Podcast appearances and mentions of The Bobby Fuller Four

A History Of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2024

Label: Mustang 3014Year: 1966Condition: MLast Price: $36.00. Not currently available for sale.This is one of the records, along with some of the early Beatles and many others, that demonstrated one way that rockabilly transitioned into a musical form that became known as Power Pop. Absolutely essential single â€” note that both Rolling Stone (#177) and Dave Marsh (#102) put it high on their respective lists of the greatest singles ever made. Great B side, too! Note: This beautiful copy has Mint labels and pristine sound. The vinyl looks almost untouched.

Fuego En La Pista de Baile #88 19Abril23 (TERCERA TEMPORADA)

Podcast de iPop Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2023 58:00

Fuego en la Pista de Baile, los éxitos y las novedades mas underground en www.ipopfm.com, cada miércoles de 20 a 21 horas. Hoy te invitamos a bailar al ritmo de las canciones más salvajes!🎤 Déjate seducir por el programa más underground de iPOPfm. Déjate seducir por Fuego En La Pista de Baile! Han sonado: 1. The Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought The Law 2. Nu-Niles – El tren de la costa 3. The Reverend Horton Head – Rockin’ Bones 4. The Go Getters – Teenage Kicks 5. JD McPherson – Lust for Live/Sixteen 6. Sonic Youth – Personality Crisis 7. Manfred Mann – Smokestack Lightning 8. Lee Moses – Bad Girl 9. Sam Cooke – Chains of Love 10. The Supremes – Chain Gang 11. The Rolling Stones – It’s All Over Now 12. The Pogues – Honky Tonk Women 13. Dead Boys – Tell Me 14. The Vibrators – Sonic Reducer 15. Puño Americano and His Puñettes – Too Drunk To Fuck 16. Radiocrimen – Criaturas de Chernobyl 17. Suzio 13 y Aurora García – Hold On, I’ Coming 18. The Who – Please, Please, Please 19. Ramones – Substitute 20. Fundación Francisco Frankenstein – Voy a ser un drogata

Down the Stretch for December 19, 2022

Down The Stretch Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2022 27:40

We break from our normal format to present a collection of the most amusing, goofiest and mind expanding stories of the year..things that can only happen in horse racing. Like Turf Paradise's Craig Braddick playing Torture the Track announcer, or Tampa Bay's Jason Beam and his hilarious parody of Don McLean's America Pie. There was the night that the number 5 kept winning at Mohawk and we couldn't resist when we found a horse named Horse. A race at the Meadows that paid tribute to alcoholic beverages, a heat in Alberta where the top 4 horses were all Outlaws and a race from Gulfstream where the chaotic outcome was specifically defined by the winning horse. Bill Megens is now 89, but when he trained a winner recently at Western Fair, he gave an unusual prediction of his retirement date. And there is no jockey quite like quarter horse rider Tony Phillips. To celebrate his winning year at Ajax Downs, Phillips produced a rap of his equine accomplishments. Also appearing in this podcast –Tom Durkin, George Thorogood, the Clash, Bruce Springsteen, Alanis Morissette, Fred Flintstone, the Who, the Bobby Fuller Four and Aerosmith.

