While the melodies (and Chubby's vocals) often show a pronounced Jimi Hendrix influence, Chequered! is rooted in hard rock and British R&B rather than lysergic meditation, as Checker demonstrates his abilities as a blues-leaning rock shouter. The resulting album, 1971's Chequered!, is a curiosity that never got a proper release in the United States many have cited it as Chubby's "psychedelic" album, but that's not really an accurate assessment, even though "Stoned in the Bathroom" and "My Mind" are just as loopy as the titles would lead you to expect. Checker needed an image makeover, and he teamed up with manager and producer Ed Chalpin to make a record that would introduce a "new" Chubby Checker to the world. At the dawn of the 1970s, Chubby Checker was forced to face the grim truth that no one really cared about the Twist anymore, and his history as America's greatest champion of dance crazes was doing more to weigh him down than to help him reclaim his stardom.
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