Let’s Remember that Kenny Rogers was Also a Rock Star

The world lost a great star with the passing of Kenny Rogers on Friday. Kenny Rogers had 21 Number One hits on the Billboard Country charts, Grammy-winner and purveyor of fine roast chicken products. But in the Sixties Kenny Rogers was also a bona fide rock star.

Kenny Rogers burst onto the country scene in 1977. But, a decade before that Kenny Rogers and the band he was in, The First Edition, had a huge hit with “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In). 1967 was the height of the hippie counter-culture and JDITSWCMCWI (sorry, I’m not typing out that whole title every time) was VERY psychedelic! I mean, this song was groovy, outta sight AND far out! Jimi Hendrix told Kenny that it was his “favorite song of all time”. It’s one of those songs that you put in a movie to convey feeling of “this is in the sixties” OR “this character is tripping balls”.

Also, it’s the trippy song that plays when The Dude is drugged at the party at Jackie Treehorn’s beach-house in The Big Lebowski. Dude passes out and dreams about bowling, Valkyries and Saddam Hussein.

And, just like that, I’m going home to celebrate the life of Kenny Rogers by watching The Big Lebowski for the 37th time.