Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an
American rock band from
San Francisco, a pioneer of the
LSD-influenced
psychedelic rock movement. The band's August,
1969 performance at
Woodstock is widely considered 'one of
rock 'n' roll's most memorable moments'.
Various successor incarnations of the band have performed under different names, reflecting changing times and performer lineups, known as
Jefferson Starship, and later simply
Starship before becoming
Jefferson Starship The Next Generation in
1991.
Jefferson Airplane was
inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
1996.
The term 'Jefferson airplane' is also slang for a used match bent to hold a
marijuana joint that has been smoked too short to hold without burning the hands, an improvised '
roach clip'. An
urban legend claims this was the origin for the band's name, though according to band member
Jorma Kaukonen, the name was invented by his friend Steve Talbot as a parody of blues names such as
'Blind Lemon' Jefferson [
1].
Jefferson Airplane
The group formed on the West Coast of the
USA during the summer of
1965 in what was called the
San Francisco Bay folk boom. Singer
Marty Balin recruited another folk musician,
Paul Kantner,
blues guitarist
Jorma Kaukonen, jazz and folk
vocalist Signe Toly Anderson, drummer Jerry Peloquin, and acoustic bassist
Bob Harvey. They drew inspiration from groups such as
the Beatles,
The Byrds, and
The Lovin' Spoonful, and built a local following at the Matrix Club.
The group made its first public appearance August 13, 1965 at The Matrix club in San Francisco. Peloquin was a seasoned musician whose disdain for the others' drug use was a factor in his departure just a few weeks after the group began its career.
Skip Spence then took the drum chair. The band gradually developed a more electric sound that led to Harvey's replacement by Kaukonen's childhood friend,
Jack Casady, in October 1965. Later in
1965, they signed to RCA Victor and recorded an album for release the following year called
Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. Folk music very much influenced the group's debut album, which included staples such as
John D. Loudermilk's "Tobacco Road" and
Dino Valente's "
Let's Get Together", as well as original group ballads like "It's No Secret" and "Come Up The Years." In
1966, Spence was replaced by
jazz drummer
Spencer Dryden and Anderson by singer
Grace Slick, formerly of another San Francisco group,
The Great Society. Slick brought with her a powerful and supple
contralto voice, well suited to the group's amplified psychedelic music, as well as a number of important compositions, including "
White Rabbit" (which Grace wrote) and "
Somebody to Love" (written by Grace's brother-in-law, Great Society guitarist Darby Slick).
Their transition from local to national notoriety was engendered by their appearance at the epochal
Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967. Monterey showcased leading bands from several major music 'scenes' including
New York,
San Francisco,
Los Angeles, and
England and the resulting TV and film coverage gave national (and international) exposure to groups that had previously had only regional fame. All these bands were also greatly assisted by appearances on nationally syndicated TV shows such
The Ed Sullivan Show, which were videotaped in color and augmented by recent developments in video techniques. The Airplane's famous appearance on the Sullivan show, performing "White Rabbit", has been frequently re-screened and is notable for its pioneering use of the
Chroma key process to simulate the Airplane's customary psychedelic light show.
Membership remained stable until
1970, by which time they had recorded five more albums. The first of these,
Surrealistic Pillow (1967), included two classic tracks, "
White Rabbit" (inspired by the
psychedelic drug
LSD, then extremely popular in San Francisco,
Maurice Ravel's "
Bolero", and
Lewis Carroll's
Alice in Wonderland), and the rousing anthem "
Somebody to Love", as well as a reminder of their earlier folk incarnation, Kaukonen's solo acoustic guitar
tour de force, "Embryonic Journey", which referenced contemporary acoustic guitar masters such as
John Fahey and helped to establish the popular genre exemplified by acoustic guitarist
Leo Kottke. The album was extremely successful, reaching #3 in the US album charts, and alongside
The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, it is widely regarded as one of the seminal albums of the so-called "
Summer Of Love".
