The Nice

One of the first art-rock bands to experiment with classical forms and fusion, the Nice was an early vehicle for the talents of keyboard virtuoso Keith Emerson, who plundered Mozart, Bach, Sibelius, and Tchaikovsky for his extended rock instrumental forays. The group began as the backing band for British soul singer P.P. Arnold and also featured guitarist David O'List, drummer Ian Hague, and bassist Lee Jackson. In September 1967, only four months after formation, the group split from Arnold, replaced Hague with former Mark Leeman Five drummer Brian "Blinky" Davison, and released a single called "The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack," which became the title track of their 1968 debut album. The Nice quickly built a reputation as an exciting, theatrical live band thanks to Emerson, who dressed in silver lame, hurled knives into his Hammond organ to produce strange sounds, and mimed masturbation onstage. Emerson's antics spawned controversy with an adaptation of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story song "America." The Nice performed it at the Royal Albert Hall while trying to burn a replica of an American flag, and Bernstein subsequently attempted to stop the song's release in the U.S., although it was released in edited form on the U.S. release of their second album Ars Longa Vita Brevis.