Surrealistic Pillow

Surrealistic Pillow
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 1, 1967 (1967-02-01)[1]
RecordedOctober 31 – November 22, 1966
StudioRCA Victor (Hollywood, California)
Genre
Length33:40
LabelRCA Victor
ProducerRick Jarrard[7]
Jefferson Airplane chronology
Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
(1966)
Surrealistic Pillow
(1967)
After Bathing at Baxter's
(1967)
Singles from Surrealistic Pillow
  1. "My Best Friend"
    Released: December 1966[8]
  2. "Somebody to Love"
    Released: February 1967
  3. "White Rabbit"
    Released: June 1967

Surrealistic Pillow is the second studio album by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane, released on February 1, 1967, by RCA Victor. It is the first album by the band with vocalist Grace Slick and drummer Spencer Dryden. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[9] It is considered to be one of the most influential and quintessential works of the early psychedelic rock era and 1960s counterculture.[10][11][12][13]

"My Best Friend" was released as the first single in December 1966 but only reached No. 103 on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart. Two more singles were released in the spring of 1967: "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" peaked respectively at number five and number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and are the band's only Top 40 hits on that chart. "Today" was not released as a single but was played often on college radio and rock stations and remains one of their most popular songs. It was also recorded by jazz saxophonist Tom Scott for his 1967 album The Honeysuckle Breeze; this version was sampled in the song "They Reminisce Over You" by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth.

In 2024, the album was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” to American recorded music.[14]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference allmusic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Review: Surrealistic Pillow // Jefferson Airplane". Audioxide. November 9, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 94. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  4. ^ Huxley, Martin (1995). Psychedelia: the long strange trip. Friedman/Fairfax. p. 21. ISBN 978-1567992274.
  5. ^ "The 50 best psychedelic rock albums of the Summer of Love". BrooklynVegan. June 16, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  6. ^ "Welcome to the Studio". jeffersonairplane.com. Archived from the original on 2017-05-06. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  7. ^ Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. Canongate Press. p. 430. ISBN 9780862415419.
  8. ^ "Gold & Platinum". RIAA.
  9. ^ Talevski, Nick (7 April 2010). Rock Obituaries – Knocking on Heaven's Door. Omnibus Press. pp. 144–. ISBN 978-0-85712-117-2.
  10. ^ Martin Charles Strong (2006). The Essential Rock Discography. Canongate. pp. 559–. ISBN 978-1-84195-860-6.
  11. ^ Eder, Bruce. "Jefferson Airplane: Surrealstic Pillow". Allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved 2014-06-11.
  12. ^ James E. Perone (2004). Music of the Counterculture Era. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 117–. ISBN 978-0-313-32689-9.
  13. ^ Grein, Paul (April 16, 2024). "The Notorious B.I.G., The Chicks, Green Day & More Selected for National Recording Registry (Full List)". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2024.