Burn ICUs. I took care of four plane crash victims from three separate crashes. Most healthcare professionals go their entire careers without seeing a crash victim, since not too many make it to the hospital. Thankfully, all four of my patients survived and resumed their lives. One, a co-pilot who was severely burned, returned to flying for the airlines a few years later.
@stratocaster girl
WFUN??
OR WKAT?
I WAS A WFUN girl. I still remember their office on Sunset Drive.
WQAM
Thank you. A family friend was badly burnt in an accident. He was 13. Survived.
I was in the 4th grade in ‘71 and the teacher would play this song on the classroom record player, believe it or not! Of course, this was a little north of Boston in an elementary school with a lot of project kids, me being one! I’ve never heard it on the radio but remembered it 40 years later which prompted me to find it on iTunes. Still gives me chills.
@@ghost-ez2zn WFUN and WQAM were the leading top 40 AM stations in Miami late 1960s early 1970s. After that we moved away so I don’t know what stations were popular then.
I was in High School when it came out and we all thought it was talking about a car crash. It scared all of us to death listening to it and even thinking about it made a lot of us SLOW DOWN when we were teenagers. It is hard to know for sure but I would bet that song kept a lot of teenagers from getting killed in cars because the song sounded so real to us.
Like it could happen to us.
Yeah, we all used to think that it was about driving stoned and getting in a car crash. It didn't stop us but we drove a lot more carefully because of this song.
I remember DOA being a "thing"; I don't recall being particularly disturbed by it, but I think it influenced my conclusion that teenagers go through a phase of being kind of morbid. How about "Don't Fear the Reaper"? It got more play. Geez, Some guy trying to talk his girlfriend into a suicide pact? Anyway, my favorite was a satirical version of "Dead man's Curve" where the guy sings something like, "I looked up, and there was my baby. ....And over there was my baby. ...And waaaay over there was my baby." I prefer silly over morbid any day. 😆
Yeah, it's like hearing that on the radio might be a bad omen or something, so you don't want it to be true.
@@Melissa0774 Long before school shootings
@@floatsting20 What does that have to do with school shootings? I meant, you don't want to hear that song on the radio before you drive home from a party or something, because you're afraid it's a sign from "God" that you're going to die in an accident. A superstitious thing.
Saw Bloodrock in concert in ‘71, and when they closed the show they blacked out all lights and then after a few moments in the dark the ambulance siren started accompanied by red flashing lights. The crowd roared so loud that it drowned out the sirens. It had to be a ten minute + version of the song staged to be just as macabre as the lyrics. Don’t remember much about the concert before that, but the finale was unforgettable!
I like the version of D.O.A. on the "BloodRock Live" lp.
I too saw them live in '71. Amazing show IMO.
I seen that show. 2 times. they warmed up Grand Funk
I was 10 when this song came out, I bought the album when I was 11, babysitting money, I wore it out. 2 years ago I realized I could find it on u tube 🥰 d.o.a.was my favorite, my dad had been killed and this song was my obsession. It got me thru, weird I know but I was 11.
I was 10 and I don't remember the song at all.
My dad had this 45. It always creeped me out, which means I played the hell out of it. I love this song...
I'd never heard the song until a girl I knew, Rosemary Doxsee, played it for me. She had the single and in autumn 1971 brought it over for me to hear, and I was stunned at the lyrics; one that I still vividly remember was "I try to move my arm but there's no feeling/I look and see there's nothing there." (At least that's what I remember hearing, but it was 1971 and I was 11 years old.) The only time I ever heard it on the radio was one night in the '80s on the Dr. Demento show, and they played the single version, not the album version. Rosemary passed away in early 2014 after a battle with IPF, so I associate the song with her. We were neighbors in my hometown of Brockton MA during 1971 and 1972, and she was basically my first girlfriend. RIP Ro, your memory is immortalized on TH-cam! Thanks for posting this video Prof, and you have a new subscriber!
I remember when Alice Cooper was relatively new to DJ-ing, he played DOA one night around Halloween.
I was a faithful Dr Demento listener through the 70s, too! I am sorry for your loss, seems so strange that back in the day the reality of death was such a surreal concept. Now in my 60s, I am privileged to still be here unlike many of those I grew up with…😢 I am, and will forever be, a Cal Jam ‘74 Alumni!!!!
@@Thousandaire-n7oand Dead Babies was a scandal!!!!
@paulepstein7421 MY middle brother was an Alice Cooper fan.
My mom told me that he had a girlfriend named Alice Cooper. I nearly wet myself laughing.
The moment I read the title of this episode, I knew you were going to showcase D. O. A…. It has to be the most bone-chilling song ever recorded. I was 13 years old when this song came out. I had a part-time “job”, and I also received an allowance. I saved the money I made to buy clothes, and 45s. Much to my parent’s dismay, I bought the 45 of D. O. A., and I played it incessantly on my little portable turntable. I still have D. O. A., in fact, I have all my 45s, and my albums. Thank you for your research, and your excellent program!
I've had this album 40 years and never heard anyone talk about it. I appreciate the song more knowing the story behind it. I use to play it to freak people out, it was scary, thought it was about a car wreck....again Thanks!
I also had the album, and now on CD. Definitely a band marketed out ....
@davidmiller8924 I also had the album and now on CD.
The lyrics in the chorus clearly say “We were flying low…and hit something in the air.”
@@kaymuldoon3575 Cars can fly low too...
I remember that song from my grade school days, they used to play it in the morning when I was getting ready for school. My mother used to tell me to turn it off. "I remember, We were flying along and hit something in the air". DOA, it always sent a chill down my spine. The way they sang with a wavering sound was part of it and the sirens wailing. Professor, I'm always amazed at the stories you get from the artists. Bravo. Keep them coming.
