The Generations was essentially founded in the early 1960s by drummer Wayne Newitt and Errol Lisonbee while both were students at Hilltop Junior High School in Chula Vista, later joined by an older teen guitarist named George Barrett for a band named the Coachmen.
They evolved into the Generations, with a roster of guitarists that included Doug Latislaw and Chuck Pepitone. The Generations self-released one single in 1968.
Newitt also played with Rick Randle's band the ManDells in 1965, and both he and Doug Latislaw also played with Randle (of the Other Four and later the Brain Police") in a shortlived group called Me and the Others.
Newitt recalls on his website "The Generations made quite a splash in the San Diego area, starting with the first place prize in the KCBQ Starmaker Contest, which was a Battle of the Bands held at the annual Custom Car Show at the San Diego Community Concourse in March of 1966. We won a big trophy and a recording session at Audio Recorders on Fifth Avenue in Hillcrest. Although very archaic by today's standards, Audio Recorders was a state of the art recording studio, for San Diego anyway." They recorded two mono tracks, "Nowhere Man" and "Slow Down."
After playing a number of local and L.A. clubs, Lisonbee was replaced by Greg Youtsey, as the group took on more of a blues-inspired sound circa 1966/1967. By 1970, they were a folk three-piece (Wayne Newitt, Doug Latislaw, Greg Youtsey) recording tracks at Bonita Recording Studio like "Woodstock" and "Long Time Gone" (by CSN), "Badge" (Cream), and "Aimless Lady" and "Inside Looking Out" (Grand Funk Railroad).
The trio was later joined by Trilogy keyboardist John Brown for a new band called Tacoma.