The Lemon Pipers

The Lemon Pipers The Lemon Pipers were an American psychedelic/garage rock band from Oxford, Ohio, formed in 1966 by college students Bill Bartlett (guitar/vocals), Bill Albaugh (drums), Bob “Reg” Nave (keyboards), Ivan Browne (vocals/guitar), and Steve Walmsley (bass). Signed to Buddah Records, they scored their only major hit with “Green Tambourine” (1967, No. 1 Hot 100), a trippy, sitar-driven psych-pop track written by Paul Leka and Shelley Pinz that sold over a million copies and defined bubblegum psychedelia. Follow-ups like “Rice Is Nice” and “Jelly Jungle” charted lower. Despite talent (they preferred harder rock), label pressure pushed novelty material, leading to their 1969 breakup. Members pursued other paths; most originals have passed (e.g., Albaugh 2001, Nave 2020). As of 2026, no active touring lineup exists—the band is defunct, with legacy tied to “Green Tambourine” as a psychedelic classic. Discussions and podcasts (e.g., 2026 episodes) revisit their non-bubblegum roots, but they remain a short-lived 1960s artifact of the era’s garage-to-psych transition