WILD IN THE STREET

Wild in the Streets

American International Pictures originally offered the role of Max Frost to noted folk singer-songwriter Phil Ochs, who was known at the time to want to branch out into film work. However, after reading the screenplay, Ochs rejected it, stating the story presented the youth counterculture of the 1960s in a badly distorted light. more information"

Max Frost and his band want to run the country and with the help of their friends and some pharmacology, they take over the political structure of the USA. It's a reasonably well made cautionary tale of the late 60's. It briefly became a cult favorite and was said to have prompted then-mayor of Chicago, Richard Daily, to put guards around the city's water supply just prior to, and during the 1968 Democratic National Convention to prevent anarchists from "dosing" the water with psychedelics.

The storyline is fairly slick for the time; how do a bunch of don't-trust-anyone-over-30 kids take over the country? There's a little romance, a little angst, a little rock music, and a lot of scenery-chewing and overacting by the "Major Stars" including Shelly Winters and Ed Begley. Hal Holbrook was able to keep it toned down.

This was also one of the first major films the late Richard Prior appeared in. The other being Sid Cesar's "The Busy Body", released the same year.

The psychedelic aspects of "Wild in the Streets" make it a great film to pair with Peter Fonda's "The Trip" for a 60's double feature flashback fest. Enjoy and never trust anyone under 30. heh.

Lots of people have been asking me for more material from Max Frost and the Troopers or from the WILD IN THE STREETS movie. So, here are four great songs from the original soundtrack album, released on Tower Records in 1968. None of these songs has ever been released on CD:

1) "Wild in the Streets"
2) "Listen to the Music"
3) "Love to Be Your Man"
4) "Fourteen or Fight"

Interestingly, two of these songs--"Wild in the Streets" and "Love to Be Your Man"--do not appear in the actual film, and the version of "Fourteen or Fight" that is featured on this soundtrack album is quite different from the one heard in the movie.

Although on the album cover some of the album's songs are credited to The 13th Power, The Second Time, and so on, almost all the songs are credited to Max Frost and the Troopers on the record label. Ultimately the "band" name is irrelevent, though, as the same basic group of musicians recorded all of the material.

Welcome to the world of obscurity "BEYOND THE BEAT GENERATION".

This is an archive - a museum!

BEYOND THE BEAT GENERATION archives and publishes the entire, long forgotten 'wild' musical gems out of the great years of the sixties (1965-1969) to a bright audience by using today's technology as we call 'Stream Radio'.

We broadcast 24 hours non-stop through the Internet the music formerly known as: Hippie music, Underground, 60's punk, Flower Power, Mod, Free-Form-Freak-out, Garage music, Psychedelia or Teen Beat, the weirdest, the worst, the most powerful and nastiest ever recorded.

During the 60's all teens were obsessed by music, but only a few touched surface, all groups wanted to be, sound like, or look like 'The Beatles', 'The Rolling Stones', 'Pink Floyd', 'The Doors', 'Jefferson Airplane' or 'The Velvet Underground'.

Music was a movement. Music was the expression of a lifestyle. Music was politics, a protest against establishment, wars and society.