Exactly, i was 9 or 10 yrs old. It was very scary and seemed so real. Heck it still is...💀
I was a chick of the 70s and I remember this song!!!! All of my friends were so freaked out by it because it was the closest thing to reality that our 40s parents would have intercepted at all costs. I remember being in the Chevy Nova and hearing the sirens and my friend’s mom pulling over and then getting so upset from the confusion and flashbacks from the War of the Worlds broadcast memories. Then DOA just disappeared and I never knew why…? Censorship was in full swing and we just did not know it…thanks for the trip down Memory Lane! Cal Jam ‘74 Alumni!!!!
I am 62 years old and to this date I am still disturbed by this song ! I love it …
Same here.
Me too.
I was a DJ at the time and played DOA. What a reaction from the listeners and the station manager was about to have a stroke!
I was 16 when this song ( D.O.A.) hit the airwaves, so I bought the album almost immediately. "Dier not a Lover" is still a great song imho .
I was sorry to hear of Nick Taylors passing, and it was cool to see that his daughter came here and left a really nice post.
Great job , Professor, as always !
Disturbing song for me that my dad loved was The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot. It really painted a vivid picture for me.
Great song. Still played a lot today.
That is one of my favorites of all time.
Dead Kennedy's - Holiday In Cambodia.
"Mama told me to skin you alive..."
True story!
Hauntingly moving song.
For someone who’s experienced a traumatic event, like witnessing a plane crash, they say it’s very therapeutic to write it down and get your feelings out. This guy happened to write it in a song and release it commercially. Unfortunately, if the general public doesn’t know the backstory of said song then they think it just came out of thin air by someone’s twisted and sick mind. I know a lot of people who think that about other songs besides this one. Really sad. But this is a phenomenal song with that horror movie atmosphere.
Raise your hand if you always skip the first few minutes of these videos to get to the point? 🙋♂️
To listen to the music!!
To hear 10 seconds…I get to the point then watch the real video.
Why would I do that? I tend to scroll and zip through things in general but the professor wraps these like a Christmas present from front to end
@@Vibeagain boooooorrrrrriiing
@TuffEnuffIII
Well, Mr TuffZnuff, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who does pop culture / music better, and who sets the table just so, but you're welcome to leave posthaste and go out there N' try
This is definitely a new one for me, but that's why I love this channel. You're one of the few content creators that I watch every video regardless if I am familiar with the subject matter. I'm sure that I'm not alone in that.
I'd never heard it either.
Count me as one of those. There isn't a video where I don't learn some interesting fact or gain appreciation for something, whether it's a production technique, an accidental occurrence in the studio, or some other weird bit of trivia.
@@jillwklausen It got a little airplay at the time, which is how I first heard it, and made me go out and but the album! Yes,I'm an old fart!
New to me also. This video reminds me why I do not miss the 70s at all. From sappy garbage like Captain & Tennille, to horribly depressing songs and a whole lot of nothing in between. Being forced to listen to country music by my mom wasn't all that bad actually. I wasn't like "forced" but mom controlled the main house radio and definitely the car radio. I have to admit I liked a lot of disco also, especially when drinking age was 18. LOL Finally Boston and The Knack and a whole new genre appeared at the tail end to usher in the 80s. Love the 80s!!
@@juniorjohnson9509, I was 10 in 1971, so that's probably why it escaped my attention. I was into Carole King, James Taylor, Marvin Gaye, Carly Simon, Janis Ian, Cat Sevens, Jethro Tull, the Beatles, and Joni Mitchell. A song like this definitely wouldn't have been on my radar.
Big John, by Jimmy Dean, was kinda eerie in a way, too. Big John dies while saving his fellow miners. They get out- he’s never found. All these songs had intense lyrics, and broached the darkness we don’t normally like to think about. This one, Prof, is a lost gem! Good stuff….. again!👍🥁🎸🇺🇸❤️
65 last kiss
Big BAD John. "He was a big, BIG man."
"Camouflage" by Stan Ridgway reminds of Big John.
Big bad John. He held up that beam so the other guys could get out of the mine. I liked that song, too.@@peztopher7297
I would put that song Timothy in the same categories as well !!!
Oh, he was found. His Cajun queen went down and brought him back out. She revived him with a kiss. 111 grandchildren.
Our band played this song in 1971/72. Our keyboard player brought it into practice. One evening, we could not believe the content. But, it was like, "damn we have to do that". I think we only played it a couple of times in public. Iconic song.
Is DOA any more " disturbing" than " TIMOTHY" by the Bouys 1971?
Professor Adam (as usual) NAILED it!!
He's a bit too young to have remembered it when first dropped, but he describes the mood and the vibe absolutely spot on!
Music definitely talks about dark and sensitive topics, it's what makes it a very universal language. Thank you for the story.
Diversity in music is imperative.
So true. 😔
I bought the album in ‘71 at college and played it a LOT! We had NEVER heard a rock song like it - cranked it loud every time on my 4 JBL L-100s and McIntosh amp and acted out the song (we thought it was either a car crash or plane crash…) I never listened much to radio that year- too busy listening to all the incredible albums that were coming out.
It’s definitely a chilling song to listen to- full 8 minute version 👍
I got L100s. Love them
I've still my pair of L-100s too...
Never heard of the band or song, but I’m gonna give it a listen. One of the first disturbing songs I can remember was Metallica’s “One” in 1989 I believe. The slow guitar parts were creepy to me, and the music video helped me understand what the song was really about. Being alive but lifeless at the same time is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone
Yes. Very much true to life/eerie.
Watch the movie called Johnny got his gun. That movie is the story of where one was based on.
That whole idea, of being deprived of all senses but left alive, has always been my worst nightmare. Of course, once you become a parent, your fears mostly get transferred to your children, and that's one hell of an unpleasant thought.
