Happy birthday to a true rock & roll countercultural hero, Mick Farren! His band The Deviants were one of the heaviest psychedelic, proto-punk bands of the late '60s and were part of London's underground scene along with Soft Machine, Syd Barrett & the Pink Floyd, Lemmy & Hawkwind, Mark Bolan and Pink Fairies.
He cut away from the music for a bit in the first half of the '70s to focus on his writing projects. He is well-known as a writer & social critic for NME and other publications as well as several novels, biographies and non-fiction books and he organized festivals and food drives.
Returning to music in the mid '70s he did projects with Chrissie Hynde, Wayne Kramer, Marky Ramone, actor Brad Dourif and members of Dr Feelgood and wrote some lyrics for Hawkwind, Pink Fairies and Motorhead. The Deviants would play and record once in awhile as well. He collapsed onstage at a Deviants show and died shortly after at 69.