The name
Surrealistic Pillow was suggested by the 'shadow' producer of the album,
Jerry Garcia, when he mentioned that, as a whole, the album sounded 'as Surrealistic as a pillow'. The record company would not allow Garcia's considerable contributions to the album to garner him a 'Producer' credit, so Garcia is listed in the album's credits as 'spiritual advisor'.
The band dived deeper into acid rock with 1967's
After Bathing at Baxter's, an album of long multi-part suites, which demonstrated the group's proficiency with
psychedelic rock. Its famous cover features a whimsical re-imagining of the group's
Haight-Ashbury house as a
Heath Robinson-inspired flying machine, drawn by artist and cartoonist
Ron Cobb.
Crown of Creation (1968) was a transitionary record, more structured than its predecessor. The album's notable tracks include Grace Slick's
Lather, said to be about drummer Spencer Dryden, with whom she was rumored to be having an affair, "Triad", a David Crosby song that had been rejected by his group, the Byrds, because they deemed its subject matter, a
ménage à trois, to be objectionable, and the searing sex and drug anthem "Greasy Heart." In 1968 Jefferson Airplane unleashed
Bless Its Pointed Little Head, which captured their live concert sound at
the Fillmore and the
Fillmore East. In the aftermath of the demise of the San Francisco scene, the band released
Volunteers (1969), their most political venture. The title track, "We Can Be Together", "Good Shepherd", and the
post-apocalyptic "Wooden Ships" were all highlights. ("Wooden Ships", which Paul Kantner co-wrote with
David Crosby and
Stephen Stills, was recorded both by Jefferson Airplane and
Crosby, Stills & Nash. As both groups released the song the same year and as it was co-written by members of both bands, both versions are considered to be an original version of the song.)
In 1968, the group toured Europe with fellow psych-rockers The Doors, and appeared in Holland, England, Belgium, Germany and Sweden. One infamous incident involving Jim Morrison was recalled by Grace Slick and Paul Kantner in an interview: While the Airplane were on stage performing one of their faster songs, "Plastic Fantastic Lover", the unpredictable Morrison appeared on stage and began dancing. Jorma and the rest of the group began playing faster and faster until Jim spun wildly and fell to the ground. Morrison was unable to perform his set with the Doors and Ray Manzarek was forced to sing all the vocals.
The band performed in an early 'morning maniac music' slot at the
Woodstock festival in August 1969. In December that year, they played at the infamous free concert held at the
Altamont speedway in California. The concert, which was headlined by
The Rolling Stones, was marred by crowd violence - Marty Balin was knocked out during a scuffle with
Hells Angels members who had been hired to act as 'security'. The event became notorious for the now-famous "Gimme Shelter Incident", due to the death of black teenager
Meredith Hunter, who was fatally stabbed in front of the stage by Hells Angels 'guards' after allegedly pulling out a revolver during the Stones' performance (this incident was the centerpiece of the documentary film
Gimme Shelter).
Although the band released its first greatest-hits album,
The Worst of Jefferson Airplane, in 1970, its only new songs that year were two tracks available only on the single, "Mexico" b/w "Have You Seen the Saucers". The A-side was a staunch criticism of President
Richard Nixon's
Operation Intercept which had been implemented to curtail the flow of marijuana into the United States, while the B-side marked the beginning of a science-fiction obsession that Paul Kantner would explore with his music over the rest of the decade.
Balin chose to leave the band shortly after the release of the single. Shortly after, Kantner and Slick fired Dryden from Airplane, dismissing him as an 'embarrasing idiot'. The group continued on without them, releasing
Bark (whose cover featured a dead fish wrapped in an A&P-style grocery bag) in 1971, and
Long John Silver (whose cover folded into a humidor, presumably for the storage of marijuana) in 1972. Both albums were released on the band's own label, Grunt, which would continue to be distributed by RCA. The group replaced Dryden with drummer Joey Covington (who also provided the vocals on the 1971 single, "Pretty as You Feel", from
Bark). The legendary Afro-American blues fiddler
Papa John Creach (1917-1994) also joined the group in the early seventies.