Episode 156: “I Was Made to Love Her” by Stevie Wonder

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2022

Episode one hundred and fifty-six of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “I Was Made to Love Her", the early career of Stevie Wonder, and the Detroit riots of 1967. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-minute bonus episode available, on "Groovin'" by the Young Rascals. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources As usual, I've put together a Mixcloud playlist of all the recordings excerpted in this episode. The best value way to get all of Stevie Wonder's early singles is this MP3 collection, which has the original mono single mixes of fifty-five tracks for a very reasonable price. For those who prefer physical media, this is a decent single-CD collection of his early work at a very low price indeed. As well as the general Motown information listed below, I've also referred to Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: The Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder by Mark Ribowsky, which rather astonishingly is the only full-length biography of Wonder, to Higher Ground: Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, and the Rise and Fall of American Soul by Craig Werner, and to Detroit 67: The Year That Changed Soul by Stuart Cosgrove. For Motown-related information in this and other Motown episodes, I've used the following resources: Where Did Our Love Go? The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound by Nelson George is an excellent popular history of the various companies that became Motown. To Be Loved by Berry Gordy is Gordy's own, understandably one-sided, but relatively well-written, autobiography. Women of Motown: An Oral History by Susan Whitall is a collection of interviews with women involved in Motown. I Hear a Symphony: Motown and Crossover R&B by J. Andrew Flory is an academic look at Motown. The Motown Encyclopaedia by Graham Betts is an exhaustive look at the people and records involved in Motown's thirty-year history. How Sweet It Is by Lamont Dozier and Scott B. Bomar is Dozier's autobiography, while Come and Get These Memories by Brian and Eddie Holland and Dave Thompson is the Holland brothers'. Standing in the Shadows of Motown: The Life and Music of Legendary Bassist James Jamerson by "Dr Licks" is a mixture of a short biography of the great bass player, and tablature of his most impressive bass parts. And Motown Junkies is an infrequently-updated blog looking at (so far) the first 694 tracks released on Motown singles. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript A quick note before I begin -- this episode deals with disability and racism, and also deals from the very beginning with sex work and domestic violence. It also has some discussion of police violence and sexual assault. As always I will try to deal with those subjects as non-judgementally and sensitively as possible, but if you worry that anything about those subjects might disturb you, please check the transcript. Calvin Judkins was not a good man. Lula Mae Hardaway thought at first he might be, when he took her in, with her infant son whose father had left before the boy was born. He was someone who seemed, when he played the piano, to be deeply sensitive and emotional, and he even did the decent thing and married her when he got her pregnant. She thought she could save him, even though he was a street hustler and not even very good at it, and thirty years older than her -- she was only nineteen, he was nearly fifty. But she soon discovered that he wasn't interested in being saved, and instead he was interested in hurting her. He became physically and financially abusive, and started pimping her out. Lula would eventually realise that Calvin Judkins was no good, but not until she got pregnant again, shortly after the birth of her second son. Her third son was born premature -- different sources give different numbers for how premature, with some saying four months and others six weeks -- and while he apparently went by Stevland Judkins throughout his early childhood, the name on his birth certificate was apparently Stevland Morris, Lula having decided not to give another child the surname of her abuser, though nobody has ever properly explained where she got the surname "Morris" from. Little Stevland was put in an incubator with an oxygen mask, which saved the tiny child's life but destroyed his sight, giving him a condition called retinopathy of prematurity -- a condition which nowadays can be prevented and cured, but in 1951 was just an unavoidable consequence for some portion of premature babies. Shortly after the family moved from Saginaw to Detroit, Lula kicked Calvin out, and he would remain only a peripheral figure in his children's lives, but one thing he did do was notice young Stevland's interest in music, and on his increasingly infrequent visits to his wife and kids -- visits that usually ended with violence -- he would bring along toy instruments for the young child to play, like a harmonica and a set of bongos. Stevie was a real prodigy, and by the time he was nine he had a collection of real musical instruments, because everyone could see that the kid was something special. A neighbour who owned a piano gave it to Stevie when she moved out and couldn't take it with her. A local Lions Club gave him a drum kit at a party they organised for local blind children, and a barber gave him a chromatic harmonica after seeing him play his toy one. Stevie gave his first professional performance when he was eight. His mother had taken him to a picnic in the park, and there was a band playing, and the little boy got as close to the stage as he could and started dancing wildly. The MC of the show asked the child who he was, and he said "My name is Stevie, and I can sing and play drums", so of course they got the cute kid up on stage behind the drum kit while the band played Johnny Ace's "Pledging My Love": [Excerpt: Johnny Ace, "Pledging My Love"] He did well enough that they paid him seventy-five cents -- an enormous amount for a small child at that time -- though he was disappointed afterwards that they hadn't played something faster that would really allow him to show off his drumming skills. After that he would perform semi-regularly at small events, and always ask to be paid in quarters rather than paper money, because he liked the sound of the coins -- one of his party tricks was to be able to tell one coin from another by the sound of them hitting a table. Soon he formed a duo with a neighbourhood friend, John Glover, who was a couple of years older and could play guitar while Stevie sang and played harmonica and bongos. The two were friends, and both accomplished musicians for their age, but that wasn't the only reason Stevie latched on to Glover. Even as young as he was, he knew that Motown was soon going to be the place to be in Detroit if you were a musician, and Glover had an in -- his cousin was Ronnie White of the Miracles. Stevie and John performed as a duo everywhere they could and honed their act, performing particularly at the talent shows which were such an incubator of Black musical talent at the time, and they also at this point seem to have got the attention of Clarence Paul, but it was White who brought the duo to Motown. Stevie and John first played for White and Bobby Rodgers, another of the Miracles, then when they were impressed they took them through the several layers of Motown people who would have to sign off on signing a new act. First they were taken to see Brian Holland, who was a rising star within Motown as "Please Mr. Postman" was just entering the charts. They impressed him with a performance of the Miracles song "Bad Girl": [Excerpt: The Miracles, "Bad Girl"] After that, Stevie and John went to see Mickey Stevenson, who was at first sceptical, thinking that a kid so young -- Stevie was only eleven at the time -- must be some kind of novelty act rather than a serious musician. He said later "It was like, what's next, the singing mouse?" But Stevenson was won over by the child's talent. Normally, Stevenson had the power to sign whoever he liked to the label, but given the extra legal complications involved in signing someone under-age, he had to get Berry Gordy's permission. Gordy didn't even like signing teenagers because of all the extra paperwork that would be involved, and he certainly wasn't interested in signing pre-teens. But he came down to the studio to see what Stevie could do, and was amazed, not by his singing -- Gordy didn't think much of that -- but by his instrumental ability. First Stevie played harmonica and bongos as proficiently as an adult professional, and then he made his way around the studio playing on every other instrument in the place -- often only a few notes, but competent on them all. Gordy decided to sign the duo -- and the initial contract was for an act named "Steve and John" -- but it was soon decided to separate them. Glover would be allowed to hang around Motown while he was finishing school, and there would be a place for him when he finished -- he later became a staff songwriter, working on tracks for the Four Tops and the Miracles among others, and he would even later write a number one hit, "You Don't Have to be a Star (to be in My Show)" for Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr -- but they were going to make Stevie a star right now. The man put in charge of that was Clarence Paul. Paul, under his birth name of Clarence Pauling, had started his career in the "5" Royales, a vocal group he formed with his brother Lowman Pauling that had been signed to Apollo Records by Ralph Bass, and later to King Records. Paul seems to have been on at least some of the earliest recordings by the group, so is likely on their first single, "Give Me One More Chance": [Excerpt: The "5" Royales, "Give Me One More Chance"] But Paul was drafted to go and fight in the Korean War, and so wasn't part of the group's string of hit singles, mostly written by his brother Lowman, like "Think", which later became better known in James Brown's cover version, or "Dedicated to the One I Love", later covered by the Shirelles, but in its original version dominated by Lowman's stinging guitar playing: [Excerpt: The "5" Royales, "Dedicated to the One I Love"] After being discharged, Clarence had shortened his name to Clarence Paul, and had started recording for all the usual R&B labels like Roulette and Federal, with little success: [Excerpt: Clarence Paul, "I'm Gonna Love You, Love You Til I Die"] He'd also co-written "I Need Your Lovin'", which had been an R&B hit for Roy Hamilton: [Excerpt: Roy Hamilton, "I Need Your Lovin'"] Paul had recently come to work for Motown – one of the things Berry Gordy did to try to make his label more attractive was to hire the relatives of R&B stars on other labels, in the hopes of getting them to switch to Motown – and he was the new man on the team, not given any of the important work to do. He was working with acts like Henry Lumpkin and the Valladiers, and had also been the producer of "Mind Over Matter", the single the Temptations had released as The Pirates in a desperate attempt to get a hit: [Excerpt: The Pirates, "Mind Over Matter"] Paul was the person you turned to when no-one else was interested, and who would come up with bizarre ideas. A year or so after the time period we're talking about, it was him who produced an album of country music for the Supremes, before they'd had a hit, and came up with "The Man With the Rock and Roll Banjo Band" for them: [Excerpt: The Supremes, "The Man With The Rock and Roll Banjo Band"] So, Paul was the perfect person to give a child -- by this time twelve years old -- who had the triple novelties of being a multi-instrumentalist, a child, and blind. Stevie started spending all his time around the Motown studios, partly because he was eager to learn everything about making records and partly because his home life wasn't particularly great and he wanted to be somewhere else. He earned the affection and irritation, in equal measure, of people at Motown both for his habit of wandering into the middle of sessions because he couldn't see the light that showed that the studio was in use, and for his practical joking. He was a great mimic, and would do things like phoning one of the engineers and imitating Berry Gordy's voice, telling the engineer that Stevie would be coming down, and to give him studio equipment to take home. He'd also astonish women by complimenting them, in detail, on their dresses, having been told in advance what they looked like by an accomplice. But other "jokes" were less welcome -- he would regularly sexually assault women working at Motown, grabbing their breasts or buttocks and then claiming it was an accident because he couldn't see what he was doing. Most of the women he molested still speak of him fondly, and say everybody loved him, and this may even be the case -- and certainly I don't think any of us should be judged too harshly for what we did when we were twelve -- but this kind of thing led to a certain amount of pressure to make Stevie's career worth the extra effort he was causing everyone at Motown. Because Berry Gordy was not impressed with Stevie's vocals, the decision was made to promote him as a jazz instrumentalist, and so Clarence Paul insisted that his first release be an album, rather than doing what everyone would normally do and only put out an album after a hit single. Paul reasoned that there was no way on Earth they were going to be able to get a hit single with a jazz instrumental by a twelve-year-old kid, and eventually persuaded Gordy of the wisdom of this idea. So they started work on The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, released under his new stagename of Little Stevie Wonder, supposedly a name given to him after Berry Gordy said "That kid's a wonder!", though Mickey Stevenson always said that the name came from a brainstorming session between him and Clarence Paul. The album featured Stevie on harmonica, piano, and organ on different tracks, but on the opening track, "Fingertips", he's playing the bongos that give the track its name: [Excerpt: Little Stevie Wonder, "Fingertips (studio version)"] The composition of that track is credited to Paul and the arranger Hank Cosby, but Beans Bowles, who played flute on the track, always claimed that he came up with the melody, and it seems quite likely to me that most of the tracks on the album were created more or less as jam sessions -- though Wonder's contributions were all overdubbed later. The album sat in the can for several months -- Berry Gordy was not at all sure of its commercial potential. Instead, he told Paul to go in another direction -- focusing on Wonder's blindness, he decided that what they needed to do was create an association in listeners' minds with Ray Charles, who at this point was at the peak of his commercial power. So back into the studio went Wonder and Paul, to record an album made up almost entirely of Ray Charles covers, titled Tribute to Uncle Ray. (Some sources have the Ray Charles tribute album recorded first -- and given Motown's lax record-keeping