One was so overplayed that I got sick of it before it ever got disturbing.
One was hard to listen to but adding the video just makes it into a sleep with the lights on experience. Really regret watching it.
In 1971 my brother, and I worked at a local skating rink in Marshall,Texas. My brother slipped the record DOA on the record player that was providing the music to skate by. It was placed between Donny Osmond, and The Jackson Five. The funniest part was the reaction of the skating rink manager ripping the record from the player.
😆
Harrison County, represent!
😍!
I moved to Marshall in 1980...where was the skating rink? I don't remember it....
@@unrulyjulie4382
It was on West Houston st near the rail road crossing.
Yesssir!! Ur the man !
As a music collector , i regret that i let that Blood Rock (45 rpm. ) get away from me , but such is life !
I have never heard another song come along as ‘bone-chilling ‘ as DOA.
The ‘seventies’ were the ‘golden -years ‘ of music , by far !!!👍👍
My cousin (who is old enough to be my uncle) turned me on to this song about 40 years ago. He grew up in Houston, TX & said Bloodrock & "DOA" were HUGE at his high school. I distinctly remember him playing this for me & hearing the sirens on it. Very fascinating song.
It is so cool and interesting to hear the backstory behind this one.
What I LOVE about The Professor, is his non-exclusionary policy! ALL artists are given consideration, in spite of popularity or success! This is the ONLY way, to truly express the history of rock music! Rick Beato, eat your heart out!
This is great. I missed this one, as I was born the year after it came out. Not sure how you missed (Don't Fear) The Reaper, the biggest death-related song of the '70s (IMO), and certainly one of the most haunting.
Probably the BoC song in question had an upbeat instrument track
That one is also disturbing
Loved that song, blue oyster cult, pretty sure I had the album, because that how we rolled, every time a great song came out we'd run out and buy the album 😁 weird I never thought of don't fear the reaper as disturbing or haunting, great song though, what's disturbing is the song is in the year 2525 by Zager and Evans. Still relevant today.😬
@@carmenkarle4741I saw BOC as the opening band for T Rexx and the tickets were $7.50!
@@carmenkarle4741I totally agree on the Zager & Evans song. I know of someone who couldn't listen to that song when it first came out, it disturbed him so much. It is a creepy song for sure.
About 20 years ago, I was making a playlist of songs for a Halloween party. I asked my mom if she knew of any creepy songs from the '60s or '70s to throw in the list, & that's when she turned me on to this gem. I was transfixed & made everyone listen to it. It was like being transported to this horrible scenario. To me, the song spoke of someone trapped in a dead body. This song still gives me chills every time.
Thank you for putting the spotlight on this overlooked masterpiece!
My band did a cover of this one on stage but we added even more creepiness to it.
My wife drew a skull face on my own face with red lipstick.
The stage was dark except for a red spotlight shining on my face. The red light on red lipstick is invisible.
When the lyrics God in heaven teach me how to die the red light switched off and agreed light instantly came on turning the red skull lines to black and you definitely could see the skull!!!!
Scared the hell out of the crowd and we got a standing ovation!!!!!!!
That's a good friend, helping this dude work out all his trauma through a song. We're all here to help each other get through stuff, whether it's overcoming an addiction or witnessing a plane crash. We all gotta learn how to help each other through it like they did back then. It's a very rewarding thing.
Music HEALS, if you listen to the right stuff
@@lorihoop3831 yep, I am living proof
Never heard of the song or band. And that's why im addicted to this channel!! Thanks professor!!
I heard the song a long time ago, but decided I’d never turn back to it again. Today, I might.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 that's what's so amazing about the channel to me is im 53 years old and have been listening to music for as long as I can remember being alive. And would've never of such a grim song.
@@mikewebster8262 You and my mom are the same age! I don’t think she would have even touched this song.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 😂😆 its a little grim
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 for some reason when I here "Jackie Brown " by John mellencamp it really makes me sad . And i have no idea why because i grew up in Suburbia and can't relate to the lyrics. Probably just a old softy 😂🤣
Used to hear this song as a little kid. It would seep through the wall from my older brother's room while I was lying on my bed, blanket over my head, trying to cover my ears to no avail. It lead to a recurring nightmare into my early teens. Found the song again about 15 years ago and now fully appreciate it for the genius and sheer BALLS it took to write, record, and release it on the air. If you haven't heard it, it's a must listen in my opinion. Thanks for the video, and the memories!
I was in HS in '71 but I missed this song completely! I have heard all the other songs played, but THIS completely managed to escape my radar. I would have loved it! Maybe it was taken off the air before I got to hear it... I did spend the summer overseas that year. But I was surrounded by musicians who made it their job to play for me EVERY SONG worth listening to.
I was cheated!!!
A friend told me about it. I finally heard it and it made my blood run cold. At the time, it seemed like gratuitous shock and horror, but hearing the story that inspired it, it’s more understandable. Wish it had been explained at the time or maybe better described in the song itself.
Glad to see the often maligned term One Hit Wonder renamed Bottled Lightning. Too many great songs are discounted when their creators, for many different reasons, never seem to achieve long term success. Thank you for blowing the dust of this amazing song. I haven't heard D.O.A in many years. My local Rock Radio station used to play D.O.A around Halloween back in the day.
Yessssss! To me, these artists didn’t just make a one hit wonder. They created lightning in a bottle.
One reason I love this channel, the Professor has such respect and genuine love of music. I don't think I've ever heard him talk disparagingly about any artist. He even had kind words for Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey", one of my least favorite songs ever!
