Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly was a well-known psychedelic band of the 1960s and is best known for its album, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. With sales of more than 25 million copies, it is currently the 31st bestselling album of all time. It is widely believed that the term “heavy metal” was coined to describe the sound of Iron Butterfly—a band vilified when it first formed—and still not accorded the respect it deserves. The band formed in 1966 and went through multiple personnel changes through its recording career. The original band consisted of Doug Engle, Lee Dorman, and Erik Brann when the 17-minute-long In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was released. Iron Butterfly went on to record three more albums and broke up after playing a final show on May 23, 1971. Interestingly, when Iron Butterfly reformed after a brief split in 1968, both Neil Young and Jeff Beck expressed interest in joining the band as lead guitar, but Ingle decided on Erik Brann.