at this time it may be impossible to know for sure -- but this is the way round that Mark Ribowsky's biography of Wonder has it). But at Motown's regular quality control meeting it was decided that there wasn't a single on the album, and you didn't release an album like that without having a hit single first. By this point, Clarence Paul was convinced that Berry Gordy was just looking for excuses not to do anything with Wonder -- and there may have been a grain of truth to that. There's some evidence that Gordy was worried that the kid wouldn't be able to sing once his voice broke, and was scared of having another Frankie Lymon on his hands. But the decision was made that rather than put out either of those albums, they would put out a single. The A-side was a song called "I Call it Pretty Music But the Old People Call it the Blues, Part 1", which very much played on Wonder's image as a loveable naive kid: [Excerpt: Little Stevie Wonder, "I Call it Pretty Music But the Old People Call it the Blues, Part 1"] The B-side, meanwhile, was part two -- a slowed-down, near instrumental, version of the song, reframed as an actual blues, and as a showcase for Wonder's harmonica playing rather than his vocals. The single wasn't a hit, but it made number 101 on the Billboard charts, just missing the Hot One Hundred, which for the debut single of a new artist wasn't too bad, especially for Motown at this point in time, when most of its releases were flopping. That was good enough that Gordy authorised the release of the two albums that they had in the can. The next single, "Little Water Boy", was a rather baffling duet with Clarence Paul, which did nothing at all on the charts. [Excerpt: Clarence Paul and Little Stevie Wonder, "Little Water Boy"] After this came another flop single, written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Janie Bradford, before the record that finally broke Little Stevie Wonder out into the mainstream in a big way. While Wonder hadn't had a hit yet, he was sent out on the first Motortown Revue tour, along with almost every other act on the label. Because he hadn't had a hit, he was supposed to only play one song per show, but nobody had told him how long that song should be. He had quickly become a great live performer, and the audiences were excited to watch him, so when he went into extended harmonica solos rather than quickly finishing the song, the audience would be with him. Clarence Paul, who came along on the tour, would have to motion to the onstage bandleader to stop the music, but the bandleader would know that the audiences were with Stevie, and so would just keep the song going as long as Stevie was playing. Often Paul would have to go on to the stage and shout in Wonder's ear to stop playing -- and often Wonder would ignore him, and have to be physically dragged off stage by Paul, still playing, causing the audience to boo Paul for stopping him from playing. Wonder would complain off-stage that the audience had been enjoying it, and didn't seem to get it into his head that he wasn't the star of the show, that the audiences *were* enjoying him, but were *there* to see the Miracles and Mary Wells and the Marvelettes and Marvin Gaye. This made all the acts who had to go on after him, and who were running late as a result, furious at him -- especially since one aspect of Wonder's blindness was that his circadian rhythms weren't regulated by sunlight in the same way that the sighted members of the tour's were. He would often wake up the entire tour bus by playing his harmonica at two or three in the morning, while they were all trying to sleep. Soon Berry Gordy insisted that Clarence Paul be on stage with Wonder throughout his performance, ready to drag him off stage, so that he wouldn't have to come out onto the stage to do it. But one of the first times he had done this had been on one of the very first Motortown Revue shows, before any of his records had come out. There he'd done a performance of "Fingertips", playing the flute part on harmonica rather than only playing bongos throughout as he had on the studio version -- leaving the percussion to Marvin Gaye, who was playing drums for Wonder's set: [Excerpt: Little Stevie Wonder, "Fingertips (Parts 1 & 2)"] But he'd extended the song with a little bit of call-and-response vocalising: [Excerpt: Little Stevie Wonder, "Fingertips (Parts 1 & 2)"] After the long performance ended, Clarence Paul dragged Wonder off-stage and the MC asked the audience to give him a round of applause -- but then Stevie came running back on and carried on playing: [Excerpt: Little Stevie Wonder, "Fingertips (Parts 1 & 2)"] By this point, though, the musicians had started to change over -- Mary Wells, who was on after Wonder, was using different musicians from his, and some of her players were already on stage. You can hear Joe Swift, who was playing bass for Wells, asking what key he was meant to be playing in: [Excerpt: Little Stevie Wonder, "Fingertips (Parts 1 & 2)"] Eventually, after six and a half minutes, they got Wonder off stage, but that performance became the two sides of Wonder's next single, with "Fingertips Part 2", the part with the ad lib singing and the false ending, rather than the instrumental part one, being labelled as the side the DJs should play. When it was released, the song started a slow climb up the charts, and by August 1963, three months after it came out, it was at number one -- only the second ever Motown number one, and the first ever live single to get there. Not only that, but Motown released a live album -- Recorded Live, the Twelve-Year-Old Genius (though as many people point out he was thirteen when it was released -- he was twelve when it was recorded though) and that made number one on the albums chart, becoming the first Motown album ever to do so. They followed up "Fingertips" with a similar sounding track, "Workout, Stevie, Workout", which made number thirty-three. After that, his albums -- though not yet his singles -- started to be released as by "Stevie Wonder" with no "Little" -- he'd had a bit of a growth spurt and his voice was breaking, and so marketing him as a child prodigy was not going to work much longer and they needed to transition him into a star with adult potential. In the Motown of 1963 that meant cutting an album of standards, because the belief at the time in Motown was that the future for their entertainers was doing show tunes at the Copacabana. But for some reason the audience who had wanted an R&B harmonica instrumental with call-and-response improvised gospel-influenced yelling was not in the mood for a thirteen year old singing "Put on a Happy Face" and "When You Wish Upon a Star", and especially not when the instrumental tracks were recorded in a key that suited him at age twelve but not thirteen, so he was clearly straining. "Fingertips" being a massive hit also meant Stevie was now near the top of the bill on the Motortown Revue when it went on its second tour. But this actually put him in a precarious position. When he had been down at the bottom of the bill and unknown, nobody expected anything from him, and he was following other minor acts, so when he was surprisingly good the audiences went wild. Now, near the top of the bill, he had to go on after Marvin Gaye, and he was not nearly so impressive in that context. The audiences were polite enough, but not in the raptures he was used to. Although Stevie could still beat Gaye in some circumstances. At Motown staff parties, Berry Gordy would always have a contest where he'd pit two artists against each other to see who could win the crowd over, something he thought instilled a fun and useful competitive spirit in his artists. They'd alternate songs, two songs each, and Gordy would decide on the winner based on audience response. For the 1963 Motown Christmas party, it was Stevie versus Marvin. Wonder went first, with "Workout, Stevie, Workout", and was apparently impressive, but then Gaye topped him with a version of "Hitch-Hike". So Stevie had to top that, and apparently did, with a hugely extended version of "I Call it Pretty Music", reworked in the Ray Charles style he'd used for "Fingertips". So Marvin Gaye had to top that with the final song of the contest, and he did, performing "Stubborn Kind of Fellow": [Excerpt: Marvin Gaye, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow"] And he was great. So great, it turned the crowd against him. They started booing, and someone in the audience shouted "Marvin, you should be ashamed of yourself, taking advantage of a little blind kid!" The crowd got so hostile Berry Gordy had to stop the performance and end the party early. He never had another contest like that again. There were other problems, as well. Wonder had been assigned a tutor, a young man named Ted Hull, who began to take serious control over his life. Hull was legally blind, so could teach Wonder using Braille, but unlike Wonder had some sight -- enough that he was even able to get a drivers' license and a co-pilot license for planes. Hull was put in loco parentis on most of Stevie's tours, and soon became basically inseparable from him, but this caused a lot of problems, not least because Hull was a conservative white man, while almost everyone else at Motown was Black, and Stevie was socially liberal and on the side of the civil rights and anti-Vietnam movements. Hull started to collaborate on songwriting with Wonder, which most people at Motown were OK with but which now seems like a serious conflict of interest, and he also started calling himself Stevie's "manager" -- which did *not* impress the people at Motown, who had their own conflict of interest because with Stevie, like with all their artists, they were his management company and agents as well as his record label and publishers. Motown grudgingly tolerated Hull, though, mostly because he was someone they could pass Lula Mae Hardaway to to deal with her complaints. Stevie's mother was not very impressed with the way that Motown were handling her son, and would make her opinion known to anyone who would listen. Hull and Hardaway did not get on at all, but he could be relied on to save the Gordy family members from having to deal with her. Wonder was sent over to Europe for Christmas 1963, to perform shows at the Paris Olympia and do some British media appearances. But both his mother and Hull had come along, and their clear dislike for each other was making him stressed. He started to get pains in his throat whenever he sang -- pains which everyone assumed were a stress reaction to the unhealthy atmosphere that happened whenever Hull and his mother were in the same room together, but which later turned out to be throat nodules that required surgery. Because of this, his singing was generally not up to standard, which meant he was moved to a less prominent place on the bill, which in turn led to his mother accusing the Gordy family of being against him and trying to stop him becoming a star. Wonder started to take her side and believe that Motown were conspiring against him, and at one point he even "accidentally" dropped a bottle of wine on Ted Hull's foot, breaking one of his toes, because he saw Hull as part of the enemy that was Motown. Before leaving for those shows, he had recorded the album he later considered the worst of his career. While he was now just plain Stevie on albums, he wasn't for his single releases, or in his first film appearance, where he was still Little Stevie Wonder. Berry Gordy was already trying to get a foot in the door in Hollywood -- by the end of the decade Motown would be moving from Detroit to LA -- and his first real connections there were with American International Pictures, the low-budget film-makers who have come up a lot in connection with the LA scene. AIP were the producers of the successful low-budget series of beach party films, which combined appearances by teen heartthrobs Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello in swimsuits with cameo appearances by old film stars fallen on hard times, and with musical performances by bands like the Bobby Fuller Four. There would be a couple of Motown connections to these films -- most notably, the Supremes would do the theme tune for Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine -- but Muscle Beach Party was to be the first. Most of the music for Muscle Beach Party was written by Brian Wilson, Roger Christian, and Gary Usher, as one might expect for a film about surfing, and was performed by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, the film's major musical guests, with Annette, Frankie, and Donna Loren [pron Lorren] adding vocals, on songs like "Muscle Bustle": [Excerpt: Donna Loren with Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, "Muscle Bustle"] The film followed the formula in every way -- it also had a cameo appearance by Peter Lorre, his last film appearance before his death, and it featured Little Stevie Wonder playing one of the few songs not written by the surf and car writers, a piece of nothing called "Happy Street". Stevie also featured in the follow-up, Bikini Beach, which came out a little under four months later, again doing a single number, "Happy Feelin'". To cash in on his appearances in these films, and having tried releasing albums of Little Stevie as jazz multi-instrumentalist, Ray Charles tribute act, live soulman and Andy Williams-style crooner, they now decided to see if they could sell him as a surf singer. Or at least, as Motown's idea of a surf singer, which meant a lot of songs about the beach and the sea -- mostly old standards like "Red Sails in the Sunset" and "Ebb Tide" -- backed by rather schlocky Wrecking Crew arrangements. And this is as good a place as any to take on one of the bits of disinformation that goes around about Motown. I've addressed this before, but it's worth repeating here in slightly more detail. Carol Kaye, one of the go-to Wrecking Crew bass players, is a known credit thief, and claims to have played on hundreds of records she didn't -- claims which too many people take seriously because she is a genuine pioneer and was for a long time undercredited on many records she *did* play on. In particular, she claims to have played on almost all the classic Motown hits that James Jamerson of the Funk Brothers played on, like the title track for this episode, and she claims this despite evidence including notarised statements from everyone involved in the records, the release of session recordings that show producers talking to the Funk Brothers, and most importantly the evidence of the recordings themselves, which have all the characteristics of the Detroit studio and sound like the Funk Brothers playing, and have absolutely nothing in common, sonically, with the records the Wrecking Crew played on at Gold Star, Western, and other LA studios. The Wrecking Crew *did* play on a lot of Motown records, but with a handful of exceptions, mostly by Brenda Holloway, the records they played on were quickie knock-off album tracks and potboiler albums made to tie in with film or TV work -- soundtracks to TV specials the acts did, and that kind of thing. And in this case, the Wrecking Crew played on the entire