Opal Butterfly was an English

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

band from

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, that was active between 1968 and 1970. Although the band itself did not gain widespread success, the musicians did go on to conduct successful musical careers. The band featured Simon King (drums) and for a short time,

Lemmy Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), better known as Lemmy Kilmister or simply Lemmy, was an English musician. He was the founder, lead singer, bassist and primary songwriter of the rock band Motörhead, of which he wa ...

, who later joined

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

. Further members were Robert "Robbie" Milne (lead guitar), Allan Love (lead vocals), Richard Bardey (bass), and Tommy Doherty (rhythm guitar). The band released three official singles of the heavy psychedelic rock style before disbanding.

History

Before becoming Opal Butterfly, the group was known as Cardboard Heaven They were formed in 1967 in Oxfordshire. Their original lineup consisted of Roger Warner (bass) Robbie Milne (lead guitar) 17-year-old Simon King (drums) Alan Cobb (keyboards) and vocals shared by Stuart Thornhill and Denny Sutcliffe. Locally, they performed at clubs and dance halls with a repertoire of R&B and blues standards. Even though the group garnered a considerable following, Simon King would leave the group to form Opal Butterfly.

Opal Butterfly

Later in the year Simon King formed his new band and recruited Milne on Guitar. The remaining lineup were associates of the two and included Allan Love (vocals) Richard Bardey (bass) Tom Doherty (guitar) Regarding the name, Doherty stated "Butterfly by itself was a bit dull, so we thought of something more colorful". The group began recording demos and received the interest of

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

. These included covers of "

I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" is a song written with music by Annette Tucker and lyrics by Nancie Mantz, which was recorded in late 1966 by the garage rock band The Electric Prunes. Released as the band's second single, it reached number ...

" and "Wind Up Toys", both tracks by

The Electric Prunes The Electric Prunes are an American psychedelic rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. Much of the band's music was, as music historian Richie Unterberger described it, possessed of "an eerie and sometimes anguished ambiance." T ...

. In 1968, the band released their first official recording "Beautiful Beige"/"Speak Up" which was described as a solid piece of harmonial

psychedelic pop Psychedelic pop (or acid pop) is pop music that contains musical characteristics associated with psychedelic music. Developing in the late 1960s, elements included " trippy" features such as fuzz guitars, tape manipulation, backwards recording, ...

, but made no impactful gains. The group's most notable recordings came in 1969 with an organ-backed cover/remake of

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

composition "Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand" with the B-side being "My Gration Or?". Despite radio play, the single only gained them local support and the band would revamp its lineup and change labels to

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

. Most notably, the band acquired Lemmy Kilmister. Kilmister met the band at a shop called ''The Chelsea Drug Store'' located in the Kings Rd Chelsea. He started a friendship with King who then asked him to join, and Kilmister would be a member until the group's decision to kick him a few months later. With the new label, the new lineup released a single, "Groupie Girl"/"The Gigging Song". For this final effort, the band returned to its roots as the songs were more blues influenced in nature. However, the single caused a slight uproar when the cover featured a nude woman and radio stations refused to play the single. Throughout 1969 into 1970 the band initiated a tour in Britain for sets of 90 minutes. They appeared in the

Derek Ford Derek Ford (6 September 1932, Essex – 19 May 1995) was an English film director and writer, most famous for sexploitation films such as ''The Wife Swappers'' (1970), '' Suburban Wives'' (1971), '' Commuter Husbands'' (1972), ''Keep It Up, Ja ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, ''

Groupie Girl ''Groupie Girl'' is a 1970 British drama film about the rock music scene, directed by Derek Ford and starring Esme Johns, Donald Sumpter and the band Opal Butterfly. The film was written by Ford and former groupie Suzanne Mercer. Ford later c ...

'' (1970), as "Sweaty Betty". Lemmy did not contribute to any recordings or the film. One last line-up change was formed but did not change the band's fortunes and they broke up in 1970. Kilmister and King would cooperate once again in Hawkwind. In the meantime, Milne formed another Opal Butterfly line-up with replacement musicians, namely Ray Owen (vocals) David O'List (guitar), Stan Decker (bass) and Mike Burchett (drums) but this line-up only lasted a short while. Doherty and King formed their own version of Opal Butterfly and were not too pleased of Milne forming his own version, so in 1969 Milne joined the 'New Look Soul Band' who were later to become Fine China.

Discography

*? - "

" (Mantz, Tucker) b/w "Wind-Up Toys" (demo) *1968 - "Beautiful Beige" b/w "Speak Up" (CBS single) *1968 - "

Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand "Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand" is a song by the English rock band The Who. It was written by Pete Townshend and released on their 1967 album ''The Who Sell Out''. The best known version of the song has an arrangement using acoustic guitar and La ...

" (Townshend) b/w "My Gration Or?" (single) *1969 - "Groupie Girl" b/w "The Gigging Song" (Polydor single) *1970 - ''Groupie Girl'' (

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

album, featured the two single tracks) Polydor 2383 031

References

{{Reflist

External links

Stevelitchfield.com''Groupie Girl'' album cover
Musical groups established in 1967 Musical groups disestablished in 1970 English psychedelic rock music groups Musical groups from London