I agree. How many people have had hit songs in their lives? Not a heck of a lot.
no way am i I ever referring to one hit wonders as bottled lightning lol
I had heard of the group Bloodrock but knew nothing of their music. One song I remember from 1971 that insinuated death was "Timothy" by the Buoys. I remember that only one station in the L.A. Market that I knew of, played that song. 93KHJ Boss Radio never played it.
This was one of my favorite songs as a teenager. I didn't think it was more creepier than the Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald.
wreck of the edmund fitzgerald is much better written, so its creep factor is minimized by the melodic, emotionally charged prose presented as a story.
What about Timothy, by the Bouys?
@@garymiller2237 Another one of my favorites. You need to know me. My all time favorite song is Lucky Man by ELP, my 2nd favorite is Fire on the Mountain by Marshall Tucker Band. Timothy would be my 3rd favorite. People dying in a song kind of attracts me.
The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is an actual historical event. It happened on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. Gordon Lightfoot wrote and recorded the song as a tribute to the sailors who died. He didn't make it up, and he didn't record it just to put something creepy on the air.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is one of most tragic and also most historical songs ever. A song that has a sense of history like that one is worth listening to.
I remember that song!!!!! I have talked to others that are close to my age and they all said they never heard such a song. I tried looking it up in hit lists etc. But couldn't find it anywhere. I am so glad you played this, I remembered it better than I thought I did! And yeah, I always liked "the night the went out in Georgia"
I remember hearing it on the radio in 1971. I was 14. Loved it then and still do.
We did some Bloodrock covers in a band I was in from the 70’s. However we never touched D.O.A. Most of our gigs were school dances, and you certainly can’t dance to THAT one. I’ve always been crazy about the first 3 Bloodrock albums. Every so often, I treat myself to a marathon listening of this trilogy. Whenever I come to DOA, I ask myself, “Should I skip it this time?” But I can’t. Like any accident you come upon, you can’t help
but “watch!”
Funny: I was also in a band that covered Bloodrock songs. We learned D.O.A. as one of them, but didn't play it much at gigs. The strange this was, when we played the song, couples WOULD slow-dance to it! Always creeped me out, but I guess they didn't want to waste an opportunity to grope on the dance floor. (Especially if it was the long version!) It's a shame that the combination of the morbid song and the band's name ended up sinking their mass appeal. They actually had some other, more interesting tunes!
@@brucewahler6789 There were always interesting dance moves at those '70's high school dances. I always liked watching the girls dance to our cover of Humble Pie's version of "I'm Ready." They'd be dancing with each other, and looking around to see if some "groovy guy" would notice them. Slow dancing to DOA? That's something that would be a good subject for the opening of a horror flick! I have to say, I was surprised at how quickly Bloodrock "hit the bargain bins." You really put it in perspective...thanks!
I remember hearing this song in January 1971 on one of the Minneapolis radio stations, probably KQRS. I was 11 years old and it was all that the school kids could talk about. My much older brother bought Bloodrock 2 and my dad threw it out!😅 Later on I listened to them, they were really good. Kind of a combination of Grand Funk and Uriah Heep. Lee Pickens is an outstanding lead guitarist, talk about underrated! Thanks for the great memories and your wonderful channel!😋😋
I bought the album when it first came out. Great album. Still have it 50 years later.
Aaahhhh back in the day. I always thought the song “Timothy” was the most disturbing song, then Bloodrock came along with DOA. But, I’ve always remembered both songs. You brought back the 70’s back to me, thanks so much.
I was going to mention Timothy too. The interesting thing about that song is that it sounds so normal. A nice sounding, melodic tune. Then you listen to the words and…yikes!
@@porridge57
Trapped in a mine a bad cave in the only one's left to tell the tell was me joe and Timothy water enough for two to drink and joe said that he would sell his soul for just one piece of meat Timothy Timothy where on earth did you go Timothy Timothy God why don't I know I lived in Los Angeles I was 9 years old I heard the song twice I learned every single word but I never heard it again because it was banned because they said it was two morbid I didn't know about this until I was older cuz I was so young I just forgot about it I had no clue what it was about and when I did find out I was a bit freaked out and the weirdest thing happened about five years ago there was a post asking what the saddest song you ever heard and Timothy was what I put down and this lady sent me a picture of her brother and her brother was Timothy I was so freaked out I felt so bad I told her how sorry I was she was very nice but that was most definitely a mind blowing experience it's just so bizarre that after all those years I actually talked to the sister of this poor Timothy I'm 64 years old
Timothy was a great song. They lyrics were fucked up, but the guitars and music was great
@@porridge57I agree.
Thanks for bringing up this song. I was born in the 60s. This song is somewhere in my brain. It holds up well and almost more relevant today. Not surprising that some people did not play the song. It doesn’t fit a top 40 narrative. A song about a reality we all face.
I heard this in elementary school, playing records in homeroom. It was played on local radio stations every Halloween. I loved the eeriness of the sounds and the concept of the victim telling the story. It gave me cold chills and goosebumps then and now because I tried to visualize and feel the story as it unfolded as if I was there, as if I was the one dying.
I'm 60 and I remember my older sister had this record. Like many others, we assumed it was about a car crash. I don't remember it being much more traumatic to me than "Last Kiss" from the early 60's
I'm 63 and still have my original album. I always thought it was about a car crash too.
I was 11 years old when this song came out, it scared the heck out of me. Now as i listened to it many years later no problems at all !! lol
“God in heaven, teach me how to die.” The most chilling lyrics ever recorded. You never want to hear this song on a powerful psychedelic. Unfortunately I did
What a lyric. So soul crushing indeed.
i think these guys were ozzy before ozzy was ozzy
So did I, taking acid in 71 .... heard those lyrics a lot because the people I hung out with then all were big on Bloodrock & their music would be playing at every party. Pot and/or acid would be present at most of those parties.
