Prior to etching out a solo career and morphing into one of the biggest stadium rockers of the ’70s, Peter Frampton had been a fully paid-up member of the English rock group Humble Pie. By 1970, the band had during the course of its relatively short existence, transitioned from a soulful bluesy infused combo into a much heavier- and darker-sounding outfit which would be showcased in its full glory on the group’s 1971 live outing, Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore.
Frampton’s reputation as a hard-rocking guitarist was solidified on that album, in particular on its stand-out track, “I Don’t Need No Doctor.” Written by the team of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, with Jo Armstead — a former Ivette with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue — “I Don’t Need No Doctor” first achieved popularity after Ray Charles recorded and released a version in 1966.
But Humble Pie’s dynamic cover, performed live onstage, would forever secure it as a rock and roll classic. It would even go on to become a staple of Frampton’s solo live set for many years to come.
Remarkably, it all came into being out of a spontaneous soundcheck jam at Madison Square Garden in December 1970 as Humble Pie prepared their opening set for headliners Grand Funk Railroad.
“It was the first time I ever played Madison Square Garden, right before we were to do the Rockin' the Fillmore record,” Frampton recalled to this writer in 2005. “I just remember never ever having seen one of these places. And it was quite a large 22,000-seater venue at the time.
“We were doing the soundcheck, and as my amplifier was one of the first ones to be plugged in, I just started playing this heavy E chord so I could hear how long the reverberation was on it.”
As Frampton recalls, drummer Jerry Shirley happened to be sitting at his kit.
“Jerry began playing a rhythm as I started playing these three chords: E G and A,” he explains.
So we rehearsed it then and arranged it, and did it that same night. And it just tore the place apart. And then we did it every night after that.”
— Peter Frampton
Lead singer and guitarist Steve Marriott was off in the seating area, standing by the mixing board. The music coming off the stage clearly had him excited.
“Steve came running toward the stage,” Frampton continues. “Then Greg [Ridley] starts playing along with me on bass, and Steve starts singing, ‘I Don't Need No Doctor.’
“So we rehearsed it then and arranged it, and did it that same night. And it just tore the place apart.
“And then we did it every night after that.”
For their May 1971 performance at New York City’s Fillmore East, Frampton plugged his 1954 Les Paul Custom electric guitar into a 100-watt Marshall head and 4x12 Marshall cabinet, paired with a 50-watt Marshall head into a 4x12 cabinet, turning the track into a powerful show-stopping anthem. Pie’s set was filled with blues rock and boogie rock tunes, but “I Don’t Need No Doctor” offered fans a glimpse into Frampton’s preference for heavy rock and what lay ahead for him in his solo years.
Shortly before Rockin’ the Fillmore’s November 1971 release of the live album, Frampton exited the group for a solo career where, in 1976, the phenomenal commercial success of Frampton Comes Alive propelled him to superstardom.
But he never forgot the thrill that came from Humble Pie’s spontaneous transformation of “I Don’t Need No Doctor.”
“That was one of the most exciting moments in my musical career,” he states. “Just the fact that it came out of nowhere!”