Stevie at the Beach album, including the last single to be released as by "Little Stevie Wonder", "Castles in the Sand", which was arranged by Jack Nitzsche: [Excerpt: Little Stevie Wonder, "Castles in the Sand"] Apparently the idea of surfin' Stevie didn't catch on any more than that of swingin' Stevie had earlier. Indeed, throughout 1964 and 65 Motown seem to have had less than no idea what they were doing with Stevie Wonder, and he himself refers to all his recordings from this period as an embarrassment, saving particular scorn for the second single from Stevie at the Beach, "Hey Harmonica Man", possibly because that, unlike most of his other singles around this point, was a minor hit, reaching number twenty-nine on the charts. Motown were still pushing Wonder hard -- he even got an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in May 1964, only the second Motown act to appear on it after the Marvelettes -- but Wonder was getting more and more unhappy with the decisions they were making. He loathed the Stevie at the Beach album -- the records he'd made earlier, while patchy and not things he'd chosen, were at least in some way related to his musical interests. He *did* love jazz, and he *did* love Ray Charles, and he *did* love old standards, and the records were made by his friend Clarence Paul and with the studio musicians he'd grown to know in Detroit. But Stevie at the Beach was something that was imposed on Clarence Paul from above, it was cut with unfamiliar musicians, Stevie thought the films he was appearing in were embarrassing, and he wasn't even having much commercial success, which was the whole point of these compromises. He started to get more rebellious against Paul in the studio, though many of these decisions weren't made by Paul, and he would complain to anyone who would listen that if he was just allowed to do the music he wanted to sing, the way he wanted to sing it, he would have more hits. But for nine months he did basically no singing other than that Ed Sullivan Show appearance -- he had to recover from the operation to remove the throat nodules. When he did return to the studio, the first single he cut remained unreleased, and while some stuff from the archives was released between the start of 1964 and March 1965, the first single he recorded and released after the throat nodules, "Kiss Me Baby", which came out in March, was a complete flop. That single was released to coincide with the first Motown tour of Europe, which we looked at in the episode on "Stop! In the Name of Love", and which was mostly set up to promote the Supremes, but which also featured Martha and the Vandellas, the Miracles, and the Temptations. Even though Stevie had not had a major hit in eighteen months by this point, he was still brought along on the tour, the only solo artist to be included -- at this point Gordy thought that solo artists looked outdated compared to vocal groups, in a world dominated by bands, and so other solo artists like Marvin Gaye weren't invited. This was a sign that Gordy was happier with Stevie than his recent lack of chart success might suggest. One of the main reasons that Gordy had been in two minds about him was that he'd had no idea if Wonder would still be able to sing well after his voice broke. But now, as he was about to turn fifteen, his adult voice had more or less stabilised, and Gordy knew that he was capable of having a long career, if they just gave him the proper material. But for now his job on the tour was to do his couple of hits, smile, and be on the lower rungs of the ladder. But even that was still a prominent place to be given the scaled-down nature of this bill compared to the Motortown Revues. While the tour was in England, for example, Dusty Springfield presented a TV special focusing on all the acts on the tour, and while the Supremes were the main stars, Stevie got to do two songs, and also took part in the finale, a version of "Mickey's Monkey" led by Smokey Robinson but with all the performers joining in, with Wonder getting a harmonica solo: [Excerpt: Smokey Robinson and the Motown acts, "Mickey's Monkey"] Sadly, there was one aspect of the trip to the UK that was extremely upsetting for Wonder. Almost all the media attention he got -- which was relatively little, as he wasn't a Supreme -- was about his blindness, and one reporter in particular convinced him that there was an operation he could have to restore his sight, but that Motown were preventing him from finding out about it in order to keep his gimmick going. He was devastated about this, and then further devastated when Ted Hull finally convinced him that it wasn't true, and that he'd been lied to. Meanwhile other newspapers were reporting that he *could* see, and that he was just feigning blindness to boost his record sales. After the tour, a live recording of Wonder singing the blues standard "High Heeled Sneakers" was released as a single, and barely made the R&B top thirty, and didn't hit the top forty on the pop charts. Stevie's initial contract with Motown was going to expire in the middle of 1966, so there was a year to get him back to a point where he was having the kind of hits that other Motown acts were regularly getting at this point. Otherwise, it looked like his career might end by the time he was sixteen. The B-side to "High Heeled Sneakers" was another duet with Clarence Paul, who dominates the vocal sound for much of it -- a version of Willie Nelson's country classic "Funny How Time Slips Away": [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder and Clarence Paul, "Funny How Time Slips Away"] There are a few of these duet records scattered through Wonder's early career -- we'll hear another one a little later -- and they're mostly dismissed as Paul trying to muscle his way into a revival of his own recording career as an artist, and there may be some truth in that. But they're also a natural extension of the way the two of them worked in the studio. Motown didn't have the facilities to give Wonder Braille lyric sheets, and Paul didn't trust him to be able to remember the lyrics, so often when they made a record, Paul would be just off-mic, reciting the lyrics to Wonder fractionally ahead of him singing them. So it was more or less natural that this dynamic would leak out onto records, but not everyone saw it that way. But at the same time, there has been some suggestion that Paul was among those manoeuvring to get rid of Wonder from Motown as soon as his contract was finished -- despite the fact that Wonder was the only act Paul had worked on any big hits for. Either way, Paul and Wonder were starting to chafe at working with each other in the studio, and while Paul remained his on-stage musical director, the opportunity to work on Wonder's singles for what would surely be his last few months at Motown was given to Hank Cosby and Sylvia Moy. Cosby was a saxophone player and staff songwriter who had been working with Wonder and Paul for years -- he'd co-written "Fingertips" and several other tracks -- while Moy was a staff songwriter who was working as an apprentice to Cosby. Basically, at this point, nobody else wanted the job of writing for Wonder, and as Moy was having no luck getting songs cut by any other artists and her career was looking about as dead as Wonder's, they started working together. Wonder was, at this point, full of musical ideas but with absolutely no discipline. He's said in interviews that at this point he was writing a hundred and fifty songs a month, but these were often not full songs -- they were fragments, hooks, or a single verse, or a few lines, which he would pass on to Moy, who would turn his ideas into structured songs that fit the Motown hit template, usually with the assistance of Cosby. Then Cosby would come up with an arrangement, and would co-produce with Mickey Stevenson. The first song they came up with in this manner was a sign of how Wonder was looking outside the world of Motown to the rock music that was starting to dominate the US charts -- but which was itself inspired by Motown music. We heard in the last episode on the Rolling Stones how "Nowhere to Run" by the Vandellas: [Excerpt: Martha and the Vandellas, "Nowhere to Run"] had inspired the Stones' "Satisfaction": [Excerpt: The Rolling Stones, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"] And Wonder in turn was inspired by "Satisfaction" to come up with his own song -- though again, much of the work making it into an actual finished song was done by Sylvia Moy. They took the four-on-the-floor beat and basic melody of "Satisfaction" and brought it back to Motown, where those things had originated -- though they hadn't originated with Stevie, and this was his first record to sound like a Motown record in the way we think of those things. As a sign of how, despite the way these stories are usually told, the histories of rock and soul were completely and complexly intertwined, that four-on-the-floor beat itself was a conscious attempt by Holland, Dozier, and Holland to appeal to white listeners -- on the grounds that while Black people generally clapped on the backbeat, white people didn't, and so having a four-on-the-floor beat wouldn't throw them off. So Cosby, Moy, and Wonder, in trying to come up with a "Satisfaction" soundalike were Black Motown writers trying to copy a white rock band trying to copy Black Motown writers trying to appeal to a white rock audience. Wonder came up with the basic chorus hook, which was based around a lot of current slang terms he was fond of: [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder, "Uptight"] Then Moy, with some assistance from Cosby, filled it out into a full song. Lyrically, it was as close to social comment as Motown had come at this point -- Wonder was, like many of his peers in soul music, interested in the power of popular music to make political statements, and he would become a much more political artist in the next few years, but at this point it's still couched in the acceptable boy-meets-girl romantic love song that Motown specialised in. But in 1965 a story about a boy from the wrong side of the tracks dating a rich girl inevitably raised the idea that the boy and girl might be of different races -- a subject that was very, very, controversial in the mid-sixties. [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder, "Uptight"] "Uptight" made number three on the pop charts and number one on the R&B charts, and saved Stevie Wonder's career. And this is where, for all that I've criticised Motown in this episode, their strategy paid off. Mickey Stevenson talked a lot about how in the early sixties Motown didn't give up on artists -- if someone had potential but was not yet having hits or finding the right approach, they would keep putting out singles in a holding pattern, trying different things and seeing what would work, rather than toss them aside. It had already worked for the Temptations and the Supremes, and now it had worked for Stevie Wonder. He would be the last beneficiary of this policy -- soon things would change, and Motown would become increasingly focused on trying to get the maximum returns out of a small number of stars, rather than building careers for a range of artists -- but it paid off brilliantly for Wonder. "Uptight" was such a reinvention of Wonder's career, sound, and image that many of his fans consider it the real start of his career -- everything before it only counting as prologue. The follow-up, "Nothing's Too Good For My Baby", was an "Uptight" soundalike, and as with Motown soundalike follow-ups in general, it didn't do quite as well, but it still made the top twenty on the pop chart and got to number four on the R&B chart. Stevie Wonder was now safe at Motown, and so he was going to do something no other Motown act had ever done before -- he was going to record a protest song and release it as a single. For about a year he'd been ending his shows with a version of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind", sung as a duet with Clarence Paul, who was still his on stage bandleader even though the two weren't working together in the studio as much. Wonder brought that into the studio, and recorded it with Paul back as the producer, and as his duet partner. Berry Gordy wasn't happy with the choice of single, but Wonder pushed, and Gordy knew that Wonder was on a winning streak and gave in, and so "Blowin' in the Wind" became Stevie Wonder's next single: [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder and Clarence Paul, "Blowin' in the Wind"] "Blowin' in the Wind" made the top ten, and number one on the R&B charts, and convinced Gordy that there was some commercial potential in going after the socially aware market, and over the next few years Motown would start putting out more and more political records. Because Motown convention was to have the producer of a hit record produce the next hit for that artist, and keep doing so until they had a flop, Paul was given the opportunity to produce the next single. "A Place in the Sun" was another ambiguously socially-aware song, co-written by the only white writer on Motown staff, Ron Miller, who happened to live in the same building as Stevie's tutor-cum-manager Ted Hull. "A Place in the Sun" was a pleasant enough song, inspired by "A Change is Gonna Come", but with a more watered-down, generic, message of hope, but the record was lifted by Stevie's voice, and again made the top ten. This meant that Paul and Miller, and Miller's writing partner Bryan Mills, got to work on his next two singles -- his 1966 Christmas song "Someday at Christmas", which made number twenty-four, and the ballad "Travellin' Man" which made thirty-two. The downward trajectory with Paul meant that Wonder was soon working with other producers again. Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol cut another Miller and Mills song with him, "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday": [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder, "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday"] But that was left in the can, as not good enough to release, and Stevie was soon back working with Cosby. The two of them had come up with an instrumental together in late 1966, but had not been able to come up with any words for it, so they played it for Smokey Robinson, who said their instrumental sounded like circus music, and wrote lyrics about a clown: [Excerpt: The Miracles, "The Tears of a Clown"] The Miracles cut that as album filler, but it was released three years later as a single and became the Miracles' only number one hit with Smokey Robinson as lead singer. So Wonder and Cosby definitely still had their commercial touch, even if their renewed collaboration with Moy, who they started working with again, took a while to find a hit. To start with, Wonder returned to the idea of taking inspiration from a hit by a white British group, as he had with "Uptight". This time it was the Beatles, and the track "Michelle", from the Rubber Soul album: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Michelle"] Wonder took the idea of a song with some French lyrics, and a melody with some similarities to the Beatles song, and came up with "My Cherie Amour", which Cosby and Moy finished off. [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder, "My Cherie Amour"] Gordy wouldn't allow that to be released, saying it was too close to "Michelle" and people would think it was a rip-off, and it stayed in the vaults for several years. Cosby also produced a version of a song Ron Miller had written with Orlando Murden, "For Once in My Life", which pretty much every other Motown act was recording versions of -- the Four Tops, the Temptations, Billy Eckstine, Martha and the Vandellas and Barbra McNair all cut versions of it in 1967, and Gordy wouldn't let Wonder's version be put out either. So they had to return to the drawing board. But in truth, Stevie Wonder was not the biggest thing worrying Berry Gordy at this point. He was dealing with problems in the Supremes, which we'll look at in a future episode -- they were about to get rid of Florence Ballard, and thus possibly destroy one of the biggest acts in the world, but Gordy thought that if they *didn't* get rid of her they would be destroying themselves even more certainly. Not only that, but Gordy was in the midst of a secret affair with Diana Ross, Holland, Dozier, and Holland were getting restless about their contracts, and his producers kept bringing him unlistenable garbage that would never be a hit. Like Norman Whitfield, insisting that this track he'd cut with Marvin Gaye, "I Heard it Through the Grapevine", should be a single. Gordy had put his foot down about that one too, just like he had about "My Cherie Amour", and wouldn't allow it to be released. Meanwhile, many of the smaller acts on the label were starting to feel like they were being ignored by Gordy, and had formed what amounted to a union, having regular meetings at Clarence Paul's house to discuss how they could pressure the label to put the same effort into their careers as into those of the big stars. And the Funk Brothers, the musicians who played on all of Motown's hits, were also getting restless -- they contributed to the arrangements, and they did more for the sound of the records than half the credited producers; why weren't they getting production credits and royalties? Harvey Fuqua had divorced Gordy's sister Gwen, and so became persona non grata at the label and was in the process of leaving Motown, and so was Mickey Stevenson, Gordy's second in command, because Gordy wouldn't give him any stock in the company. And Detroit itself was on edge. The crime rate in the city had started to go up, but even worse, the *perception* of crime was going up. The Detroit News had been running a campaign to whip up fear, which it called its Secret Witness campaign, and running constant headlines about rapes, murders, and muggings. These in turn had led to increased calls for more funds for the police, calls which inevitably contained a strong racial element and at least implicitly linked the perceived rise in crime to the ongoing Civil Rights movement. At this point the police in Detroit were ninety-three percent white, even though Detroit's population was over thirty percent Black. The Mayor and Police Commissioner were trying to bring in some modest reforms, but they weren't going anywhere near fast enough for the Black population who felt harassed and attacked by the police, but were still going too fast for the white people who were being whipped up into a state of terror about supposedly soft-on-crime policies, and for the police who felt under siege and betrayed by the politicians. And this wasn't the only problem affecting the city, and especially affecting Black people. Redlining and underfunded housing projects meant that the large Black population was being crammed into smaller and smaller spaces with fewer local amenities. A few Black people who were lucky enough to become rich -- many of them associated with Motown -- were able to move into majority-white areas, but that was just leading to white flight, and to an increase in racial tensions. The police were on edge after the murder of George Overman Jr, the son of a policeman, and though they arrested the killers that was just another sign that they weren't being shown enough respect. They started organising "blu flu"s -- the police weren't allowed to strike, so they'd claim en masse that they were off sick, as a protest against the supposed soft-on-crime administration. Meanwhile John Sinclair was organising "love-ins", gatherings of hippies at which new bands like the MC5 played, which were being invaded by gangs of bikers who were there to beat up the hippies. And the Detroit auto industry was on its knees -- working conditions had got bad enough that the mostly Black workforce organised a series of wildcat strikes. All in all, Detroit was looking less and less like somewhere that Berry Gordy wanted to stay, and the small LA subsidiary of Motown was rapidly becoming, in his head if nowhere else, the more important part of the company, and its future. He was starting to think that maybe he should leave all these ungrateful people behind in their dangerous city, and move the parts of the operation that actually mattered out to Hollywood. Stevie Wonder was, of course, one of the parts that mattered, but the pressure was on in 1967 to come up with a hit as big as his records from 1965 and early 66, before he'd been sidetracked down the ballad route. The song that was eventually released was one on which Stevie's mother, Lula Mae Hardaway, had a co-writing credit: [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder, "I Was Made to Love Her"] "I Was Made to Love Her" was inspired by Wonder's first love, a girl from the same housing projects as him, and he talked about the song being special to him because it was true, saying it "kind of speaks of my first love to a girl named Angie, who was a very beautiful woman... Actually, she was my third girlfriend but my first love. I used to call Angie up and, like, we would talk and say, 'I love you, I love you,' and we'd talk and we'd both go to sleep on the phone. And this was like from Detroit to California, right? You know, mother said, 'Boy, what you doing - get off the phone!' Boy, I tell you, it was ridiculous." But while it was inspired by her, like with many of the songs from this period, much of the lyric came from Moy -- her mother grew up in Arkansas, and that's why the lyric started "I was born in Little Rock", as *her* inspiration came from stories told by her parents. But truth be told, the lyrics weren't particularly detailed or impressive, just a standard story of young love. Rather what mattered in the record was the music. The song was structured differently from many Motown records, including most of Wonder's earlier ones. Most Motown records had a huge amount of dynamic variation, and a clear demarcation between verse and chorus. Even a record like "Dancing in the Street", which took most of its power from the tension and release caused by spending most of the track on one chord, had the release that came with the line "All we need is music", and could be clearly subdivided into different sections. "I Was Made to Love Her" wasn't like that. There was a tiny section which functioned as a middle eight -- and which cover versions like the one by the Beach Boys later that year tend to cut out, because it disrupts the song's flow: [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder, "I Was Made to Love Her"] But other than that, the song has no verse or chorus, no distinct sections, it's just a series of lyrical couplets over the same four chords, repeating over and over, an incessant groove that could really go on indefinitely: [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder, "I Was Made to Love Her"] This is as close as Motown had come at this point to the new genre of funk, of records that were just staying with one groove throughout. It wasn't a funk record, not yet -- it was still a pop-soul record, But what made it extraordinary was the bass line, and this is why I had to emphasise earlier that this was a record by the Funk Brothers, not the Wrecking Crew, no matter how much some Crew members may claim otherwise. As on most of Cosby's sessions, James Jamerson was given free reign to come up with his own part with little guidance, and what he came up with is extraordinary. This was at a time when rock and pop basslines were becoming a little more mobile, thanks to the influence of Jamerson in Detroit, Brian Wilson in LA, and Paul McCartney in London. But for the most part, even those bass parts had been fairly straightforward technically -- often inventive, but usually just crotchets and quavers, still keeping rhythm along with the drums rather than in dialogue with them, roaming free rhythmically. Jamerson had started to change his approach, inspired by the change in studio equipment. Motown had upgraded to eight-track recording in 1965, and once he'd become aware of the possibilities, and of the greater prominence that his bass parts could have if they were recorded on their own track, Jamerson had become a much busier player. Jamerson was a jazz musician by inclination, and so would have been very aware of John Coltrane's legendary "sheets of sound", in which Coltrane would play fast arpeggios and scales, in clusters of five and seven notes, usually in semiquaver runs (though sometimes in even smaller fractions -- his solo in Miles Davis' "Straight, No Chaser" is mostly semiquavers but has a short passage in hemidemisemiquavers): [Excerpt: Miles Davis, "Straight, No Chaser"] Jamerson started to adapt the "sheets of sound" style to bass playing, treating the bass almost as a jazz solo instrument -- though unlike Coltrane he was also very, very concerned with creating something that people could tap their feet to. Much like James Brown, Jamerson was taking jazz techniques and repurposing them for dance music. The most notable example of that up to this point had been in the Four Tops' "Bernadette", where there are a few scuffling semiquaver runs thrown in, and which is a much more fluid part than most of his playing previously: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "Bernadette"] But on "Bernadette", Jamerson had been limited by Holland, Dozier, and Holland, who liked him to improvise but around a framework they created. Cosby, on the other hand, because he had been a Funk Brother himself, was much more aware of the musicians' improvisational abilities, and would largely give them a free hand. This led to a truly remarkable bass part on "I Was Made to Love Her", which is somewhat buried in the single mix, but Marcus Miller did an isolated recreation of the part for the accompanying CD to a book on Jamerson, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, and listening to that you can hear just how inventive it is: [Excerpt: Marcus Miller, "I Was Made to Love Her"] This was exciting stuff -- though much less so for the touring musicians who went on the road with the Motown revues while Jamerson largely stayed in Detroit recording. Jamerson's family would later talk about him coming home grumbling because complaints from the touring musicians had been brought to him, and he'd been asked to play less difficult parts so they'd find it easier to replicate them on stage. "I Was Made to Love Her" wouldn't exist without Stevie Wonder, Hank Cosby, Sylvia Moy, or Lula Mae Hardaway, but it's James Jamerson's record through and through: [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder, "I Was Made to Love Her"] It went to number two on the charts, sat between "Light My Fire" at number one, and "All You Need is Love" at number three, with the Beatles song soon to overtake it and make number one itself. But within a few weeks of "I Was Made to Love Her" reaching its chart peak, things in Detroit would change irrevocably. On the 23rd of July, the police busted an illegal drinking den. They thought they were only going to get about twenty-five people there, but there turned out to be a big party on. They tried to arrest seventy-four people, but their wagon wouldn't fit them all in so they had to call reinforcements and make the arrestees wait around til more wagons arrived. A crowd of hundreds gathered while they were waiting. Someone threw a brick at a squad car window, a rumour went round that the police had bayonetted someone, and soon the city was in flames. Riots lasted for days, with people burning down and looting businesses, but what really made the situation bad was the police's overreaction. They basically started shooting at young Black men, using them as target practice, and later claiming they were snipers, arsonists, and looters -- but there were cases like the Algiers Motel incident, where the police raided a motel where several Black men, including the members of the soul group The Dramatics, were hiding out along with a few white women. The police sexually assaulted the women, and then killed three of the men for associating with white women, in what was described as a "lynching with bullets". The policemen in question were later acquitted of all charges. The National Guard were called in, as were Federal troops -- the 82nd Airborne Division, and the 101st Airborne from Clarksville, the division in which Jimi Hendrix had recently served. After four days of rioting, one of the bloodiest riots in US history was at an end, with forty-three people dead (of whom thirty-three were Black and only one was a policeman). Official counts had 1,189 people injured, and over 7,200 arrests, almost all of them of Black people. A lot of the histories written later say that Black-owned businesses were spared during the riots, but that wasn't really the case. For example, Joe's Record Shop, owned by Joe Von Battle, who had put out the first records by C.L. Franklin and his daughter Aretha, was burned down, destroying not only the stock of records for sale but the master tapes of hundreds of recordings of Black artists, many of them unreleased and so now lost forever. John Lee Hooker, one of the artists whose music Von Battle had released, soon put out a song, "The Motor City is Burning", about the events: [Excerpt: John Lee Hooker, "The Motor City is Burning"] But one business that did remain unburned was Motown, with the Hitsville studio going untouched by flames and unlooted. Motown legend has this being down to the rioters showing respect for the studio that had done so much for Detroit, but it seems likely to have just been luck. Although Motown wasn't completely unscathed -- a National Guard tank fired a shell through the building, leaving a gigantic hole, which Berry Gordy saw as soon as he got back from a business trip he'd been on during the rioting. That was what made Berry Gordy decide once and for all that things needed to change. Motown owned a whole row of houses near the studio, which they used as additional office space and for everything other than the core business of making records. Gordy immediately started to sell them, and move the admin work into temporary rented space. He hadn't announced it yet, and it would be a few years before the move was complete, but from that moment on, the die was cast. Motown was going to leave Detroit and move to Hollywood.