During this time, Kaukonen and Casady began a side project they named
Hot Tuna, in which the two of them, often supported by a fluid group of other musicians, began exploring traditional blues. They released the acoustic
Hot Tuna in 1970,and the electric
First Pull Up-Then Pull Down in 1971. As time went by, Kaukonen and Casady began devoting more of their attention to Hot Tuna and less of it to the Airplane. (In the song, "Third Week In The Chelsea", from
Bark, Kaukonen details the thoughts he is having about leaving the band.)
Jefferson Airplane's second live album
Thirty Seconds Over Winterland (1973) is now best remembered for its cover art, featuring a squadron of flying toasters, which the band later alleged to have spawned the famous "
After Dark" computer
screensaver design. In 1974, a collection of leftovers (singles and B-sides, including "Mexico" and "Have You Seen The Saucers", as well as other non-album material) was released as
Early Flight, the last official Jefferson Airplane album.
Jefferson Starship
During the transitional period of the early
1970s, Paul Kantner recorded
Blows Against the Empire, a concept album featuring an
ad hoc group of musicians that he dubbed
Jefferson Starship, marking the first use of that name. This edition of Jefferson Starship (such as it was) included members of
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (
David Crosby and
Graham Nash) and members of the
Grateful Dead (
Jerry Garcia,
Bill Kreutzman, and
Mickey Hart), as well as some of the remaining members of Jefferson Airplane (Slick, Covington, and Casady). In
Blows Against the Empire, Kantner (and Slick) sang about a group of people escaping earth in a hijacked starship. In 1971, the album was nominated for the prestigious science fiction prize, the
Hugo Award, a rare honor for a musical recording. It was while that album was being made that Kantner sealed his love affair with Grace Slick; their daughter
China Kantner (who made a name for herself as an
MTV veejay in the 1980s) was born shortly thereafter.
Kantner and Slick (with a similar group of musicians, but without a 'Jefferson Starship' artist credit) released two follow-up albums:
Sunfighter, an environmentalism-tinged album released in 1971 to celebrate China's birth, and 1973's
Baron von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun, titled after the nicknames David Crosby had given to the couple. The artist credit on
Baron von Tollboth gave ex-
Quicksilver Messenger Service bassist-keyboard player-vocalist
David Freiberg equal billing with Kantner and Slick. (Freiberg, who had also appeared on
Blows Against the Empire, had joined Jefferson Airplane in time to appear on
Thirty Seconds over Winterland.) Also in 1973, Slick released
Manhole, her first solo album.
Kantner is also credited with discovering teenage guitarist
Craig Chaquico during this time, who first appeared on
Sunfighter and would play with Kantner, Slick and their bands and then with Starship through 1991. He later embarked on a successful solo career as a
smooth jazz artist.
By 1973, with Kaukonen and Casady now devoting their full attention to Hot Tuna, the musicians on
Baron von Tollbooth formed the core of a new Airplane lineup that was formally reborn as 'Jefferson Starship' in
1974. Kantner, Slick, and Freiberg were charter members. The line-up also included late-Airplane holdovers drummer
John Barbata, and fiddler Papa John Creach (who also played with Hot Tuna), along with Pete Sears (who, like Freiberg, played bass and keyboards) and twenty-year-old guitarist Craig Chaquico. Although Balin was originally not among the re-christened Jefferson Starship, he joined the band while their first album,
Dragonfly, was still in the works. His only contribution to the new incarnation's first effort was the haunting ballad, "Caroline". Balin stayed with the group for nearly the remainder of the decade. This line-up proved to be the band's most commercially successful so far, although some Airplane fans were less than happy with its more mainstream direction. Balin's sophisticated ballad "Miracles" helped
1975's
Red Octopus achieve multiple-platinum status. The follow-ups,
Spitfire (
1976), and
Earth (
1978), were both big sellers.
