How a Colorado rock band became the soundtrack for NASA's space shuttle missions
In short: Formed by three high school friends in 1986, Big Head Todd and the Monsters evolved from a local bar act into a national touring force. Their journey from a van named The Colonel to the Johnson Space Center reveals a unique intersection of blues-infused rock and American space exploration history.
The band was founded in 1986 by Todd Park Mohr, Brian Nevin, and Rob Squires, who all attended Columbine High School. After their first gig at a University of Colorado party, they spent years touring the Mountain States and West Coast in a van they called The Colonel, covering over 400,000 miles. By 1993, their major label debut, Sister Sweetly, achieved platinum status in the United States, cementing their reputation as a formidable live act.
Their career took a turn toward the celestial in 2005 when they released the single Blue Sky. Written at the request of the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery for the STS-114 Return to Flight mission—the first flight following the Columbia disaster—the song served as a tribute to the American space program. It became a cultural touchstone, later serving as a campaign song for Hillary Clinton in 2008 and being performed as a live wake-up call for the crew of STS-133 in 2011 after winning a NASA song contest.
Beyond their space-faring accolades, the band has maintained a deep connection to the blues. In 2011, they formed the Big Head Blues Club to record 100 Years of Robert Johnson, collaborating with legends like B. B. King and Hubert Sumlin. This project was part of a broader history of high-profile collaborations, including recording with John Lee Hooker and working with producers like Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads. Today, the band continues to record and perform, maintaining a legacy that spans from the Red Rocks Amphitheatre to the heights of orbit.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Big Head Todd and the Monsters
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