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I Fought The Law - The Crickets

Cover Me

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 27, 2022 90:21

In honour of Jerry Allison, the recently deceased drummer for The Crickets, we're talking about a song you probably thought was by The Clash! It's "I Fought The Law" this week on Cover Me! Covers by: The Bobby Fuller Four, The Clash, Dead Kennedys, The Pogues with Joe Strummer, Nanci Griffith, The Bad Shepherds, The Jolly Boys Spotify playlist here

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Down the Stretch for August 29, 2022

Down The Stretch Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2022 36:00

If you thought a podcast covering the week after the Queen's Plate would be an anticlimax, with nothing to talk about, listen to this one and admit you were wrong. There was a monster card of harness racing Saturday night from Mohawk - the William Wellwood Memorial, the Eternal Camnation, Jimmy Freight and Bulldog Hanover, both impressive in Canadian Pacing Derby Eliminations. At Woodbine on Sunday, 4 Yearling Sales Stakes races. We're still buzzing about Moria and in our Moria pack, trainer Kevin Attard tells us how the Queen's Plate changed his life. Owner Donnato Lanni of X-Men Racing explains how a group of harness men came to own Moira and how his children come up with colourful names, and Joe Nevills of the Paulick Report explains why Moira is a big story in the US. We've got the Travers Stakes from Saratoga and chaos at Mohawk Park last Monday in which no one was hurt thanks to safety protocol. Then there's this race from The Track On 2 in which the top 4 horses all shared the same name. And those listening to the entire podcast will be treated to music from Dire Straits, The Tubes, Norman Greenbaum, The Bobby Fuller Four and, of course, Jay and the Americans.

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Ryan's Riffs, 8/3: The Bobby Fuller Four, Waylon Jennings, Mike Post, Styx, Inner Circle, Ratt

Dan Caplis

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2022 19:38

I Fought the Law - The Bobby Fuller Four, Good Ol' Boys - Waylon Jennings, Theme from 'Law & Order' - Mike Post, Renegade - Styx, Bad Boys - Inner Circle, Wanted Man - Ratt

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I Fought The Law by Bobby Fuller Four

Hard Rain & Slow Trains: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2022

Label: Mustang 3014Year: 1966Condition: M-Price: $35.00This is one of the records, along with some of the early Beatles and many others, that demonstrated one way that rockabilly transitioned into a musical form that became known as Power Pop. Absolutely essential single — note that both Rolling Stone (#177) and Dave Marsh (#102) put it high on their respective lists of the greatest singles ever made. Great B side, too! Note: This beautiful copy grades very close to Mint in appearance (Labels, Vinyl) and has pristine Mint sound.

