(Credits: Far Out / Grunt / ICM Partners)
Thu 15 January 2026 20:45, UK
In 1974, Jefferson Aeroplane were slowly but surely reborn.
The legendary psychedelic rock band had been on a break for some time, after the early 1970s saw the band experiment with recording concept albums, solo albums and eventual new projects.
There was a clear divide within the group, though. Drummer Spencer Dryden was dismissed from the band in 1970; Grace Slick and Paul Kantner formed a relationship that same year, had their daughter, China, the following year, and began recording together with various musicians; and Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady began to increasingly prioritise their band Hot Tuna, leaving Marty Balin on his own in the fractured group.
In 1970, Kantner recorded Blows Against the Empire, a science fiction concept album about a group of people who escape Earth in a hijacked starship. Featured on the album are Slick and Cassady alongside a cast of musicians, including David Crosby, Graham Nash, drummer Joey Covington and members of the Grateful Dead. The album is credited to Paul Kantner and “Jefferson Starship”, the first use of the moniker that would come to define Jefferson Airplane’s next phase.
With three more projects forged by the Kantner/Slick duo that followed, Kaukonen and Casady left Jefferson Airplane to focus on Hot Tuna full-time (though their departure was never officially announced). Kantner decided to continue in their absence, assembling a new touring band and formally renaming it as Jefferson Starship.
Launching into another intergalactic realm of their own creation, the band met near-instant success, growing from their psychedelic origins into a melding of soft-rock and arena rock. 1975’s Red Octopus would be the biggest-selling album of the band’s career, but the band would soon face turmoil, with Slick’s alcoholism hindering her ability to perform live. She left the group in 1978, only to return in 1981.
The mid-1980s saw another shift when Kantner, the last remaining founding member of Jefferson Airplane, departed Jefferson Starship over disputes with artistic direction. A legal battle ensued, with Kantner seeking money he claimed he was owed and attempting to prevent the remaining band members from using the “Jefferson Starship” name. Kantner received a cash settlement, in turn, and the name “Jefferson Starship” became the property of Grace Slick and their manager, Bill Thompson, in a near-50/50 split. All parties agreed not to use the name going forward.
The band rebranded as Starship, with Slick continuing to tour and record until 1988. Looking back on her few years spent with Starship, Slick does not remember it particularly fondly.
“I didn’t care for Starship anyway,” she admitted to Anti Music in 2007. “Like, the ’80s version of Starship was just all…songs were written by other people and ah, God, it was just dumb.”
Starship debuted with ‘We Built This City’, “We had a lot of number ones, but I don’t really care about number ones,” she continued. “I’d rather do music that’s interesting and different and is written by the band, not somebody else. So I’m kind of a stickler on that kind of stuff.”
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