I got used to it, & saw them live, double concert w/Grand Funk in April of '71 ... no other concert I was ever at equaled that one in sheer energy & amazing sound of the music.
I was barely over 11 years old when this song came out. I have a bit of a different take from this song--coming from an extremely difficult childhood--this song, well, scared the shit out of me. All I could think about after hearing this, was death and how scared I was to die! Convinced I was going die anyway from abuse, the eerie tune would follow me around for days, I would be in some horrible state of mind, and days went by before I felt "normal" again. What resonated with me was the singer's ability to communicate the "fear" the character in the song felt as he was dying, and watching the horror that surrounded him. Luckily, I grew stronger over the years and even came to appreciate this song. I can only think of one other song from my childhood that left me in a weird mood a song by Napoleon XIV---"They're coming to take me away". I remember thinking, wow, that guy must be really nuts! (I had no idea in 1966 what that song was all about)
((((( )))))
Wow, Professor! Without this "class" today, I'd never have known about this song. Fascinating! You do some very important educating through your channel.
I was interning at a radio station at this time and we had a LOT of conversation about this song and whether it should be played on air. Some stations refused but others played it for a couple of weeks. Phones would not stop ringing. I always thought I was one of the few people that remembered this song. I guess there are more of you out there.
Thank you so much for playing this. I heard this once, decades ago on a Dayton Ohio rock station while driving. I always wondered what band it was. I did indeed pull my car over when hearing the sirens in the song. I could not believe what I was hearing, very alarming very dramatic. Great to finally get info on this
I was 13 when I heard this song on the radio in 1971. I bought the 45 that same week. My parents would only let me play it if I kept the volume low. My 4 siblings were all younger than I and would have had some problems if they heard it. I still listen to it a few times a year. It still has that eerie spooky feeling to it.
Same here... 7th grade, WPRO played it only a couple of times and I found the 45. My older sister would complain whenever I played it. Many years later a Metalhead friend gave me the full-length album version on CD.
Funny but I never had any doubt that it was a plane crash...
I remember my older brother had the single of this song and it scared the you know what out of me. The music alone was like something out of 70's horror movie, but then add the lyrics and it became a nightmare inducing evening every time. I never knew the story behind the song and can now, as an adult, really appreciate the song better now. Thank you for reviewing this song.
I’d never play this song before bedtime.
No no no, Wolf Lobo!
It goes like this:
"IIIIIIII rememmmberrrrrrr my older brother had the single..."
Yes--my older brother tortured me with this record. I never heard it on the radio, but he would play it and laugh and laugh while I cried. Good times. We had the single but I remember this happening around 1973. I was six and he was 10. Hated this song...gave me nightmares. Gah!
My older brother had/probably still has this 45. I think I first heard it in 1974 as a 6 year old. It terrified me and yet I loved it so much I would sneak into his room and play it. To this day I still listen to it and have shared it with many people over the decades. Amazing song.
I was 14 in 1971 and was fascinated by that song. I had the album but I had most of the songs you talked about as well as many others. Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas we had many great musicians and seeing them perform live was pretty easy. Thank you for covering this song. I had no idea of the true back story. A lover of all music and songs the 70’s was a great time to be a teenager. Teen Angel sung by Mark Dinning was one of my favorites although it seemed kind of dumb to die for a ring even at my young age. My sister’s 10 years older than me so I grew up listening to songs from the 50’s also some of the best music ever written and such talented singers. Thanks again. Love your channel.
Thanks so much for even talking about Bloodrock! I was hanging out at a vintage record shop in the 90s when I first heard DOA. It was a small hole in the wall shop that usually was never busy. So the owner and I would sit for hours talking about and listening to obscure and vintage records. He played DOA for me and I was instantly hooked. I began collecting all the Bloodrock that I could get my hands on, until I had all their LPs. They are still one of my favorite rock bands from the seventies and I still listen to them on a regular basis. Great band! Thank you.
Wow. As soon as I saw your title I knew it had to be this song. I heard this at my parent's neighbor's house during a party. I was maybe 14. Never heard it again until today, I'm 53 and it stuck in my head. Don't know if I even want to look it up and hear it again, once was plenty. But thank you for covering it, it sure deserves exposure to a new generation. Creepy as F...
This came out when I was 6. Somehow the 45 got into our collection, and my brother found it. We played it about 5 times and stopped. That night I had a very disturbing nightmare and my brother woke me up to get me to stop screaming. The next morning he broke the single in half and we never spoke of it again. Until this morning when I sent this link to him and we had a talk about it. This brought me back to that night, hopefully I won't be too freaked out tonight.
Great episode, I was surprised to see this song and band being highlighted... very cool!! I was 16 in 1971 and loved Bloodrock 2. My brother and I had cassette players in our cars at that time and we used to listen to Bloodrock 2, 3, and LIVE all the time. D.O.A. was definitely a creepy song, but was also really hard and heavy... we loved it. I have all three of these albums on CD and listen to them pretty frequently. They still sound great all these years later! No one today makes music like we had back in the '70's!!
I was born in '56 and I say...RIGHT ON BROTHER! NO ONE!
My older brother bought their first album. I liked it so much I bought their second. DOA creeped us both out yet we thought it was cool. I was 15, my bro was 18. He went to see them at the Sports Arena here in San Diego in 1971. My parents said I was too young so I couldn't go. He said when that played that song there were red rotating lights flashing that added exponentially to the macabre atmosphere. I still have two of their original LPs. It was a great time to be young!
Cassette players? I was 16 in 1971 too and I was jamming out to D.O.A. on my car's 8 track player. I liked their album titled "Passage" too, until the 8 track player ate it.
