- Genres: Rock
- Instrument: Drums
Biography
Jerry Slick was married to Grace Slick (the former Grace Wing) and an aspiring filmmaker when he, Grace, and his guitarist brother Darby decided to form a band in the mid-1960s. Jerry did not have much musical experience, but got in on the action by playing drums. Inexperienced drummers, and inexperienced musicians in general, weren't that rare in the days when the bohemian music of choice was switching from folk to rock, and people found themselves playing instruments they had never or rarely touched. Skip Spence of the early Jefferson Airplane, for instance, was a guitarist, switching to drums immediately when he was recruited for the drumkit by Marty Balin. Still, Slick's drumming on the Great Society tracks available on several albums' worth of live and studio material that was unreleased in the 1960s (as well as on their sole single) is raw, though adequate for the fledgling psychedelic band's needs.The Great Society broke up in late 1966, when Grace Slick left to join the Jefferson Airplane. Surprisingly, considering that he considered himself a filmmaker first, Jerry Slick then joined another San Francisco band, the Final Solution. The Final Solution played modal early psychedelia with some similarities to the Great Society, except their material was much darker and not nearly as strong. Slick gave their arrangements a lot of input, however, and the Final Solution even lifted excerpts of Great Society songs to plug into Final Solution ones. While Slick was in the lineup, they made some rehearsal tapes, and one of the songs, "Bleeding Roses," was issued on a flexidisc that came with the first issue of the San Francisco '60s rock fanzine Cream Puff War.
The Final Solution broke up in 1967, and Slick again concentrated on filmmaking. His marriage to Grace Slick had already been in trouble when the Great Society formed, and was in effect over shortly after Grace joined the Airplane, although they did not divorce until the 1970s. Jerry Slick began his filmmaking career in commercials, and actually won a Clio award for an advertisement for recruiting San Francisco police in 1971. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
