Country Joe & the Fish

One of the most uncompromising bands of the sixties, the Fish was founded by the folk and protest singer Joe McDonald. He asked fellow musician Barry Melton to play guitar, with Bruce Barthol on bass, Paul Armstrong on tambourine and John Gunning on drums. The band is best known for writing one of the most popular anti-war ballads of the sixties, "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag," in which they encouraged their listeners to be "the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box." They were also famous for their "Fish" cheer: "Give me an F..." (going on to spell out an expletive). The band appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival and at Woodstock. By 1969, after being arrested for inciting an audience to lewd behavior (the cheer), the group began to unravel. Barry Melton is now a public defender in Mendocino County.