Canned Heat ( B5 )

 During this "classic" period, Skip Taylor and John Hartmann introduced the use of band member nicknames:

• Bob "The Bear" Hite
• Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson
• Henry "Sunflower" Vestine (and later Harvey "The Snake" Mandel)
• Larry "The Mole" Taylor
• Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra

Their second released album, Boogie with Canned Heat, included "On the Road Again", an updated version of a 1950s composition by Floyd Jones. "On the Road Again" became the band's break-out song and was a worldwide success, becoming a number one hit in most markets and finally put a blues song on the top charts. The album also included a twelve-minute version of "Fried Hockey Boogie", (credited to Larry Taylor, but rather obviously derived from John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen" riff) allowed each member to stretch out on his instrument while establishing them with hippie ballroom audiences across America as the "kings of the boogie". Hite's "Amphetamine Annie" (a "speed kills" tune inspired by the drug abuse of an acquaintance and reminiscent of Albert King's "The Hunter"), became one of their most enduring songs and one of the first "anti-drug" songs of the decade. Although not featured on the album's artwork, this was the first Canned Heat album to have featured drummer de la Parra.

With this success Taylor, Hartmann and new associate Gary Essert leased a Hollywood club they named the Kaleidoscope on Sunset Boulevard east of Vine in which Canned Heat essentially became the house band; hosting others such as Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield and Sly and the Family Stone.

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