However, Slick's alcoholism became a problem, which led to two nights of disastrous concerts in
Germany in 1978. The first night, fans ransacked the stage when Slick failed to appear. The following night, Slick, in a drunken stupor, shocked the audience by using profanity and sexual references throughout most of her songs. She also reminded the audience that their country had lost during
World War II, repeatedly asking "Who won the war?", and implied that all residents of Germany were responsible for the wartime atrocities. After the debacle, she left the band.
Towards the end of 1978, Jefferson Starship (now without Grace Slick) recorded "Light the Sky on Fire" for their forthcoming greatest hits album
Gold, and performed it (under its original title "Cigar-Shaped Object") on-camera for
The Star Wars Holiday Special.
Gold, highlighting their work from 1974's
Dragonfly through to 1978's
Earth, was released early the following year. "Light the Sky on Fire" (backed with "Hyperdrive", from
Dragonfly) was included as a bonus single in the original packaging of album. (When
Gold was issued on CD, both tracks were included on the album.) The album originally had a shortened version of the hit "Miracles"; early pressings of the CD repeated this, but later editions had the full length version from the album
Red Octopus.
Shortly before the release of
Gold, Balin too left the group, leaving Kantner and company to find a new lead singer in
Mickey Thomas (who had sung lead on
Elvin Bishop's "Fooled Around and Fell in Love"). Thomas's soaring falsetto steered the band toward a harder rock sound, leading to comparisons to
Journey. It didn't help that former Journey drummer
Aynsley Dunbar had replaced Barbata, who had been injured in a car accident.
After the
1979 release of
Freedom At Point Zero (which spawned the hit single "Jane"), Grace Slick suddenly returned to the band. She joined in time to contribute one song, "Stranger", on the group's next album,
Modern Times (1981).
Modern Times also included the notorious "Stairway to Cleveland," in which the band defended the numerous changes it had undergone in its musical style, personnel, and even name. Slick remained in the band for Jefferson Starship's final two albums,
Winds Of Change (1982) and
Nuclear Furniture (1984). Around this time, the band began enthusiastically embracing the rock-video age. Grace Slick would appear frequently on
MTV and such music-oriented television shows as
Solid Gold, giving the band a high visibility in the MTV era. However, the Jefferson Starship albums of this era were only modestly successful, yet the band remained a gold-selling (and thus commercially credible) act, and a popular concert draw.
Starship
In
1984, Kantner (the last remaining founding member of Jefferson Airplane) left the group, but not before taking legal action over the Jefferson name against his former bandmates, who wanted to continue as Jefferson Starship. Kantner won his suit, and the name was reduced to simply 'Starship', marking the third incarnation of the band. Freiberg, who had been increasingly marginalized, left as well.
In
1985, Starship released
Knee Deep In The Hoopla and immediately scored two #1 hits. The first was "
We Built This City", written by
Bernie Taupin,
Martin Page,
Dennis Lambert, and
Peter Wolf, and inspired by Bay Area power-rock station
KSAN-FM; the second was "Sara". No previous incarnation of the Airplane had ever had a #1 hit. The album itself reached #7, went platinum, and spawned two more singles: "Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight" (#26), and "Before I Go" (#68).
In
1987, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" was featured in the film
Mannequin and hit #1, although only Slick and Thomas (plus Craig Chaquico's guitar solo) appeared on it. This song made
Slick the oldest female vocalist to sing on a number-one
Billboard Hot 100 hit, at the age of 47. (She held this record until
Cher broke it at the age of 53, in
1999 with "
Believe".) The following year, the band's song "Wild Again" (which reached #78 on the
Billboard singles chart) was used in the movie
Cocktail.
By the time
No Protection was released, bassist Pete Sears had left. The album went gold, and featured the hits "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (#1), "It's Not Over ('Til It's Over)" (#9), and "Beat Patrol" (#46). In addition, the last song on the album, "Set The Night To Music", would later become a huge hit when re-recorded as a duet between
Roberta Flack and
Maxi Priest.
Grace Slick left Starship in
1988, having become disillusioned with the band's new pop image and swearing never to perform with them again. The revamped lineup released
Love Among The Cannibals in
1989; however, they had disbanded by
1990.
