Ep524: Population II - Randy Holden's Enduring Legacy

The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds

Nate Goyer

Music, Music History, Music Interviews

4.7 • 579 Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Guitar pioneer Randy Holden reveals how record label incompetence destroyed his 1970 masterpiece Population II, leading to depression, exile in Hawaii, and eventual vindication through cult status.

Get Population II and III at Riding Easy Records or preorder Population II reissue at Noble Records online

Topics Include:

Randy Holden is surprised Population II remains influential after recording it in 1970
He knew it would be big—there was nothing like it musically then
Population II was ready to release with Sun Amplifiers sponsoring monthly magazine ads
National promoters wanted to book shows but needed the album released first
Hobbit Records delayed release for eight or nine months, destroying Randy's career
The label wouldn't release the record or let Randy out of his contract
Owner Leonard Poncher's background was Latino music and auto parts wholesaling
Randy was creating a new form of music that became known as heavy metal
Poncher's lawsuit with MCA distribution completely tied up the album's release
Recording Population II went smoothly with Randy overdubbing all bass parts himself
He used four to eight amps recording through a Fender Jazz Bass
Engineer Hank Cicalo placed three mics at different distances for guitar tone
Randy pioneered mixing through car speakers instead of massive studio monitors
His original mix had full dynamics with sweeping highs and lows
Mastering engineers destroyed the mix, cutting frequencies to prevent needle skips
Randy joined Blue Cheer replacing Dickie Peterson but left over musical differences
Blue Cheer wanted shorter songs while Randy pursued extended musical compositions
He formed Population II with Chris Lockheed on keyboards and organ bass pedals
The name meant two people creating massive sound usually requiring four musicians
Randy's guitar journey began with Fender IV, then Sons of Adam
The Other Half featured Randy's early heavy guitar work before Blue Cheer
He recorded Guitar God album in 1997 after decades away from music
Nobody knows the original Population II pressing number
Recent remasters by engineers in New York and Smokey Taylor improved the sound
Randy's broken ring finger now prevents him from playing guitar properly
He manipulated audiences' emotions playing solos through walls of amps for thousands
Randy considers music like movies—"Land of the Sun" is theatrical drama
Playing live was his reason for living, creating heavenly musical moments
His legacy continues through reissues on Riding Easy Records reaching new generations

Extended and High resolution version of this podcast is available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide

Apple: https://tinyurl.com/tvg-ios
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/tvg-spot
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/tvg-amazon
Support the show at Patreon.com/VinylGuide

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds.
0:10.0	Here's your host, the biggest record nerd of them all, Nate Goyer.
0:13.0	Oh, well, hey, everyone, it's Nate.
0:15.0	Welcome to episode 524 of the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. And dear people,
0:23.1	today we are very happy to be welcoming on the show, Mr. Randy Holden. And if you don't know
0:29.8	Randy, you most certainly will know the influence of his work. Early in his career in the late
0:35.7	60s, Randy was amongst the most in-demand guitarists in
0:40.1	rock music. He was recruited to be in Blue Cheer. He nearly joined the Yardbirds. He put out one of the most
0:47.0	collectible records of the 70s rock genre and then just disappeared, literally, for decades.
0:54.2	His work is universally highly revered.
0:57.0	The records and recordings he's on are incredible, quite timeless, in fact.
1:01.4	Randy's considered by many to be one of the key influencers and architects of heavy metal music.
1:07.7	And you know, it's clear Randy's got some great talent, but he's also had some of the
1:11.6	absolute worst luck. His solo album, Population 2, reportedly had only 88 copies pressed at the time.
1:21.5	But, you know, many people doubt that number. Dylan over at Noble Records thinks it's probably
1:26.3	closer to two or three hundred copies
1:28.2	pressed. To me, that number feels incredibly low, but you know, Dylan spends a lot of time
1:33.5	swimming in those waters, so whatever the true number is, we'll probably never know. But because of
1:38.7	that number, Population 2 is amongst the most sought after albums for collectors of heavy and early psych and rock
1:46.5	music.
1:47.4	Luckily, we have some great reissues, and we still have Randy, who released Population 3,
1:53.3	the follow-up to Population 2, a few years ago, through writing easy records.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Nate Goyer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Nate Goyer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.