@@allengator1914 good old 8tracks eh? Remember how they would switch tracks right in the middle of a song. After a while the big "CLICK" became part of the song.🤣 and THEN it would eat your tape! Good times! Rock on bro✌
@@mrled8555 I actually had a home 8 track recording deck and you could record right over the track switch instead of fading out and then back in like the commercial tapes did. It wasn't as noticeable when you made your own tapes that way.
I hadn’t thought of this song in years until visiting with my grandsons the other day and really don’t know why it came to mind. It was a chilling song that frightened me as a youngster, but for some reason couldn’t help but listen to it.
The lyrics that came to my mind the other day was, “Something warm is flowing down my fingers…”
Creepy, fascinating song.
Great episode.
Bloodrock's second album is an exceptionally good album. Well worth a listen
Trivia ~ ex -member Warren Ham is currently a part of Ringo Starr's All Star Band.
Never knew that!
Any relation to Pete Ham ?
And in TOTO
My favorite still 3 with "The Kool-Aid Kids"...I was in high school when DOA came out and had it on 8 track haha and then ended up picking it up on vinyl
And he’s touring with Toto.
Thanks for reviewing this little covered gem!
I remember all the controversy surrounding this song. I don't remember ever hearing it was a true story. Chilling. Thanks for the info.
That is an amazing story! Some of the best pop songs ever made are from heartbreak and experience. DOA would have been appreciated in later decades such as other acts that used intense reality and sounds to enhance the narratives of their songs. The Cure, Depeche Mode, NIN comes to mind with some of their topics. Thank you Adam for sharing this, it is important to share the darker side of music to balance the scale- this was a great history lesson and an important one...
I had this album
That is the good thing about music. There’s the bright and happy, and then there’s the sad, and then there’s the sinister.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 Ha! This comment thread reminds me of the Mary Whitehouse Show bits with the Cure doing cheerful kiddie songs like The Wheels On The Bus! (Its here on YT if you need a laugh)
@@kenlieck7756 Are you kidding me? I’m gonna go watch that right now. 😝
@@AllieJ123
I have it also as well as all the other albums mentioned. That was a good year. Six years later Lynyrd Skynyrd would lose 6 people on a plane they were on.
I listened to this song when I was 10 years old with great terror and compassion. I memorized every note and every word. The vocals are extremely prominent and clearly articulated, which made everything worse. There was no escaping an understanding of what is happening to the narrator. The present tense of the lyrics likewise leaves the listener no escape. The singer is not narrating a near scrape with death that obviously he must’ve survived, living to tell the proverbial tale. Something warm is flowing down my body… Complete horror. It would not be many years before I began reading Stephen King.
Great vid, Adam. My (eldest) brother John had (I think, still has) the 45. I was only 10 when he played it, and it creeped me the hell out! IMHO it IS the most macabre and disturbing song of all time.
I always found Blasphemous Rumors by Depeche Mode to be one of the eeriest and most disturbing songs I can remember with its 1 minute long outro of a girl slowly dying while on a ventilator with the song ending on her last breath. Still gives me the chills.
Chilly but great song.
Good call. Depeche Mode is darker on the whole than many people realize. I have a friend, whose affection for Halloween I share, that played deep cuts of Depeche Mode for me. I was surprised: chilling stuff. He also played "King Diamond" for me; I thought THEY were hilarious.😄
check out Marillion "The Party" album Holdiays In Eden
Check out the middle of Reynard The Fox by Julian Cope. In a dark room, it's spectacular.
I've listened to that song since the late 80s and i never made that connection before. Yowza!
Bloodrock is one of the most underappreciated bands from the early 70's. I was fortunate to see them open up for Grand Funk in Raleigh NC. They stole the show. I was already a fan of their first album so I knew what to expect.
Saw them in Atlanta just a few rows from the stage. It was unbelievable!
Hey Joey… that was my first concert in Albuquerque Bloodrock opening for Grandfunk around 70-71…. Ahh the memories…ha
This song couples great with "Paranoid" by Grand Funk, especially if you are making a bad trip mix!
Here:
th-cam.com/video/Arpon5msJgc/w-d-xo.html
I have to agree I don’t appreciate this band at all!!!!
@@artanddesign8561 They were hyped by Terry Knight, just as Grand Funk Railroad. Neither that talented compared to other bands.
Haven't heard DOA in decades. I was in high school in 71 and was totally fascinated by the song. While it was morbid I thought it was one of the most brilliant pieces of song writing I'd ever heard. I still feel that way. So few songs are totally original but this one is. Thanks for the story behind it!
I was 12, & I remember hearing it on the radio a lot. I was so fascinated by it, but still found it disturbing. Morbid curiosity, I guess. I never heard the story behind it, though, so thank you so much!!! Poor little 17 yr/old... I am sure he was traumatized for life! So sad.
I can remember listening to the Doctor Demento show on a transistor radio with the volume so low I could barely hear it because I did not want my mother hearing what I was listening to, even though most Doctor Demento show tracks were relatively innocent enough. My mother was the queen of taking a couple lines of a song out of context and thinking it was sending a horrible message. So I was certain that if she heard me listening to a song like this, my radio was probably going into the garbage. Doctor Demento was all about making you laugh, but every once in awhile, he would throw a song in there to make you cringe.
I understand that. My folks were the same way.
I was able to play him loud and proud on KMET Los Angeles. Well, maybe, not that loud...LOL
Doctor Demento was an awesome program
Dead puppies aren't much fun
I'm Looking Over My Dead Dog Rover.
I love BLOODROCK...I saw them open for Grand Funk at the Boston Garden in 1971... SUPERB live band...Lee Pickens played a Gibson 335 into an Acoustic amp and his tone just cut so nice... brilliant.. BLOODROCK 2 is their masterpiece...
I remember hearing this song on the radio as a 10 year old kid. It fascinated me and still does all these years later.