Reunion and remnants
Solo careers and the attractions of other bands beckoned throughout. In 1981, Marty Balin issued a self-titled solo album which featured the AM radio hit, "Hearts." In contrast to the revolutionary rock of his Jefferson Airplane days, "Hearts" proved to be a saccharine pop ballad.
In 1985, following his departure from Jefferson Starship, Paul Kantner reunited with Balin and Jack Casady to form the
KBC Band, releasing their only album,
KBC Band (which included Kantner's hit, "America"), in 1987, on Arista Records. The KBC Band also featured keyboardist Tim Gorman (who had played with
The Who) and guitarist Slick Aguilar (who had played with
David Crosby's band).
With Kantner reunited with Balin and Casady, the KBC Band opened the door to a full-blown Jefferson Airplane reunion. In 1989, during a solo San Francisco gig, Paul Kantner found himself joined by former bandmate (and lover) Grace Slick and two other ex-Airplane members for a cameo appearance. This led to a formal reunion of the original Jefferson Airplane (featuring nearly all the main members, including founder Marty Balin, but without Spencer Dryden, who had been kicked out of the band years earlier). A self-titled album was released by
Columbia Records to modest sales. The accompanying tour was a success, but their revival was short-lived, and thus Jefferson Airplane's 'definitive' line-up officially disbanded for good.
Today, there are two versions of 'Jefferson Starship' — one officially billed as 'Starship featuring Mickey Thomas' (with Thomas at the forefront), and the revived 'Jefferson Starship' (often called 'Jefferson Starship: The Next Generation' or 'Jefferson Starship-TNG'), with Kantner and Balin as leaders, and Diana Mangano replacing Grace Slick as female singer (although Slick did do guest vocals on Jefferson Starship's
1999 album
Windows Of Heaven). This latter band plays frequent concerts, and on occasion, Jack Casady joins them as well. In
2005, longtime bassist David Freiberg rejoined the group for their "Jefferson Family Galactic Reunion" Tour, and continues to tour with the band, as of
2006. Mangano is an expressive and effective singer, and this revived Jefferson Starship can often capture a good deal of the feeling of the original Airplane. The current line-up also features former
Grateful Dead keyboarist
Tom Constanten.
Jorma Kaukonen still tours, often playing over 100 acoustic solo shows a year at small clubs throughout the country. Occasionally, Jack Casady joins him, and the pair perform as Hot Tuna. Kaukonen also operates a guitar camp in southern Ohio, where he teaches would-be guitar virtousos his unique style of finger-picking blues.
In 2004, Marty Balin pointed, with well-deserved pride, that unlike many of their contemporaries, all of the original members of Jefferson Airplane survived the 1960s; all except Spence (who passed away on April 16, 1999) lived to see the 21st Century. Immortality would not last forever, however, as Dryden, suffering from financial and health problems, succumbed to colon cancer on
January 10,
2005 at the age of 67.
The original 'Jefferson Airplane' - along with
The Byrds,
The Doors,
The Grateful Dead,
The Lovin' Spoonful,
The Mamas and the Papas,
Tommy James & the Shondells and, to some degree,
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - will always be associated with the more melodic end of the North American rock spectrum and in due course other groups, such as
Steely Dan and
Eagles, continued to blend elements of folk, jazz and rock and bring the results to a global audience. Of all these bands, Jefferson Airplane excelled in the
psychedelic domain and in their penchant for pretentious track titles, which came to characterize the era of 1965-75.
British bands apparently influenced by the mellow lyricism of the West Coast sound included
Barclay James Harvest,
David Bowie,
Curved Air,
Family,
Fairport Convention,
Jethro Tull,
King Crimson,
The Moody Blues,
The Small Faces,
Pentangle, and
Yes.
The Beatles have always stressed the influence that
The Beach Boys had on their musical development (especially
Pet Sounds), but it seems likely that other music from the West Coast also spread eastward, to play a key part in making pop music more symphonic and less predictable than it had been before
1965. The era of trans-Atlantic jet travel and the ability to send television broadcasts by satellite, also facilitated a greater interplay of musical influences across the Atlantic.
