Plans for "Strawberry Peppers: The Second Coming"

This is something that I've wanted to do for a long time since I started work on Strawberry Peppers in 2018, long before this blog came to fruition. All eighty chapters covering events from 1966 to 1985, with a bit of 1965 to set the stage (an average of four chapters per year), were intended to serve as a first draft for the story. I chose 1985 as the cut off point because as the story progressed, I knew I was going to have a hard time writing out what would happen next after Live Aid, with the Clash's This is The Clash being the sole exception. It was better for the first draft to burn out than to fade away.

So, with all that being said, had I personally done a good job on the first draft? Well, in some areas, yes, but in others, I feel like I could've done them better justice. Here are five artists, in no particular order, that I feel like are going to need some reworking when I start work on what will become The Second Coming. Alongside that, I'll also be listing bands under a sixth category and determine whether or not they'll play a role in The Second Coming. Each of them will take up about a paragraph, but for now, the big ones.

The Beatles

As evidenced by the title, the Beatles are the main focus of this alternate history. My inspiration behind the idea of John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr forming a new band separate from Paul McCartney came from an October 2013 article by Paste magazine telling a five part story as to what might have happened had the Beatles continued without Paul. An interesting idea in theory, although that article's hypothetical scenario did have some plot holes: For example, did Paul ever record "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" as a response to Bloody Sunday, or what about "Live and Let Die" for the film of the same name? And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

For the early stages of the first draft, I had the Beatles do things that didn't really add much to the overall narrative. Among them being the Alice in Wonderland album and film; that could've easily been cut and the Beatles would've been more likely to record an album that didn't focus on a concept or story. Not to mention that for the Ladders, at least the earlier albums, would John have agreed to including "My Sweet Lord" on their debut album? George agreeing to "God"? And on the same album, no less? In real life, both tired of the band concept in the 1970s while Paul was unable to move on from that, hence he formed Wings (more on that later). On top of that, the Beatles reunited in 1980, which very much rendered the Ladders/Dark Horses/Paul McCartney & Smile storyline somewhat pointless. It would've made better sense if A) the Beatles remained together in the 70s, or B) the Beatles remained broken up for the 80s onward.

The solution? Choice A. But in order to get to that, I'll have to have the Beatles go through some changes before 1970 in order for them to stay together for at least five more years. In retrospect, I feel like my four-part mini series "An Alternative Beatles Discography - No Covers" is a more definitive take on how I would've handled the Beatles' story. Have them include all original material on Please Please Me and give George Harrison is due earlier on. So that will be the basis for the Beatles' story in Strawberry Peppers: The Second Coming. Some ideas from the first draft will be carried over into TSC like John Lennon ending up with Madeline Kahn instead of Yoko Ono, albeit in a different manner.

Queen/Smile

Part of the reason behind the original version of Strawberry Peppers was a question I doubt anyone else has tried to answer - "what if Paul McCartney formed a band with Brian May and Roger Taylor?" That was where I came up with the track listing for A Night at the Rock Show, combining Paul's material from Venus and Mars (plus "Spirits of Ancient Egypt" sung by Denny Laine) with Brian and Roger's vocal spots from A Night at the Opera. I do have a soft spot for that playlist, and I still have it saved on my hard drive.

However, as fun an idea as it was, it didn't really make much sense from a historical standpoint; Tim Staffell quit Smile in 1970 to join Humpy Bong, and then he later became a part of Jonathan Kelly's Outside before moving onto Morgan, led by Morgan Fisher of Love Affair (later Mott the Hoople), neither group of which were mentioned once in the first draft. To be fair, neither band made it very big, and they disbanded just as quickly as they had formed. And of course, Tim would go on to make models for Thomas the Tank Engine. Even in a world where Smile signed onto Apple Records in the late 1960s, I doubt Tim would've stayed on for very long.

So, what I'm thinking of doing instead is making Freddie a part of Smile from the get go per OTL, but with Tim Staffell still as their bassist, perhaps being convinced to stay on for at least the first album, released in 1972 under Apple. After that, John Deacon comes aboard as their bassist and the band is renamed Queen. It's a pretty similar situation to Badfinger starting out as the Iveys when they joined Apple Records.

The Beach Boys

I'm just going to say this outright - killing off Brian Wilson during the production of Smile was the biggest mistake I made for the first draft. It seemed like an interesting idea at the time when planning out the story, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that he contributed more to music than Mike Love ever did, and by killing off Brian, that just leaves major butterflies; too many to list, in fact. That's a whole other can of worms altogether.

So, that's why for The Second Coming, the Beach Boys do end up completing Smile with Brian still living, and the band lasts until 1973 with Holland, the group splitting up due to creative differences, and they end up maintaining a good track record instead of becoming shells of themselves until 2012's That's Why God Made the Radio. As for what I'll do with the post-1973 material, I'm not sure at the moment, but it'll be interesting to have albums by Brian, Dennis and Carl under the Wilson Brothers. I'd also like to keep one other brother alive so that Brian's not the sole survivor.