6/16/2022: TEMPEST at Ten: Ten Past Midnight

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2022 69:07

This episode continues a monthly, ten-part series celebrating the tenth anniversary of TEMPEST, featuring the second track on the album, "Soon After Midnight," through songs that influenced its composition, live versions, cover versions, and also through a consideration of the song's meaning and allusions. In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we round up news from the world of Bob Dylan, which includes an overview of Dylan's tour itinerary for the upcoming week, a report on Dylan's sale of his Traveling Wilburys share of master royalties and neighboring rights royalties to Primary Wave Music, a report that T-Bone Burnett is still looking to release 20 more recordings by the New Basement Tapes of songs created from unfinished BASEMENT TAPES era lyrics, and a happy birthday to a special figure of cultural significance. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote this week to tell us who did "Soon After Midnight" better: Aoife O'Donovan or John Glase & The Burnt Remains? Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

El sótano - En las cavernas; canciones que The Neanderthals nos enseñaron - 26/05/22

El sótano

Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2022 60:00

Retransmitimos desde el interior de la cueva en la que habitan The Neanderthals, una de las bandas más divertidas que ha dado la historia reciente del frat rocknroll. Picoteamos en sus cuatro discos de estudio y aderezamos con una selección de originales de canciones que han sido versionadas por la banda más troglodita de las últimas décadas. Playlist; (sintonía) THE NEANDERTHALS “Mastodon” (The modern-stone age family, 1999) THE NEANDERTHALS “Arula mata gali” (The latest menace to the human race, 1995) THE NEANDERTHALS “Hula baby” (The latest menace to the human race, 1995) THE NEANDERTHALS “Lurch” (The modern-stone age family, 1999) THE NEANDERTHALS “Street cleaner” (Shutdown 2002 BC, 2002) THE NEANDERTHALS “Twistin’ out in space” (…in Space, 2005) NEIL SEDAKA “I go ape” (1959) LUDAWAY “The pig” (1964) THE ROADSTERS “Mag rims” (1964) THE SPATS “Go Go Yamaha” (1965) PAUL REVERE and THE RAIDERS “SS 396” (1965) RICHIE DERAN and THE NEW TONES “Girl and a hot rod” (1960) THE CATALINAS “Hot Rod USA” (1964) THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR “The Phantom Dragster” (1965) THE TRASHMEN “King of the surf” (1963) THE VENTURES “He never came back” (1964) MICKY LEE LANE “Shaggy dog” (1964) THE CREEP “Betty Lou’s got a new tattoo” (1964) THE NEANDERTHALS “Tarzan” (The modern-stone age family, 1999) THE NEANDERTHALS “Werewolves from outer space” (The latest menace to the human race, 1995) Escuchar audio

Don't Ever Let Me Know by Bobby Fuller Four

christmas america wildflowers opals nanci griffith bobby fuller four

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2022

Label: Mustang 3016Year: 1966Condition: M-Price: $26.00What a terrific single... not only do you get an amazing cover of a great Buddy Holly classic, but the self-penned flip is what power pop dreams are made of! This was a non-album single. Note: This beautiful 45 has Near Mint labels (the A label is Mint, but the B label has a faint small stain on it). The vinyl looks untouched, and the powerful audio sounds pristine.

Episode 18

Campfire Songs

Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2022 67:41

Episode 18 of Campfire Songs featuring Christmas, The Opals, Nanci Griffith, The Smarthearts, Volcano Suns, Reverend Maceo Woods and The Christian Tabernacle Choir, The Bobby Fuller Four, and The Wild Flowers of America

NEW Super Gamer Podcast 103 – Finding The End with ME!

Podcast – Super Gamer Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2022

What would happen if the Bobby Fuller Four were really into Minecraft? Well, I think it would sound exactly like this… Download link – NEW Super Gamer Podcast 103 – Finding The End with ME!

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Rod Crosby - El Paso Border Legend

Talk and Rock Radio Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2022 76:18

The Inimitable Rod Crosby The Intruders was a rock band formed in El Paso, Texas on 1960. The original members were Rod Crosby, Les Lockhart, Donnie Webb and Bobby Wilson. Bobby Wilson, younger brother of Bill Wilson, drummer for the Rock Kings, started the group. The Intruders first gig was a Texas Western Kappa Sigma dance at the Downtown Hilton Hotel. Their pay was $40 ($10 per person). From that time in 1960 until 1973, Rod Crosby emerged as the band's leader. The original members dropped out along the way. It became known as Rod Crosby & The Intruders, and Rod played full time until 1973, when Rod sought employment in the corporate world. In that 13 year period , the Intruders performed consistently, booked every weekend, and played hundreds of jobs at almost every high school in El Paso, all the NCO Officers Clubs on Fort Bliss, Biggs Air Field, McGregor Range and White Sands Missile Range, countless weddings, college parties, private parties and graduation parties. The group was fortunate to have evolved during a time when the Rock & Roll industry was thriving, growing leaps and bounds. The groups appeal was based off their ability to cover tunes precisely for dancing, always lending themselves to the desires of the audience, as opposed to the band. Having performed for thousands of people for the past 60 plus years - Rod Crosby & The Intruders is one of a very few that can make that claim. In 2009, an entity called the Border Legends of El Paso was created to honor any and all local musicians with a body of performing work over a long period of time. The Border Legends of El Paso entity staged a non-profit concert, annually, to pay tribute to El Paso's musicians, past & present, net proceeds going to charitable causes. The annual concert was produced by Rick Kern and Rod Crosby (co-producers). Rick and Rod both had connections to the Bobby Fuller Four. In 1965 Rod was asked by Bobby Fuller to consider joining his group. Rod painfully declined due to his many obligations. The Bobby Fuller Four went to Hollywood to make their mark which they did with I Fought The Law, and more. However, Bobby was killed due to foul play, shrouded in mysterious circumstances, an unsolved murder to this day that remains on the E channels 10 Most Unsolved Murder Mysteries. Two members of the Bobby Fuller Four joined Rod's band not long after the tragedy. Rod picked up the bands musical torch and performs many of the Bobby Fuller Four songs to this day, as well as many of Buddy Holly songs, Buddy being Bobby's and Rod's greatest influence, unknown to either until it was discovered later as friends. Current members of Rod's Intruder band are drummer, Rick Benites, bassist, Ed Clore, guitarist, Paul Dillon, guitarist/keyboardist, Rick Armstrong and guitarist Rod Crosby. All members are vocalists, as well. They are still in great demand with many of El Paso's annual high school reunions. Long live Rod Crosby & The Intruders and Never to Be Forgotten! #rodcrosby #rodcrosby&theintruders

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Episode 140: “Trouble Every Day” by the Mothers of Invention