Donovan was evidently one of the first British pop musicians to become aware of them, and was undoubtedly influenced by the group to some degree; he famously namechecked the band in his 1966 song "The Fat Angel" (included on his album
Sunshine Superman in 1967), written many months before Jefferson Airplane achieved international stardom.
Record producers who worked with the original band included Greg Edward, Rick Jarrard, Matthew Katz, Ron Nevison, Tommy Oliver and Al Schmitt.
*
Download sample of "
White Rabbit" from
Surrealistic PillowJefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Starship, and Jefferson Starship-TNG
Jefferson Airplane
*
Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (
1966) - US position: # 128
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Surrealistic Pillow (
1967) - US position: # 3 (breakthrough album featuring "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit")
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After Bathing at Baxter's (1967) - US position: # 17
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Crown of Creation (
1968) - US position: # 6
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Bless Its Pointed Little Head (1969) Live
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Volunteers (
1969) - US position: # 13
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The Worst of Jefferson Airplane (1970) - US position: # 12 (first greatest hits collection)
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Bark (
1971) - US position: # 11
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Long John Silver (
1972) - US position: # 20
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Thirty Seconds Over Winterland (
1973) Live
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Early Flight (
1974) (a collection of singles, B-sides, and other non-LP tracks)
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Flight Log, 1966-1976 (
1977) (compilation album, also includes tracks by Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, as well as solo tracks)
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Time Machine (
1984) (compilation album)
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2400 Fulton Street (
1987) (compilation album)
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Jefferson Airplane (
1989) (1989 'reunion' album)
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White Rabbit & Other Hits (
1990) (compilation album)
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Jefferson Airplane Loves You (
1991) (3-disc boxed set)
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The Best of Jefferson Airplane (
1993) (compilation album)
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Live at the Monterey Festival (
1995) (live recording, British release of Jefferson Airplane's performance at the
1967 Monterey Pop Festival)
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Journey: The Best of Jefferson Airplane (
1996) (British compilation album)
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Live at the Fillmore East (
1998) (live recording of 1968 performance at the
Fillmore East in New York City)
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The Roar of Jefferson Airplane (
2001) (compilation album)
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Platinium & Gold Collection (
2003) (compilation album)
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The Essential Jefferson Airplane (
2005) (compilation album)
Paul Kantner and the Jefferson Starship
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Blows Against the Empire (1970)
Jefferson Starship
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Dragon Fly (1974)
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Red Octopus (
1975) (best-selling album for any incarnation of the Airplane/Starship)
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Spitfire (
1976)
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Earth (
1978) (last album with Marty Balin, until 1995)
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Gold (
1979) (compilation album)
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Freedom at Point Zero (
1979)
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Modern Times (
1981)
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Winds of Change (
1982)
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Nuclear Furniture (1984)
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Jefferson Starship at Their Best (
1993) (compilation album)
Starship
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Knee Deep in the Hoopla (
1985)
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No Protection (
1987)
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Love Among the Cannibals (
1989)
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Greatest Hits (Ten Years and Change 1979-1991) (
1991) (compilation album, also includes tracks by Jefferson Starship)
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The Best of Starship (
1993) (compilation album)
Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation
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Deep Space/Virgin Sky (1995) (live album)
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Miracles (1995) (live album)
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Windows of Heaven (1999)
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Greatest Hits: Live at the Fillmore (1999) (live album)
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Extended Versions (2000) (live album)
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Across the Sea of Suns (2001) (live album)
Compilation albums credited to 'Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship'
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Hits (1998)
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VH1 Behind the Music (2000)
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Love Songs (2000)
Selected solo, duo and trio efforts
Marty Balin
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Bodacious DF (1973)
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Balin (1981) (includes the AM radio single, "Hearts")
Hot Tuna
Hot Tuna comprised Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady with other musicians.