The Rolling Stones

I don't know why, but I found the idea of David Bowie joining the Rolling Stones instead of Mick Taylor in 1969 to be a fascinating one. The problem? I gave David too many vocal spots on their albums and didn't leave much room for Mick and Keith, both in terms of songwriting and vocal spots. I'll have to revise their 1969-1976 discography so that David has around two or three tracks per album (sometimes four, depending upon what's available), and that he also has the chance to have a concurrent solo career like leaving Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane as solo albums. As for 1976 and beyond... well, spoilers.

It'd also be interesting to tackle their pre-Could You Walk on the Water? material to see how the albums would be different. It all depends on what's available and whether or not I can make alternate albums for 1964 and 1965.

Genesis

Genesis were pretty much a last-minute inclusion for the first draft, as was the idea of Kim Beacon of String Driven Thing taking over on lead vocals for Peter Gabriel. However, as it turned out, while he was a talented musician in OTL, Kim was not the most disciplined, and it was likely because of excess drinking and drugs, pretty much any musician's bane, which could've been what led to his early death in 2001. Another idea was to bring forth John Wetton of King Crimson, which would've butterflied away the band U.K., but that also had problems; Phil Collins received criticism for causing Genesis to go pop, and Wetton would've likely been hit with the same criticism.

Then there was the possibility of having Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford all staying together up to at least the early 2000s, but that too has problems since their respective solo careers in OTL gave them more room to experiment and expand upon their horizons. There's a Reddit post suggesting what their discography may have been like had Peter and Steve (as well as Phil, come 1996) had stayed on. It's a nice idea, but a bit messy for my tastes, not to mention pretty restrictive.

So, what could I do for Genesis in The Second Coming? Something that I'm considering, besides having them signed onto Apple outright, is to have Peter Gabriel stay on and Phil Collins leave after recording A Trick of the Tail (with "Here Comes the Flood", started in 1975, as the closing track instead of "Los Endos"). Steve Hackett still leaves following Wind & Wuthering, leaving Genesis with just three of its core founding members. Genesis and solo Peter Gabriel seem to have parallels between them, although it's probably coincidental, but they could've been more or less alert and aware of each others' activities throughout 1976-1992. It's too good of an idea to resist, but we'll see where it goes.

Other Artists

In general - With some exceptions, I don't see too many of these artists having a huge focus for The Second Coming. At most, they'd probably each have a vignette dedicated to their discography from a certain timeframe or their entire discography, depending on how long they lasted.

Badfinger - The most that I've done with them is fix up Magic Christian Music to avoid double-dipping, improve upon their 1972 album, and have Head First released earlier. I still love the idea of having Pete Ham and Tom Evans survive, though I doubt we'll see a Badfinger reunion album post-1975. This one's a maybe, leaning towards being a keeper. We'll see.

The Bee Gees - I do like the idea of Andy Gibb joining his big brothers in the late 1977s, so perhaps that could stay on. I might do more with the Bee Gees in their pre-disco days, but hopefully not in a way that's directly copying Mass' A Crazy Gift of a Time. Oh yes, and their Odessa film for 1978? That'll be a keeper too.

Bob Dylan - Not too sure about Bob here; there's a lot - and I do mean a lot - written about paths he might have taken in the 1960s, I don't even know where to begin. Either I do something with him or I leave his path mostly unchanged, except maybe by releasing The Basement Tapes in 1967.

The Clash - The Reconstructor recently posted about condensing Sandinista! into a double album instead of a triple album, and I do like the idea there, although having three double albums back to back within a three year period is a bit overkill. I could change up the track listings for Something About England and my own take on Sandinista!, but other than that, I don't see the Clash's story changing up that much.

Cream/Eric Clapton - I might polish up the 1969-1971 Cream albums a bit, but otherwise, not much would change. Eric Clapton would maintain a solo career from 1974 onward, and he doesn't become part of a second supergroup in the 1970s. I've considered having him killed off in the early 1990s as I don't feel like he contributed much to music after 1992's "Tears in Heaven".

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - The Reconstructor is currently undergoing a project where Neil Young's albums from the 1970s make actual chronological sense and he doesn't shelve projects like a madman. I've even done a chart in Excel to keep track of what was recorded back then and when they were initially released. I'm hoping Archives Vol. 3 comes out in 2022 like Neil says, so we can have a more complete picture of him in the 70s. But where does that leave, Crosby, Stills & Nash? The idea of Neil never joining the trio is an interesting prospect, so I've decided to see if I could expand upon the other side of the coin, showing how the trio thrives without Neil.

The Electric Light Orchestra - Looking back at the Move's Looking On and Message from the Country, they feel more like ELO albums pre-No Answer (a.k.a. ELO's eponymous debut), so I feel like making them part of the ELO canon. Aside from that, not much would change for them in The Second Coming. Still unsure about 1986 onward though...

