STORY OF THE OG BUTT PLUGGER
By the mid-1960s, LSD and other psychedelic drugs had snaked their way into British culture. A rising hippie counterculture, fueled by bands like Pink Floyd and The Yardbirds, was increasingly on the prowl for mind-bending experiences. With its trippy, globular formations and low-light ambience, the Astro Lamp fit the bill. While the lamp’s “sophisticated” marketing got its foot in the door, it found its eventual customer base in the revolutionaries of psychedelia. Craven Walker responded to his new buyers with measured enthusiasm. “If you buy my lamp,” he stated in one ad, “you won’t need drugs.”
The lamps gained steam, and soon enterprising Americans sought to introduce Craven Walker’s product abroad, where psychedelic culture was igniting. At a German trade show in 1965, two businessmen, Adolph Wertheimer and William Rubinstein, bought the North American manufacturing rights for the Astro Lamp, established an office in Chicago, and renamed it “Lava Lite.” Backed by expert marketing and fueled by 1967’s Summer of Love, the lamp began making cameos in major television programs and films. A red model debuted in a 1968 episode of Dr. Who; this was followed by appearances in The Prisoner, The Avengers, and James Bond.
