Visual Music of
the Electric Collage

The Electric Collage was the new media of the era. It was started as an unorganized group of visual media artists appeared at a coffee house called the Catacombs. At various times they would appear together messing around with projectors and kenitic art with the band.. That quickly evolved, within a one month period, into a two who wanted to go do it for other bands and in better venues. More on that later.

Once it was full time much of the content was produced by Steve Cheatham, an experimental filmmaker and multimedia artist and Frank Hughes the co-producer and the business manager who was also active in the business end of the local music business. Located in Atlanta Georgia they produced shows from 1967 until 1972.

The Electric Collage visual music was produced by combining movies, slides, abstract color and shapes into one "Electric Collage" of images that flowed with the music. It was described by one viewer as "a spectacular visualization of music through color and images designed to extended your musical experience."

What were "light shows" and why did they appear at this time? It was a convergence of many things.

To know more about visual music light shows of the 1960's you have to know what the times were like back then. Marshall McLuhan had written the "Medium is the Massage" a few years back and the new TV culture was cranking up.

In the 1960's television was having a major effect on society for the first time. It had a profound influence on the youth culture. They were the first TV generation to mature and they expected visual media. The visual music light show was a natural addition to music concerts.

"The times they are a changing" sang Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. By 1966 peace and love was becoming a dominant theme among young people, intellectuals and artists while the Vietnam war was at it's peak. There was a great divide in the country as people had to be either "for or against war". Free speech and personal freedoms were being challenged while the government was running the unpopular Vietnam war which was though of by many as being sponsored by large corporations. Black people were being oppressed openly. The hippies and their culture appeared among young people and was in direct opposition to the status quo of the corporations. Many university students had enough of the status quo and protested openly.

Music was a big part of the revolution for the young people. And many people came to expect a light show at a music event. Light shows were a new medium that was exclusively owned by the new culture. The Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd had one as part of their show.

What made the Electric Collage different than the other major light shows in the United States was their unique media library. Their media was produced exclusively by them for their visual music show. Using many experimental film techniques and inventing a few of his own Steve produced "technology pushing" media. The Electric Collage had superior technical and creative capabilities that made their light show several notches above the "garage light shows".

The content was not only visual music, it was an "alternative underground TV channel" for the new culture. Since there were only 3 networks TV media was easily controlled by corporate interests. The light show filled the vacuum with current events for the counterculture blended into the visual music imagery.

The Electric Collage was spontaneous visual music, movie style special effects, underground television and MTV all rolled into one. A jam session of light and sound.

Read more about the light show