The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. It is best known today for a string of (mainly) mid-to-late 1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock radio, as well as several earlier psychedelic rock albums. Miller left his first band to move to San Francisco and form the Steve Miller Blues Band. Shortly after Harvey Kornspan negotiated the band’s landmark contract with Capitol Records in 1967, the band shortened its name to the Steve Miller Band. In February 1968, the band recorded its debut album, Children of the Future. It went on to produce the albums Sailor, Brave New World, Your Saving Grace, Number 5, Rock Love and more. The band's Greatest Hits 1974–78, released in 1978, sold over 13 million copies. The band continued to produce more albums and in 2014 toured with the rock band Journey In 2016, Steve Miller was inducted as a solo artist in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1965, after moving to Chicago to play the blues, Steve Miller and keyboardist Barry Goldberg founded the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band. Miller left the group to go to San Francisco, where the psychedelic scene was flourishing. He then formed the Steve Miller Blues Band. Harvey Kornspan, managing partner, wrote and negotiated the band's landmark contract ($860,000 over five years as well as $25,000 of promotion money that was to be spent at the band's discretion) with Capitol/EMI Records then-president Alan Livingston in 1967. Shortly after, the band's name was shortened to the Steve Miller Band in order to broaden its appeal... (Read more at Wikipedia)
Links to Peel[]
The Steve Miller Band were one of the groups associated with the San Francisco scene, and they were mentioned in British music press reports in 1967, when San Francisco's hippy culture began to attract international attention. Their performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival was also well received. They didn't release an album until Children Of The Future in 1968, though, and Peel mentioned it in an International Times column in June 1968 (with his favourite adjective, and an interesting misprint): "The Steve Miller Bank [sic] LP on Am. Capitol is quite nice too - probably improves with hearing as does the Quicksilver Messenger Service LP on the same label".[1]. Indeed, for Peel the LP improved with hearing to such an extent that he returned to the sequence of linked tracks on side one several times in later years, playing it in full in 1975 and again in 2000.
Peel played new records by the Steve Miller Band regularly during the 1970s and occasionally in the 1980s and 1990s, before coming back to the band's first LP in the 2000s. They are probably the most played band of the San Francisco era on Peel shows after Country Joe and the Fish, although they were never among the most fashionable of rock groups. But they had stronger roots in blues and country music than most of their contemporaries, which enabled them to survive the changing musical fashions of the 1970s and was also much to Peel's tastes. The DJ introduced the Steve Miller Band live at least once - at the Knebworth Festival of either 1974 or 1975 (the Gigography page has identical artist listings for both events but Peel writes about meting Miller at the 1975 festival in his Sounds column). Steve Miller grew up in Texas, and when Peel finally met him at Knebworth in 1975, he told the DJ that he too had listened to Kat's Karavan on WRR, Dallas in his youth. A 1983 appearance by them on the TV series BBC2 Late Night In Concert was produced by his brother Alan Ravenscroft.
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- None
Sessions[]
- None
Other Shows Played[]
- 1960s
- 14 July 1968: Children Of The Future (album - Children Of The Future) Capitol
- 29 September 1968: In My First Mind (album - Children Of The Future) Capitol
- 27 October 1968: Living in the USA (single) Capitol CL 15564
- 04 December 1968: Your Old Lady (v/a album - Revolution - Original Motion Picture Score) United Artists
- 15 December 1968: Song For Our Ancestors (album - Sailor) Capitol ST 2984
- 29 December 1968: My Friend (album - Sailor) Capitol ST 2984
- 26 January 1969: Song For Our Ancestors (album - Sailor) Capitol ST 2984
- 04 June 1969: Brave New World (LP - Brave New World) Capitol
- 22 June 1969: My Dark Hour (album - Brave New World) Capitol EST-184
- 27 July 1969: My Dark Hour (single) Capitol CL 15604
- 27 August 1969: Song For Our Ancestors (LP - Sailor) Capitol
- 04 October 1969: Celebration Song (LP - Brave New World) Capitol EST 184
- 15 November 1969: Little Girl (single)
- 13 December 1969: Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around (LP - Your Saving Grace) Capitol EST 331 (US release)
- 1970s
- 03 January 1970: Feel So Glad (LP - Your Saving Grace) Capitol EST 331
- 11 April 1970: Your Saving Grace (LP - Your Saving Grace ) Capitol EST 331
- 02 May 1972: Fandango (LP - Anthology) Capitol
- 09 May 1972: Somebody Somewhere Help Me (LP - Recall The Beginning...A Journey From Eden) Capitol
- 19 May 1972: Enter Maurice (LP - Recall The Beginning...A Journey From Eden) Capitol
- 13 June 1972: Fandango (LP – Recall The Beginning...A Journey From Eden) Capitol
- 01 November 1973: The Joker unknown if single or album
- 08 November 1973: Sugar Babe (LP - The Joker) Capitol
- 13 November 1973: Mary Lou (LP - The Joker) Capitol
- 06 November 1973: Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash (LP - The Joker) Capitol
- 22 November 1973: Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma (LP - The Joker) Capitol
- 10 January 1974: The Joker
- 30 June 1975: 'Gangster Of Love/You're So Fine (LP-Sailor)' (Capitol)
- 03 July 1975: 'Children Of The Future/Pushed Me To It/You've Got The Power/In My First Mind (LP-Children Of The Future)' (Capitol)
- 07 July 1975: Something To Believe In (LP - The Joker) Capitol
- 24 October 1975: unknown
- 19 May 1976: Mercury Blues (LP - Fly Like An Eagle) Capitol
- 19 May 1976: Take The Money And Run (LP - Fly Like An Eagle) Capitol
- 19 May 1976: Rock 'N Me (LP - Fly Like An Eagle) Capitol
- 19 May 1977: 'Sacrifice (LP - Book Of Dreams)' Mercury
- 25 May 1977: The Steak (LP - Book Of Dreams) Capitol
- 31 August 1977: Jungle Love (7") Mercury 6078 812
- 29 November 1978: The Stake (LP - Greatest Hits 1974 - 1978)
- 04 December 1978: Take The Money And Run (LP - The Greatest Hits 1974-78) Mercury
- 1980s
- 07 July 1981: Brave New World
- 07 November 1988: Children Of The Future (LP - PROgressive POP) Hör Zu Black Label
- 1990s
- 29 September 1990: Children Of The Future (LP - Children Of The Future) Capitol
- 27 January 1995: The Joker
- 2000s
- 27 April 2000: Children Of The Future / Pushed Me To It / You've Got The Power / In My First Mind (Children Of The Future) Capitol (Peel plays a 15-minute segment from first Steve Miller Band album from 1968, initially on the basis that it’s the ultimate seagulls record, then gets carried away listening to it.)
- 18 March 2003: In My First Mind (Album: Children Of The Future) Capitol Records
- 27 March 2003 (Radio Eins): In My First Mind (LP - Children Of The Future) Capitol
- 11 December 2003: In My First Mind (LP - Children Of The Future) Capitol
Top Of The Pops[]
- 25 December 1982 (TOTP): Abracadabra (Zoo dance troupe)
See Also[]
- Record Collection: V&A LPs
- New Blind Date
- Singles Reviews
- UK Singles Chart Number Ones
- Gigography 1975
- International Times: Perfumed Garden Column
- Disc & Music Echo: Peel Columns
- Sounds