Associate Professor Chris Harper (R) was the lead vocalist for The Trippers in the 1960s.
In academic circles, accolades tend to come in the form of scholarships, published articles or successful dissertation defenses.
However, Chris Harper, associate professor of journalism, added an honor this year none of his colleagues at Temple University will likely match.
Harper’s passion in life wasn’t always teaching and journalism. For a few years in the late 1960s, he bled rock ‘n’ roll.
His band, The Trippers, was big in Sioux Falls, S.D. The six high school friends played dances and appeared regularly at the National Guard Armory in Lane, S.D. The town, home to just 25 people, would burst into life during these performances. Harper, the band’s lead vocalist, says hundreds of people would converge on this South Dakotan rock music mecca from outlying towns and farms.
During the few years The Trippers rocked stages in the Midwest – they broke up after graduating from high school – they gained a solid fan base, earned a few paychecks and, maybe most importantly for a high school rock band, wooed some girls.
Their impact is now permanently enshrined. The Trippers have been inducted into the South Dakota Rock and Roll Music Association’s Hall of Fame.
So what made The Trippers stand out in the Mount Rushmore state’s musical history?
“Well, South Dakota is a small state,” Harper admits with a laugh.
Approximately 1,600 people attended the April 24 induction ceremony in Sioux Falls. The second annual event honored nine bands from the 1960s – last year, bands from the 1950s were inducted.
A New Frontman
When Harper’s family moved to Sioux Falls during his sophomore year of high school, The Trippers had already been together for about a year. The guys shared singing duties, but they decided to audition for a lead vocalist. Harper says his competition really wasn’t all that fierce and he easily won the spot as the band’s singer.
They played a lot of Motown, especially when slow songs were requested at dances, but their passion really came out through The Rolling Stones, The Doors and Cream.
He says his experience with The Trippers was quite similar to the band in the film The Commitments. The movie brought back a lot of memories from his years with the band and he has included the story of The Trippers in his new book, “Flyover Country: Tales of Baby Boomers,” which details the lives his 1969 high school graduation class.
Harper writes about one of his favorite songs to perform: “I always enjoyed singing Barrett Strong’s ‘Money (That’s What I Want),’ which was Strong’s big hit in 1959 for Berry Gordy, the driving force behind Motown Records. Gordy had worked on the assembly lines of the Detroit automakers and successfully used that approach to produce songs of black artists. I actually sang and played the song with Gordy when I produced a profile of him for ABC’s 20/20. He said it was too bad he hadn’t discovered me a few years earlier. I couldn’t have agreed more!”
Influenced by The Byrds’ “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘N’ Roll Star,” the boys decided they needed to be recorded and traveled to Minneapolis’ Dove Recording Studios. It was the first of three 45s they would put to vinyl.
Among The Trippers’ biggest moments happened as a result of winning a battle of the bands in Sioux Falls. The top prize was a free recording session, as well as the opportunity to open up for Neil Diamond.
“For a group with relatively little talent, The Trippers became touted as South Dakota’s No. 1 rock band. Fortunately, we didn’t have to compete with those from the other 49 states and the British rockers,” Harper writes in his book.
Harper never joined another band, but will still grab a microphone, to the embarrassment of his teenage daughter, when karaoke is available. He likes modern rock ‘n’ roll (he says the genre has recovered from a lull in the 1980s and 1990s) and enjoys being able to listen to the radio with his daughter.
The only captive audiences Harper performs in front of now are the students in his classroom and his days as a rock star are only just memories. But now, those memories and The Trippers’ story will live forever in the South Dakota Rock and Roll Music Association’s Hall of Fame.
