70s Supergroup
The 1970s were a time for excess in all areas. Rock music was not exception. An often overlooked, if not completely forgotten 70s supergroup is Matty Lou’s Home-Cooked Chicken Dinner. This band was the most ambitious supergroup in the history of American popular music. The band featured members of mega-70s rock acts Moot Whistle Express, Franken-Funk, J.P. & the All-Star White Boy Jam Band, Heavy Whipping Cream, and Blues Smashers featuring Johnny Bricks.
The convergence of enormous egos, prolific drug-taking, and alcohol binges combined with an abundance of sexually transmitted diseases, not to mention the logistical nightmare of recording and touring with a band this size, made MLHCD the obvious candidate for “Worst Idea in Music History,” which it most definitely was.
Origin
The idea for the group formed when five of the biggest blues-based, funk-inspired bands of the ‘70s toured together on the Southern Fried Music Festival circuit in the summer of 1975. After one late night/early morning party/jam session over several cases of whisky and far too many lines of foo-foo dust, various band members and managers thought it would be a good idea to put together the biggest rock and roll supergroup ever assembled.
Tragedy
The MLHCD band featured 15 lead guitarists, 10 rhythm guitarists, five drummers, five bass players, a 25-piece horn section, five keyboardists, 13 harmonica players, and seven theremin players in addition to a giant entourage of groupies, accountants, lawyers, drug dealers, and spiritual advisors.
The combined assemblage of musicians, groupies, managers, crew, and assorted hangers-on numbered in the hundreds. This all led to tragedy one August night in Chattanooga, TN when the stage collapsed under the collective weight of the band and its equipment. Similar incidents occurred in Tallahassee, FL, Birmingham, AL, and Jackson, MS, which resulted in the death of the entire theremin section, an occurrence not noticed until three shows later in Tupelo, MS.
Splintering off of 70s Supergroup
Construction on the massive multi-million dollar studio necessary to record the band was underway in early ‘76, but the infighting among a dozen or so factions within the supergroup led to it breaking up into several sub supergroups. Eventually, most members returned to their original bands with some misplaced members ending up in different bands either by accident or on purpose.
The group failed to record or play more than a handful of shows and its biggest individual stars are barely footnotes1 in musical history today.
Footnotes
1Johnny Bricks, Anthony “Too Tall Tony” Jackson, Ricky Lee McDonough, Little Peabody, Buddy Rivers, Rudy St. Cloud, Guitar Smyth, Mae-Mae McRae, Buck Wednesday, Little Z., Big Oak Johnson, Blind Turnip Jackson, Deaf Willy McGreif, Sassafras Jones, Lil Petes, Alice Chong, Suzie Gronkowski, Shorty Johnson, Junior Parcells, Quinten “Cornbread” Williams, Shady Lane, Renée LeTurk, Cheri “Cola” Collins, Lovey Daniels, Gordo Lopez, Tio Rodriguez, Shelly “Longhair” Rosenstein, J.P. Lamar, Roosevelt Jones, Orenthal “Big Duck” Freedman, Maria Del Fuego, Abner Brown, Whitey Black, Sonny Boy Buckner, Cletus Keester, Turnipseed Thompson, Young Willy, Leon Theremin, Jr.
More Forgotten Music Masters
If you enjoyed reading about this 70s supergroup, perhaps you’ll enjoy this entry on Emo Rapper ‘Lil Magneezy.
This Matty Lou’s Home-Cooked Chicken Dinner bio was originally published in Forgotten Music Masters which is still available for purchase.