The musical landscape of the 1960s was certainly not short of profound lyricists or musical geniuses. It was a decade of tremendous artistic expression that forever changed the lineage of popular music. For the most part, though, it was a fairly tribal scene. There were mods, rockers, hippies, folk fans, teenyboppers, and everything in between, with each individual scene rarely overlapping with another. One of the few bands that seemingly managed to unite all factions of the music world was Canned Heat, led by the artistic visionary Alan ‘Blind Owl’ Wilson.
It was Wilson’s deep adoration for old-school blues, which he shared with Bob Hite, that first inspired the formation of Canned Heat in 1965. Rapidly rising through the ranks with their unique take on blues rock, the band became an iconic act of the hippie counterculture age, regularly taking on the influences of psychedelic rock that helped to define that era. Despite being almost synonymous with the hippie movement, Canned Heat managed to enjoy a level of success that completely transcended the subculture, making the blues devotees something of a household name.
There were many bands during the 1960s who took on blues influences, but few did so quite as tactfully as Canned Heat, and Alan Wilson played a key role in that success. So-called for his terrible eyesight, Blind Owl Wilson is undoubtedly among the most influential and groundbreaking songwriters of the 1960s. Tracks like ‘On the Road Again’ and ‘Going Up the Country’ still hold up today, with the distinctive mix of blues and psychedelia proving to be a pretty timeless concoction.
Outside of the world of Canned Heat, however, Wilson’s life was storied by continuous struggle. A quiet overachiever at school, the budding musician was heavily bullied throughout his adolescence, which worsened a plethora of pre-existing mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and sleep paralysis. Seemingly, the rapid rise to the success experienced by Canned Heat, along with the endless travelling incurred with the band, only served to worsen these health issues for Wilson.
Throughout his life, Wilson had multiple suicide attempts, although many of them – such as the incident in which he drove his car off a freeway – were decried as accidents rather than suicide attempts. Regardless of whether or not Wilson intended to commit suicide during the Canned Heat years, it is clear to see, with hindsight, that the songwriter was not doing well.
The expectations and commitments of rock and roll fame were becoming too much for Wilson to handle. Wilson would often seek solace in nature, taking every opportunity to camp in areas of natural beauty like Yosemite or Sequoia National Park when Canned Heat was not on the road. One such camping trip, in September 1970, took a tragic turn. After failing to show up for Canned Heat’s planned tour of Europe, the hugely influential songwriter was found dead in his sleeping bag in Topanga Canyon.
While many people assumed that Wilson’s death was suicide due to his previous attempts and mental health issues, the official cause of death was ruled as an accidental overdose of the barbiturates the musician took in order to manage his anxiety and depression. Furthermore, Wilson left no suicide note, and there were more pills on his person that he did not take, so suicide seems relatively unlikely.
Alan ‘Blind Owl’ Wilson died at the age of only 27, and in the month that followed, fellow counterculture music stars Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix would also pass away at the age of 27, with Jim Morrison soon following. The mysterious death of the Canned Heat co-founder remains one of the most heartbreaking events in the history of rock and roll; his music managed to unite the disparate subcultures of 1960s rock fans, and the songs he wrote have lived on even after Wilson departed.
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