Fleetwood Mac - I like the idea of Fleetwood Mac doing solo projects in 1979 instead of Tusk, originally inspired by this post by Uncle Dan, who's also done something similar with Lindsey Buckingham. For The Second Coming, I might do a similar scenario; in addition, Mirage remains intact, but the band still does an album for 1985 alongside solo projects. I'm also thinking of having Lindsey and Stevie stay with the band into the 1990s, and perhaps they bring in Neil Finn later on to bring in some fresh blood for the band.

Jimi Hendrix - I featured him once in Phase One and briefly went over what he did next, but in hindsight, I probably should've cut Jimi's story altogether as it added nothing in the long run.

Kiss - Similar story, different artist. Again, I had them put out a double album with each member having a side to themselves and re-arranged Music from "The Elder" based upon an alternate track listing. The storyline went nowhere and could easily have been cut out.

Led Zeppelin/The Yardbirds - One thing I could've changed up in retrospect is having the band rename themselves Led Zeppelin per OTL, as I doubt Chris Dreja would've agreed to let Jimmy Page and co. use the Yardbirds' name when none of the original members were left. Something else that I'm thinking of changing, however, is having Robert Plant killed in a car crash in 1975 and the band breaks up because of it. Similarly, I'd thought of having Keith Richards die in his 1976 car crash, and then Jimmy Page takes over on guitar for the Rolling Stones, while John Bonham eventually takes over as drummer for The Who (more on that in a bit). Not too sure about John Paul Jones post-1975, though. And speaking of car accidents, considering what also almost happened with Phil Spector in 1974 and Peter Frampton in 1978, what is it with rock musicians and car crashes in the 70s? And before the age of 35 too?

The Monkees - They more or less fell off the radar after Phase One, save for Peter Tork working under Highway 61 Records. I did see The Reconstructor make a post as to what the Monkees' next album would've been like had Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart not been shoved to the side regarding the band's output, and how that would've affected their next few years as a group. That would make for an interesting twist, I reckon! But first, I'll need to arrange their songs as to when they were initially started on and when they were first released, and then work from there.

Ozzy Obsourne/Black Sabbath - This one's a bit tempting to keep on; Ozzy Osbourne dying in 1982 and Black Sabbath continuing with Ronnie James Dio does have a lot of storytelling potential behind it. I did introduce this fairly late into Phase Three, but we'll see if more can be done with it for The Second Coming.

Pink Floyd/Roger Waters - Roger Waters quitting Pink Floyd in 1977 is certainly a plausible point of divergence for sure, especially seeing how the band continues on without him. Something I could change up, however, is having Syd Barrett leave in the late 1960s while the Floyd carries on without him. I'd also probably cut out the Hunky Dory subplot as it'd create headaches if I kept it. I could still probably do something with Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground though...

Sex Pistols - I could still have them do a second album, but a third and beyond, I'm not so sure about. It all depends on what material by the band members post-Pistols was available back then during a specific time frame. I would probably have to remove the "Sid and Nancy kill Diana Ross" storyline as it was something else that I feel like I included just for shock value. Not to mention that Diana did some good music in the 1980s that, like Brian Wilson post-1973, I completely took no account for at all.

Tom Petty & Mudcrutch - For them, I added cut tracks to the 1976-1985 albums and created a "prequel" album for 1975. I probably won't change up what I wrote for them.

The Who - Might add in stuff about their 1964-1966 output, based upon what Albums That Never Were did, in creating Introducing The Who and Jigsaw Puzzle. Of course, like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Monkees, I'll have to arrange songs based upon when they were first written and recorded to make them sound authentic, so don't be surprised if I decide to change up a few track listings here and there. In addition, I thought of having the band kick Keith Moon out when his antics become too much for them to handle (not sure if he still dies in September 1978 or earlier; I think he was destined to die young) and they bring in a newly-sober John Bonham.

Yes - I'm going to have to cut their storyline altogether as I didn't really develop it all that well and like Kiss, it was just an excuse to put a lot of their solo material under the same banner.

The Zombies - Much like a fair number of bands that started in the 60s, I'll have to do more research on them as to when their songs were recorded and make new albums based upon notes. Hopefully I'll be able to do them better justice for The Second Coming.

TL;DR

As you can tell by a lot of the above, I've decided to change up a lot of storylines and drop some altogether in order to ensure that there is a coherent flow for The Second Coming. To quote Michael Ian Black, "your harshest critic is always going to be yourself." Looking back, I made a lot of mistakes and feel like if I was writing it right now, I'd have done things a hundred times better than I did. Now that I've finished up all eighty chapters of the first draft and given myself a self-analysis over what I could've done differently, I hope to start work on the first few chapters for The Second Coming during next year.

Of course, I do believe that you, the readers, deserve to provide some input as well regarding what I've got in mind for each the storylines. I'm working on a draft timeline that will serve as the bible for The Second Coming, as well as several documents and sheets of supplementary material that further flesh out band and label discographies. No matter what you say, I'm appreciative of any and all comments I receive from you, and I'm quite proud of the work I've done thus far on Strawberry Peppers. I hope to see you all soon for The Second Coming!