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Hot Tuna (1970)
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First Pull Up-Then Pull Down (1971)
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Burgers (1972)
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The Phosphorescent Rat (1973)
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Quah (1974) (by Jorma Kaukonen with Tom Hobson, produced by Jack Casady)
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America's Choice (1975)
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Yellow Fever (1975)
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Hoppkorv (1976)
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Double Dose (1977)
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Final Vinyl (1979) (compilation album)
Paul Kantner/Grace Slick
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Sunfighter (1971)
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Baron Von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun (1973) (by Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, and David Freiberg)
Paul Kantner
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Planet Earth Rock And Roll Orchestra (originally issued in 1983 on RCA Records and remastered and reissued in 2005 courtesy of Sony/BMG Music Entertainment)
The KBC Band
Includes Paul Kantner, Marty Balin, and Jack Casady.
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KBC Band (1986)
Grace Slick
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Manhole (1973)
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Dreams (1980)
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Welcome to the Wrecking Ball (1981)
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Software (1984)
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The Best of Grace Slick (2000) (compilation album, also includes tracks by Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship, in which Grace Slick was the lead vocalist)
Jefferson Airplane
* "
It's No Secret" (1966)
* "
Come Up the Years" (1966)
* "
Bringing Me Down" (1966)
* "
My Best Friend" (1967) #86 US
* "
Somebody to Love" (1967) #5 US
* "
White Rabbit" (1967) #8 US
* "
Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil" (1967) #42 US
* "
Watch Her Ride" (1967) #61 US
* "
Greasy Heart" (1968) #98 US
* "
Crown of Creation" (1968) #64 US
* "
Plastic Fantastic Lover" (1969)
* "
Volunteers" (1969) #65 US
* "
Have You Seen the Saucers?" (1970)
* "
Pretty as You Feel" (1971) #60 US
* "
Long John Silver" (1972)
* "
Twilight Double Leader" (1972)
Jefferson Starship
* "Ride the Tiger" (1974) #84 US
* "Caroline" (1974)
* "Miracles" (1975) #3 US
* "Play on Love" (1975) #49 US
* "With Your Love" (1976) #12 US
* "St. Charles" (1976) #64 US
* "Count on Me" (1978) #8 US
* "Runaway" (1978) #12 US
* "Crazy Feelin'" (1978) #54 US
* "Light the Sky on Fire" (1978) #66 US
* "Jane" (1979) #14 US, #21 UK
* "Girl with the Hungry Eyes" (1980) #55 US
* "Rock Music" (1979)
* "Find Your Way Back" (1981) #29 US
* "Stranger" (1981) #48 US
* "Save Your Love" (1981)
* "Be My Lady" (1982) #28 US
* "Winds of Change" (1983) #38 US
* "Can't Finde Love" (1983)
* "No Way Out" (1984) #23 US
* "Layin' It on the Line" (1984) #66 US
Starship
* "
We Built This City" (1985) #1 US, #12 UK
* "Sara" (1985) #1 US, #66 UK
* "
Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight" (1986) #26 US
* "
Before I Go" (1986) #68 US
* "
Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (1987) #1 US, #1 UK
* "
It's Not Over Til It's Over" (1987) #9 US
* "
Beat Patrol" (1987) #46 US
* "
Set the Night to Music" (1987)
* "
Wild Again" (1988) #73 US
* "
It's Not Enough" (1989) #12 US
* "
I Didn't Mean to Stay All Night" (1989) #75 US
* "
I'll Be There" (1989)
* "
Good Heart" (1991) #87 US
Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation
* "
Let Me Fly" (1998)
*
Official Starship website, includes future dates*
Official website for Jefferson Airplane.
*
'Got A Revolution': Biography of Jefferson Airplane by Jeff Tamarkin*
Jefferson Airplane biography at
Rolling Stone.
*
Jefferson Starship biography at
Rolling Stone.
*
Jefferson Airplane Lyrics.
*
Jefferson Airplane profile, NNDB.
*
Jefferson Airplane Potted History