One of my favorite songs. The scariest song i've ever heard. I'm so happy you talked about this song. Thank you adam for this episode.
Song was definitely scary for me.
Well, it's no "Having My Baby", but it's still pretty scary.
OMG, I have been looking for this song for decades without success. I was only 14 when I heard this record in 1971 but it was so sad it left a mark on my psyche! I was scrolling TH-cam and ran across your channel by accident and I found myself hoping this song was what you were going to play. Thanks so much for the memory!!!!
I was 16 in high school when DOA came out. I was at a stage in my teen years where I started to contemplate life and death and things in between. So that song really made me think. I knew it was a plane crash! I just knew it! But people were saying drugs and some even said a car crash where the cars was flying through the air. But I said no it’s a plane. I often wondered about it but just never looked it up. Thank you for covering this one and clarifying it. I love the songs you cover! Those were my big music years!
The album From The Inside by Alice Cooper has some of the creepiest lyrics. Millie and Billy is one of them. The album is about Alice's time in an asylum and was written by him and Bernie Taupin (Elton John's lyricist).
Also, John Nitzinger - who had a Bloodrock connection - also worked with Cooper for a time.
Nurse Rosetta
Cannot let her
Catch me peeking
Down her sweater 😂
Alice Cooper has ALWAYS had some of the creepiest lyrics. They're full of double entendres that shock the straight laced prigs of the world, but he's entertaining as hell to everyone who gets what he's doing. I've been a Cooper fan for almost (jeez !) fifty years now ! He also covers the most forbidden subjects in his music. Cold Ethyl really cracked me up. So much great rock n roll !
I first heard this in the summer of 72. I was driving south on I35 in Minnesota, WAY over the speed limit. Made me slow way down.
Oh my, I actually remember being very haunted by this song as a young teen. Only heard it a few times on the radio before it just kind of disappeared but never did forget it. Actually dared to look it up online a few years back. Truly one of the creepiest songs ever. period. I also remember all these other songs from that time, quite a trip down memory lane in this episode.
'71 was my mid-teens. This song came out and blew me away. I ended up with the 45, the album, and eventually all of their other albums. One of my other favorite tracks by Bloodrock was "Breach of Lease", which came out on their third album. You're right about this being a very hot period for rock music. I stayed broke from buying so many records. I recorded what I could from the radio but I hated having the intro and outro yapped over every time.
Kool aid kids for me… 3 be my fave…⚔️🙏🏽⚔️
I was only seven years old when this song came out. Our local AM Top 40 station played it frequently. I was intrigued by it, but it scared the hell outta me! It still freaks me out! Thanks for the video.
I was 14/15 in 1971 when D.O.A came on the radio. It wasn't band here in Utah. It scared the shot out of me. I had nightmares from it and the couldn't days afterwards. I listen tp it now and am not bothered by it. I do remember just how real it felt back in 1971.
I still possess this album that I purchased when it came out. It came back to personally haunt me when my best friend and I were involved in a car wreck in 1975 that ultimately took his life. I couldn't bring
myself to listen to DOA ever again and I'm now almost 68 years old.
Yeah. Like listening to Alice Cooper's "Dead Babies" after the abortion.
@@wendigo63music55 Well, that song is about horrendous parenting not abortion - though one could argue little Betty would've been spared a life of misery if her drug addled mom had gotten one. But point taken
So sorry for your loss. I can understand certain songs that I can't listen to any more, songs that I love, that were favorites of my husband & myself but unless I want to be a blubbering mess, I just don't listen to them anymore. I was widowed in my '30s. Lost my best friend, my husband. He introduced me to do much wonderful music, now @56 I'm getting better at listening to the music we both loved so much. Good luck with your future endeavors of reclaiming the music! ❤️
@@tammyblackwell499 , how tragic to lose your husband so young. Thank you for your compassion and words of encouragement. I still listen to the 60's and 70's music we shared while growing up. I choose to live my life to mentor others. My simple prayer each morning is asking God to please let me be a blessing to someone today. You sure blessed me today.
That kind of trauma never really goes away. You can have it treated, decades later, with EMDR though.
I'm sorry that you had to experience such a traumatizing accident and to have your friend die in the accident on top of it.
I graduated in 1971 and I just realized from your comment that this song probably saved a lot of teens who'd race on Forest Lane in North Dallas back in the day. None of my high school classmates or anyone from the other high school had fatal car crashes I can recall. "D.O.A." got a LOT of night airplay on KLIF 1190 and KFJZ 1270 before we got cars with FM radios in them where they could play the whole 8+ minute dirge.
Back from riverboat navy vietnam and a paramedic my friends in Sunday school gave to me a 45rpm copy of this. So your video brought back this memory thank YOU!
Thanks for sharing this story Adam! I was 8 years old when United 553 crashed into some houses 2 blocks from where my family lived in Chicago in 1972. It's a memory that you never forget. Interesting song! Great shirt, btw! I can't wait for the Animals remastered release next month!
Funny, I don't remember this song at all. I must have lived in a area who's stations didn't play the song (or played it very little and I just don't remember it). Very interesting song, thanks for covering it.
I was 10 years old in 1971, the first time I heard DOA was in my elementary school classroom. On Fridays, the teacher would let us bring records from home to play, and a boy (known for his mischief) brought this record. To the teacher's credit, she played the whole song but I think she just didn't understand what she was hearing. Most kids were bringing in "The Archies" or "Partridge Family".
