The music and attitude of Canned Heat attracted a worldwide following and established the band as one of the most popular music acts of the hippie and Counterculture era of the 1960s. Canned Heat appeared at most major musical events at the end of the 1960s, performing blues standards along with their own original material and occasionally indulging in lengthy psychedelic solos. Three of their songs — "Going Up the Country" (1969), "On the Road Again" (1968), and "Let's Work Together" (1970) — became international hits.
Since the early 1970s, numerous personnel changes have occurred. For much of the 1990s and 2000s and following Taylor's death in 2019, de la Parra has been the only member from the band's 1960s lineup. Walter Trout and Junior Watson are among the guitarists who played in later editions of the band.
Canned Heat was started within the community of blues collectors. Bob Hite had been trading blues records since his early teens, and his house in Topanga Canyon was a meeting place for people interested in music. In 1965, some blues devotees there decided to form a jug band and started rehearsals. The initial configuration included Hite as vocalist, Alan Wilson on bottleneck guitar, Mike Perlowin on lead guitar, Stu Brotman on bass and Keith Sawyer on drums. Perlowin and Sawyer dropped out within a few days, so guitarist Kenny Edwards (a friend of Wilson's) stepped in to replace Perlowin, and Ron Holmes agreed to sit in on drums until they could find a permanent drummer.

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