| Subject: Erik Braunn, heavy metal guitarist |
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July 25, 2003
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Date Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2012, 09:26:03am
In 1968, the Iron Butterfly guitarist Erik Braunn, who has died of cardiac arrest aged 53, played one of acid rock's most recognisable riffs in the 17-minute album version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Edited to three minutes, and issued as a single, it hit the lower reaches of the American pop charts. However, the album of the same name quickly became a favourite with American rock fans, while Iron Butterfly became the first group to be defined as "heavy metal".
The track minted cliches that appealed to fans who wanted their music as non-pop as possible. It comprised neo-classical organ with eastern undertones - its title supposedly implied "In The Garden Of Eden" - a heavy beat that turned into a two-and-a-half minute drum solo, and Braunn's brutal guitar riffs and sub-Hendrix feedback. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was considered by many teenagers to be the ultimate track to listen to while taking LSD. As for the band, having risen from the Californian suburbs to become a brief phenomenon, it vanished as suddenly as it arrived.
Braunn was born in Pekin, Illinois, and raised in Los Angeles. As a toddler he showed such ability on the violin that he was touted as a prodigy. He gravitated to rock music and, as a teenager, played in various Los Angeles bands.
The original Iron Butterfly was formed in San Diego around organist and vocalist Doug Ingle in 1966. Moving to LA they supported Jefferson Airplane and The Doors. Signed to Atlantic Records - then a black music label looking to move into the lucrative white rock market - Iron Butterfly debuted with their Heavy album (1968). It was only a modest success and the band's bassist, vocalist and guitarist quit.
Ingle then made 17-year-old Braunn the band's lead guitarist. Braunn's gift to Iron Butterfly was his ability to play rock guitar louder and longer than most of his contemporaries. With him Iron Butterfly took the psychedelic rock sound that was popular at the time and made it heavier, less concerned with song structure and more about overwhelming listeners with a hard, riffing sound. Thus the "heavy metal" definition.
British audiences never warmed to the band, but In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was for a long time Atlantic's most successful album and has never been deleted. Yet Iron Butterfly's 1969 album, Ball, having instantly entered the American top five, failed to meet the commercial success of its predecessor.
Braunn left the band and Iron Butterfly dissolved in 1971. He attempted various abortive solo projects, and in 1975 joined a re-formed Iron Butterfly, which released two unsuccessful albums before they split up again. Throughout the 1980s Iron Butterfly re-formed for tours and they always found an audience to play for. In 1992, they rerecorded In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida while by 1993 the original In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album had sold 25 million copies.
In 1995 the band re-formed for an anniversary tour - and by then were being hailed by some as forefathers of thrash metal and grunge.
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