Biography
Though known solely to devoted enthusiasts of San Francisco’s earliest psychedelic era, the Final Solution issued no recordings despite performing locally—including a show at the Fillmore—and completing a month-long residency at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, NV. Their modal, distorted guitar lines and extended instrumental passages echoed those favored by the Great Society and other nascent Bay Area ensembles, yet the group projected a bleaker sensibility through both its lyrics and its droning, minor-key melodies.
Lead guitarist Ernie Fosselius and bassist Bob Knickerbocker supplied most of the original songs, while rhythm guitarist John Yager handled lead vocals. The band came within reach of signing with Chicago’s Mainstream imprint, which had already documented several lesser-known Bay Area acts along with the major-league Big Brother & the Holding Company, but the opportunity yielded nothing. Late in 1966, drummer Jerry Slick—previously of the Great Society alongside his then-wife Grace Slick—joined the lineup and incorporated passages from Great Society material into the Final Solution’s arrangements; 1966 rehearsal tapes in particular contain near-verbatim excerpts from “Grimly Forming” and “Father.”
Demoralized, the musicians disbanded in 1967, after which Fosselius and Knickerbocker turned to film work. Rehearsal and live recordings made that year at San Francisco’s Matrix club still exist, and given the enduring fascination with period psychedelic music, they are likely to surface while most contemporary listeners remain above ground. Although the group never approached the stature of its strongest San Francisco contemporaries, much of its output holds value, above all the folk-rock-oriented pieces “Just Like Gold” and “Bleeding Rose.” Numbers such as “So Long Goodbye” deliver a garage-rock charge, while “If You Want” ventures into raga-rock, the latter featuring a guitar Fosselius assembled by mating a Harmony neck to a mandolin body. A version of “Bleeding Rose” cut at rehearsals with Slick on drums later appeared on a flexi-disc packaged with the debut issue of the San Francisco fanzine Cream Puff War in 1991.
Lead guitarist Ernie Fosselius and bassist Bob Knickerbocker supplied most of the original songs, while rhythm guitarist John Yager handled lead vocals. The band came within reach of signing with Chicago’s Mainstream imprint, which had already documented several lesser-known Bay Area acts along with the major-league Big Brother & the Holding Company, but the opportunity yielded nothing. Late in 1966, drummer Jerry Slick—previously of the Great Society alongside his then-wife Grace Slick—joined the lineup and incorporated passages from Great Society material into the Final Solution’s arrangements; 1966 rehearsal tapes in particular contain near-verbatim excerpts from “Grimly Forming” and “Father.”
Demoralized, the musicians disbanded in 1967, after which Fosselius and Knickerbocker turned to film work. Rehearsal and live recordings made that year at San Francisco’s Matrix club still exist, and given the enduring fascination with period psychedelic music, they are likely to surface while most contemporary listeners remain above ground. Although the group never approached the stature of its strongest San Francisco contemporaries, much of its output holds value, above all the folk-rock-oriented pieces “Just Like Gold” and “Bleeding Rose.” Numbers such as “So Long Goodbye” deliver a garage-rock charge, while “If You Want” ventures into raga-rock, the latter featuring a guitar Fosselius assembled by mating a Harmony neck to a mandolin body. A version of “Bleeding Rose” cut at rehearsals with Slick on drums later appeared on a flexi-disc packaged with the debut issue of the San Francisco fanzine Cream Puff War in 1991.
Albums
Singles
Live