Wow, amazing story. The Partridge Family were huge back then.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 Ha ha. The good old days,right? I got my nickname (Led) in 1969 when I brought my Led Zeppelin1 album to school. Other albums brought in were like Blood,Sweat,and Tears.Anyway my teacher didn't have the "ear" or the patience yours did. She pulled the needle off about 1minute into Communication Breakdown. 🤣Good Times!🤘✌
Oops! Sent a reply to the wrong person Lazy L. Hope you can read it down below 🤷♂️
@@mrled8555 What a shame! I brought in The Beatles "Sgt Pepper" album, which the teacher liked and had fun telling us who all the famous people were on the cover. I guess I got brownie points that day!
@@mrled8555 Haha, I would have kept Communication Breakdown playing! Reminds me of the time I spent as a little girl thinking that Led Zeppelin was someone’s name.
I first heard this in middle school after I relocated to Wv our teacher told us about the Marshall University plane crash. He was part of the recovery effort and 75 peoples lives were cut short so it took a heavy toll on him.
I grew up in WV, I remember that song came out after the Marshall plane crash, I wasn't 10 years old, they played it on AM Stations in Charleston. Always remembered it, didn't know who sang it. Very chilling song to a 9 year old.
Wow! That’s right! I just watched We Are Marshall last week. Truly inspiring movie about the resilience of the human spirit. This song must have been especially brutal for the families and loved ones of the victims to listen to while bearing such fresh wounds to their hearts and psyches.
Hello, being a music nerd and musician and keyboardist, i played DOA with the band i was in. I don't remember how it went over, i do know that we played other songs from bloodrocks catalog. Their 3rd lp. USA was one of their best; as the saying goes: bands come and go, but it was great to hear the music they made. Music is universal to enjoy and spread to all. Rok on.
It chilled me as a 12 year old boy in Miami. We had a great AM station called WQAM z that was not in the business of banning songs such as this one and Timothy! It still exists but as a sports station. Anyone who grew up in South Florida knows what a great station that was….!!!
That’s where I listened to it.
I was mesmerized by this song when it came out. The whole album was good. Always wondered what happened to the band members.
Very interesting story.
Yes, it actually WAS a good album!
They re-united for a concert a few years back to benefit one of the band members who was in failing health. He's since passed away. Search here on TH-cam for a video or two of their re-union concert.
@@BritIronRebel thanks
I remember this song. Listen to it near Halloween every now and then.
☕️☕️🎶🎵🎶
The first time I heard DOA, I was spending a lot of time hanging out on those message boards that served us for social media back in the 1990's and I decided to start a thread asking what the creepiest song to hit the radio and one of my fellow messengers served it up as an offering. Being the morbid 817ch I am, I listened to it over and over and over... I love being creeped out in safe locations.. I actually thought it was about a car wreck, but I didn't see a drug angle. Haven't heard the song in years. Now I want to go listen to DOA again. And again. And again. I'm sick, I'm twisted and I'm utterly unashamed.
I hadn't thought about this song for years! The stations I listened to did play it -- I can't say I liked it but it certainly made an impression on my 13yo mind. Didn't realize it referred to a plane crash -- I always pictured a car wreck (not necessarily caused by drug impairment.)
The lyric “hit something in the air” made me definitely think it was a plane crash, and I was right!
I thought it was a car crash too. "flying low" often refers to speeding. And there were sirens so a car crash seemed right.
Great job on this video Professor of Rock, and on the story of DOA and Bloodrock, my all time favorite band. I first heard DOA on their "Live" in Chicago" album and was totally blown away. It was love at first siren! I had their first album and had already fallen in love with the band and their great music and musicianship as well as Jim Rutlidge's vocals. When I finally heard their studio version of DOA, that was a real awakening to the greatness of the song, when at the end it sounds like the plug is pulled on the organ and its pitch grandually descends as the song ends along with the lives of the plane crash victims and slows down and further down to signify the victims' deaths. The song did not need an accompanying video. Bloodrock was able to paint the entire horifying picture using sound alone... and that is the dark beauty of it. But there is so much more to Bloodrock. They are absolutely the most under-rated group ever. I was overjoyed when they reunited. It was just as thrilling to see them perform in 2014 as it would have been in 1971, and with guitarist Nick Taylor's son, Chris Taylor, expertly filling in for the band's 2nd drummer Rick Cobb III who was unable to travel to Texas to participate. Lead singer, Jim Rutledge, was Bloodrock's drummer on their first album. All Bloodrock fans were heartbroken to learn of Nick Tayor's and Stevie Hill's untimely passing. I had idolized Stevie Hill as I am primarily an organist and he was an inspiration to me. I never got to see the band "live" in person. Bloodrock was scheduled to play in Sailorsburg, PA in 1973 (I believe it was). I went to purchase tickets and was told the concert had been cancelled. Major, major bummer. That would have been during the band's period with Warren Ham as lead singer. And there are plenty of memorable tracks from that era as well. But for me, for who the members of Bloodorck are as people, as amazing writers, musicians and performers, with me knowing full well the other musical heavyweights that were "out there" since Bloodrock first got together, I still proudly place Bloodrock at the top of my list of great bands. Thanks for this great video, Prof.
I was only about 5 years old when one of my brothers bought this 45. I remember struggling to sit through the entire song along with my brothers or friends. I sometimes would try to listen to it by myself in my room alone. I never could do it. I’d freak out and run out of the room all the while the record still played. I wouldn’t go back into the room until it was over.
Indiana wants me by R Dean Taylor
Judy mae, Boomer Castleman
I was 11 when this came out. It was terrifying to me but i was captivated by it. I had a little am radio. I used to take it in the bathroom when i was taking a bath. Never forget that night i was in the tub all soaped up and DOA came on. The first note played and i leaped out of the tub. Didn't grab my towel and was out of there and in my room in less than a second. Standing there naked wet and covered in soap. Stayed there dripping all over the floor until it was over. Took a few minutes after it was over for me to get the courage to go back in the bathroom and dry off. Didn't rinse off and turned the radio off for a few days.