I agree. If you wen't around in those days, I suggest you watch John Waters' Hairspray  to get a sense of how mundane things were in the early 60s, musically and otherwise. The Airplane came up with a signature approach to creating music, and did it pretty much out of the blue. In other words, they weren't copying a style or building on previous work.  Not only the interplay between Jorma & Jack, which is brilliant, but also the three vocalists interweaving their voices like additional instruments, playing off each other & the music. They were great live, too, which is not true for a lot of bands. They could take their music and really stretch out. Forty years later, I can still put on the JA music and get a rush. I especially like Greasy Heart. I doesn't bother me that Grace & Paul, et al went commercial with JS in the 70s and made some big bucks. They deserve it for the genius material they produced in the 60s. And, commecially, some of the JS music is fine. I was also at the Chet Helms Memorial and was please to see Kantner put in one of the best performances of the day..