Canned Heat appeared at most major musical events at the end of the 1960s, performing blues standards along with their own material and occasionally indulging in lengthy "psychedelic" solos.

Cook already had substantial professional experience, having performed with such jazz luminaries as bassist Charlie Haden, trumpeter Chet Baker, and pianist Elmo Hope, and had also collaborated with black soul/pop artists such as Shirley Ellis and Dobie Gray.

Otis oversaw the session which produced a dozen tracks, including two versions of "Rollin' and Tumblin'" (with and without harmonica), "Spoonful" by Willie Dixon, and "Louise" by John Lee Hooker in his studio in Los Angeles.

Over a summer hiatus in 1966, Stuart Brotman effectively left Canned Heat after he had signed a contract for a long engagement in Fresno with an Armenian belly-dance revue.

He was a former member of the Moondogs and the brother of Ventures' drummer, Mel Taylor, and already had experience backing Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry in concert, and recording studio sessions for the Monkees.

Together with powerhouse vocalist Bob Hite, they performed the country and Chicago blues idiom of the 1950s so skillfully and naturally that the question of which race the music belongs to becomes totally irrelevant.[9]D.A.

Canned Heat also began to garner their notoriety as "the bad boys of rock" for being jailed in Denver, Colorado, after a police informant provided enough evidence for their arrest for drugs (an incident recalled in their song "My Crime").

Band manager Skip Taylor was forced to obtain the $10,000 bail by selling off Canned Heat's publishing rights to Liberty Records president Al Bennett.

[10] After the Denver incident, Frank Cook was replaced with Adolfo de la Parra, who had been playing the drums in Bluesberry Jam (the band which evolved into Pacific Gas & Electric).

As an official member of Canned Heat, de la Parra played his first gig on December 1, 1967, sharing top billing with the Doors at the Long Beach Auditorium.

During this "classic" period, Skip Taylor and John Hartmann introduced the use of band member nicknames: Their second released album, Boogie with Canned Heat, included "On the Road Again", an updated version of a 1950s composition by Floyd Jones.

With this success Taylor, Hartmann and new associate Gary Essert leased a Hollywood club they named the Kaleidoscope, in which Canned Heat essentially became the house band; Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield and Sly and the Family Stone also performed there.

[14] The band ended 1968 in a big way at a New Year's show at the Shrine Auditorium, in Los Angeles, with Bob Hite riding a painted purple dayglo elephant to the stage.

Although the album garnered some critical acclaim and did well in the UK (peaking at number 15), it had only limited commercial success in the U.S.; Returning from Europe in May 1970, an exhausted Larry Taylor left the band to join John Mayall (who had moved to Laurel Canyon, California) and was followed by Mandel.

Shortly after the original Hooker 'n Heat sessions, Wilson, who had always suffered from depression, was said by some to have attempted suicide by driving his van off the road near Hite's home in Topanga Canyon.

That fall they toured Australia and Europe; including a show played in Baarn, Netherlands, for the VPRO television program Piknik and the following summer they appeared at the Turku Festival in Finland.

The album included Hite's vocal duet with Little Richard on "Rockin' with the King", written by Skip Taylor and featuring the guitar playing of both Vestine and Joel Scott Hill.

Frustrated and fed up, Exley joined the Texas Heartbreakers at the end of that year but returned periodically to fill in as a favor to Hite while the band struggled to find permanent members amidst heavy drinking and drug use.

This version referred to by Hite and Mann as the "Burger Brothers" lineup, was soon joined by blind piano player Jay Spell, as Ronnie Barron walked out on the band after a blow-up between himself and Taylor.

This upset Hollywood Fats and Mike Halby was brought in to finish the project; which would not find commercial release until 1981 when former band member Tony de la Barreda put it out under RCA as a tribute album called, In Memory of Bob "The Bear" Hite 1943–1981—"Don't Forget To Boogie".

Nevertheless, Jay Spell was still on board and brought in bass player Jon Lamb; Mike Halby was now a full-time member and long-time guitarist Vestine once again made his return to the band, with Hite and de la Parra as its leaders.

On April 5, 1981, having collapsed from a heroin overdose during a show at the Palomino in Los Angeles, Bob Hite was later found dead in de la Parra's Mar Vista home at the age of 38.

[34] The death of frontman Bob Hite was a devastating blow that most thought would end the career of Canned Heat; however, de la Parra kept the band alive and would lead it back to prosperity over the next few decades.

[35] Under the management of "The Push", the band toured the States playing biker bars and began work on a video known as "The Boogie Assault", starring Canned Heat and various members of the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels.

In 1985, Trout had left to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, so Vestine was once again back in the band and he brought with him new musical talent from Oregon in James Thornbury (slide guitar, harmonica and lead vocals) and Skip Jones (bass).

Replacing Vestine on lead guitar was Junior Watson; his style emulated Hollywood Fats (who died in late 1986) and was perfectly suited for the band as witnessed by the well-regarded album Reheated.

The lineup dissolved in the early 1990s as Junior Watson went his own way and Mandel came back into the fold, bringing along Ron Shumake on bass to take some of the load off of Larry Taylor.

In 1995, James Thornbury left the band with no hard feelings after ten years of service to live the married life in New South Wales, Australia, and new front-man Robert Lucas came in to take his place.

[42] AllMusic writer Joe Viglione wrote of the band, "With Bob Hite and Alan Wilson switching off on vocals, Canned Heat delivered as consistent a blues product as George Thorogood only with more diversity and subtle musical nuances keeping the listener involved".

"[3] SputnikMusic staff wrote that "Canned Heat used the old folk blues style played by legends such as John Lee Hooker as a platform, enriched it with driving boogie elements and served it with a psychedelic vibe.