No Summer Breeze, Dash Crofts dead at 87.

[Saul Goodman]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2026/03/26/dash-crofts-death-seals-and-crofts/89329595007/

 

 

Edited March 26 by Saul Goodman

[Steve Haynie]

Phil Campbell...  Ace Frehley...  and now Dash.  

[stobro]

49 minutes ago, Steve Haynie said:

Phil Campbell...  Ace Frehley...  and now Dash.  

They May Never Pass This Way Again

[Biz Prof]

5 hours ago, stobro said:

They May Never Pass This Way Again

Forward to.1:00.

https://youtu.be/P3CnvphQs04?si=t7m2PCo0scsSLFYp

[LucSulla]

8 hours ago, Saul Goodman said:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2026/03/26/dash-crofts-death-seals-and-crofts/89329595007/

 

 

Every now and again, I teach a music branding class, which I mostly use as an excuse to talk about art vs. commerce and how authenticity isn't a falsifiable concept and thus kind of a silly thing to judge music off of. 

I also have to teach some more practical stuff, which means a lot of case law as pertains to music IP. The above song is a rare example of a cover getting denied. Under the law, a songwriter only has dibs on the right to be the first person to record a song. After the song is recorded, anyone can cover it, and there is nothing the rights holders can do to stop it. It's called a compulsory license because the copyright holder is "compelled" by the law to grant the license. The rate for the license is also set by congress, which, on traditional media, is around $0.10 per unit last I looked. Rightholders can charge less, but they can't charge more. 

However, if you make substantial changes to the lyrics, a rightsholder can block your covering it, as that makes it technically a derivative work now rather than a cover. There is a loophole in that loophole for parody. Weird Al doesn't have to get permission, even though he does. Turtles all the way down. 

Anyway, when Type O initially recorded this, they changed the lyrics a pretty good bit, and it was a bit raunchier. I guess from a mathematical perspective, since the original is squeaky clean to the point of precision banality, it would technically be infinitely more raunchy. As Type O weren't claiming it was a parody, Seals and Crofts blocked it from being included on Bloody Kisses, so Type O had to re-record the vocals so that the lyrics were the same as the original.  

 

 

[Steve Haynie]

7 hours ago, LucSulla said:

However, if you make substantial changes to the lyrics, a rightsholder can block your covering it, as that makes it technically a derivative work now rather than a cover. There is a loophole in that loophole for parody. Weird Al doesn't have to get permission, even though he does. Turtles all the way down. 

At a Zombies concert in Atlanta Rod Argent went on a short rant about KISS changing the lyrics to God Gave Rock and Roll to You, renaming it God Gave Rock and Roll to You II.  Petra also did a version with different lyrics, but they did not have a hit on the radio or MTV.  

Rod should have been happy that the song was making money.  It certainly would bring some interest to the original version.  Russ Ballard wrote the song, and he could have blocked the song being altered.  KISS made him money when Ace Frehley covered New York Groove.  

[Willie G. Moseley]

"Meh" RE "God Gave Rock & Roll to You", then and now. I've always thought that song relied too much on musical and lyrical cliches. Heard Argent do it live in 1973 and wasn't moved. Ballard's Swiss cheese Strat was cool, though.

But  "Hold Your Head Up" was almost everything that "GGR&RTY" wasn't---the earlier song had a nice introductory hook (crescendo organ and a thumping, insistent bass line). The riffs were decent but not overblown, and the song had a sing-along sensibility. The instrumental break was, perhaps as expected, Rod Argent's keyboard which purveyed a slight allusion to Keith Emerson, IMO. Really liked how chorus line creeped in after the organ solo, then  Ballard's power chords came smashing back into the mix via the left speaker. The whole tune had an anthemic vibe, and while there were plenty of those types of songs around 50 years ago, this one was, at least for me, one of the more memorable.

3/29 EDITED TO ADD: "Hold Your Head Up"  has cowbell!

Edited March 29 by Willie G. Moseley