A History Of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 25, 2021

Episode one hundred and forty of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Trouble Every Day" by the Mothers of Invention, and the early career of Frank Zappa. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Christmas Time is Here Again" by the Beatles. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources I'm away from home as I upload this and haven't been able to do a Mixcloud, but will hopefully edit a link in in a week or so if I remember. The main biography I consulted for this was Electric Don Quixote by Neil Slaven. Zappa's autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book, is essential reading if you're a fan of his work. Information about Jimmy Carl Black's early life came from Black's autobiography, For Mother's Sake. Zappa's letter to Varese is from this blog, which also contains a lot of other useful information on Zappa. For information on the Watts uprising, I recommend Johnny Otis' Listen to the Lambs. And the original mix of Freak Out is currently available not on the CD issue of Freak Out itself, which is an eighties remix, but on this "documentary" set. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Just a quick note before I begin -- there are a couple of passing references in this episode to rape and child abuse. I don't believe there's anything that should upset anyone, but if you're worried, you might want to read the transcript on the podcast website before or instead of listening. But also, this episode contains explicit, detailed, descriptions of racial violence carried out by the police against Black people, including against children. Some of it is so distressing that even reading the transcript might be a bit much for some people. Sometimes, in this podcast, we have to go back to another story we've already told. In most cases, that story is recent enough that I can just say, "remember last episode, when I said...", but to tell the story of the Mothers of Invention, I have to start with a story that I told sixty-nine episodes ago, in episode seventy-one, which came out nearly two years ago. In that episode, on "Willie and the Hand Jive", I briefly told the story of Little Julian Herrera at the start. I'm going to tell a slightly longer version of the story now. Some of the information at the start of this episode will be familiar from that and other episodes, but I'm not going to expect people to remember something from that long ago, given all that's happened since. The DJ Art Laboe is one of the few figures from the dawn of rock and roll who is still working. At ninety-six years old, he still promotes concerts, and hosts a syndicated radio show on which he plays "Oldies but Goodies", a phrase which could describe him as well as the music. It's a phrase he coined -- and trademarked -- back in the 1950s, when people in his audience would ask him to play records made a whole three or four years earlier, records they had listened to in their youth. Laboe pretty much single-handedly invented the rock and roll nostalgia market -- as well as being a DJ, he owned a record label, Original Sound, which put out a series of compilation albums, Oldies But Goodies, starting in 1959, which started to cement the first draft of the doo-wop canon. These were the first albums to compile together a set of older rock and roll hits and market them for nostalgia, and they were very much based on the tastes of his West Coast teenage listenership, featuring songs like "Earth Angel" by the Penguins: [Excerpt: The Penguins, "Earth Angel"] But also records that had a more limited geographic appeal, like "Heaven and Paradise" by Don Julian and the Meadowlarks: [Excerpt: Don Julian and the Meadowlarks, "Heaven and Paradise"] As well as being a DJ and record company owner, Laboe was the promoter and MC for regular teenage dances at El Monte Legion Stadium, at which Kip and the Flips, the band that featured Sandy Nelson and Bruce Johnston, would back local performers like the Penguins, Don and Dewey, or Ritchie Valens, as well as visiting headliners like Jerry Lee Lewis. El Monte stadium was originally chosen because it was outside the LA city limits -- at the time there were anti-rock-and-roll ordinances that meant that any teenage dance had to be approved by the LA Board of Education, but those didn't apply to that stadium -- but it also led to Laboe's audience becoming more racially diverse. The stadium was in East LA, which had a large Mexican-American population, and while Laboe's listenership had initially been very white, soon there were substantial numbers of Mexican-American and Black audience members. And it was at one of the El Monte shows that Johnny Otis discovered the person who everyone thought was going to become the first Chicano rock star, before even Ritchie Valens, in 1957, performing as one of the filler acts on Laboe's bill. He signed Little Julian Herrera, a performer who was considered a sensation in East LA at the time, though nobody really knew where he lived, or knew much about him other than that he was handsome, Chicano, and would often have a pint of whisky in his back pocket, even though he was under the legal drinking age. Otis signed Herrera to his label, Dig Records, and produced several records for him, including the record by which he's now best remembered, "Those Lonely Lonely Nights": [Excerpt: Little Julian Herrera, "Those Lonely, Lonely, Nights"] After those didn't take off the way they were expected to, Herrera and his vocal group the Tigers moved to another label, one owned by Laboe, where they recorded "I Remember Linda": [Excerpt: Little Julian Herrera and the Tigers, "I Remember Linda"] And then one day Johnny Otis got a knock on his door from the police. They were looking for Ron Gregory. Otis had never heard of Ron Gregory, and told them so. The police then showed him a picture. It turned out that Julian Herrera wasn't Mexican-American, and wasn't from East LA, but was from Massachusetts. He had run away from home a few years back, hitch-hiked across the country, and been taken in by a Mexican-American family, whose name he had adopted. And now he was wanted for rape. Herrera went to prison, and when he got out, he tried to make a comeback, but ended up sleeping rough in the basement of the stadium where he had once been discovered. He had to skip town because of some other legal problems, and headed to Tijuana, where he was last seen playing R&B gigs in 1963. Nobody knows what happened to him after that -- some say he was murdered, others that he's still alive, working in a petrol station under yet another name, but nobody has had a confirmed sighting of him since then. When he went to prison, the Tigers tried to continue for a while, but without their lead singer, they soon broke up. Ray Collins, who we heard singing the falsetto part in "I Remember Linda", went on to join many other doo-wop and R&B groups over the next few years, with little success. Then in summer 1963, he walked into a bar in Ponoma, and saw a bar band who were playing the old Hank Ballard and the Midnighters song "Work With Me Annie". As Collins later put it, “I figured that any band that played ‘Work With Me Annie' was all right,” and he asked if he could join them for a few songs. They agreed, and afterwards, Collins struck up a conversation with the guitarist, and told him about an idea he'd had for a song based on one of Steve Allen's catchphrases. The guitarist happened to be spending a lot of his time recording at an independent recording studio, and suggested that the two of them record the song together: [Excerpt: Baby Ray and the Ferns, "How's Your Bird?"] The guitarist in question was named Frank Zappa. Zappa was originally from Maryland, but had moved to California as a child with his conservative Italian-American family when his father, a defence contractor, had got a job in Monterey. The family had moved around California with his father's work, mostly living in various small towns in the Mojave desert seventy miles or so north of Los Angeles. Young Frank had an interest in science, especially chemistry, and especially things that exploded, but while he managed to figure out the ingredients for gunpowder, his family couldn't afford to buy him a chemistry set in his formative years -- they were so poor that his father regularly took part in medical experiments to get a bit of extra money to feed his kids -- and so the young man's interest was diverted away from science towards music. His first musical interest, and one that would show up in his music throughout his life, was the comedy music of Spike Jones, whose band combined virtuosic instrumental performances with sound effects: [Excerpt: Spike Jones and his City Slickers, "Cocktails for Two"] and parodies of popular classical music [Excerpt: Spike Jones and his City Slickers, "William Tell Overture"] Jones was a huge inspiration for almost every eccentric or bohemian of the 1940s and 50s -- Spike Milligan, for example, took the name Spike in tribute to him. And young Zappa wrote his first ever fan letter to Jones when he was five or six. As a child Zappa was also fascinated by the visual aesthetics of music -- he liked to draw musical notes on staves and see what they looked like. But his musical interests developed in two other ways once he entered his teens. The first was fairly typical for the musicians of his generation from LA we've looked at and will continue to look at, which is that he heard "Gee" by the Crows on the radio: [Excerpt: The Crows, "Gee"] He became an R&B obsessive at that moment, and would spend every moment he could listening to the Black radio stations, despite his parents' disapproval. He particularly enjoyed Huggy Boy's radio show broadcast from Dolphins of Hollywood, and also would religiously listen to Johnny Otis, and soon became a connoisseur of the kind of R&B and blues that Otis championed as a musician and DJ: [Excerpt: Zappa on the Late Show, “I hadn't been raised in an environment where there was a lot of music in the house. This couple that owned the chilli place, Opal and Chester, agreed to ask the man who serviced the jukebox to put in some of the song titles that I liked, because I promised that I would dutifully keep pumping quarters into this thing so that I could listen to them, and so I had the ability to eat good chilli and listen to 'Three Hours Past Midnight' by Johnny 'Guitar' Watson for most of my junior and senior year"] Johnny “Guitar” Watson, along with Guitar Slim, would become a formative influence on Zappa's guitar playing, and his playing on "Three Hours Past Midnight" is so similar to Zappa's later style that you could easily believe it *was* him: [Excerpt: Johnny "Guitar" Watson, "Three Hours Past Midnight"] But Zappa wasn't only listening to R&B. The way Zappa would always tell the story, he discovered the music that would set him apart from his contemporaries originally by reading an article in Look magazine. Now, because Zappa has obsessive fans who check every detail, people have done the research and found that there was no such article in that magazine, but he was telling the story close enough to the time period in which it happened that its broad strokes, at least, must be correct even if the details are wrong. What Zappa said was that the article was on Sam Goody, the record salesman, and talked about how Goody was so good at his job that he had even been able to sell a record of Ionisation by Edgard Varese, which just consisted of the worst and most horrible noises anyone had ever heard, just loud drumming noises and screeching sounds. He determined then that he needed to hear that album, but he had no idea how he would get hold of a copy. I'll now read an excerpt from Zappa's autobiography, because Zappa's phrasing makes the story much better: "Some time later, I was staying overnight with Dave Franken, a friend who lived in La Mesa, and we wound up going to the hi-fi place -- they were having a sale on R&B singles. After shuffling through the rack and finding a couple of Joe Huston records, I made my way toward the cash register and happened to glance at the LP bin. I noticed a strange-looking black-and-white album cover with a guy on it who had frizzy gray hair and looked like a mad scientist. I thought it was great that a mad scientist had finally made a record, so I picked it up -- and there it was, the record with "Ionisation" on it. The author of the Look article had gotten it slightly wrong -- the correct title was The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse, Volume I, including "Ionisation," among other pieces, on an obscure label called EMS (Elaine Music Store). The record number was 401.I returned the Joe Huston records and checked my pockets to see how much money I had -- I think it came to about $3.75. I'd never bought an album before, but I knew they must be expensive because mostly old people bought them. I asked the man at the cash register how much EMS 401 cost. "That gray one in the box?" he said. "$5.95." I'd been searching for that record for over a year and I wasn't about to give up. I told him I had $3.75. He thought about it for a minute, and said, "We've been using that record to demonstrate hi-fi's with -- but nobody ever buys one when we use it. I guess if you want it that bad you can have it for $3.75."" Zappa took the record home, and put it on on his mother's record player in the living room, the only one that could play LPs: [Excerpt: Edgard Varese, "Ionisation"] His mother told him he could never play that record in the living room again, so he took the record player into his bedroom, and it became his record player from that point on. Varese was a French composer who had, in his early career, been very influenced by Debussy. Debussy is now, of course, part of the classical canon, but in the early twentieth century he was regarded as radical, almost revolutionary, for his complete rewriting of the rules of conventional classical music tonality into a new conception based on chordal melodies, pedal points, and use of non-diatonic scales. Almost all of Varese's early work was destroyed in a fire, so we don't have evidence of the transition from Debussy's romantic-influenced impressionism to Varese's later style, but after he had moved to the US in 1915 he had become wildly more experimental. "Ionisation" is often claimed to be the first piece of Western classical music written only for percussion instruments. Varese was part of a wider movement of modernist composers -- for example he was the best man at Nicolas Slonimsky's wedding -- and had also set up the International Composers' Guild, whose manifesto influenced Zappa, though his libertarian politics led him to adapt it to a more individualistic rather than collective framing. The original manifesto read in part "Dying is the privilege of the weary. The present day composers refuse to die. They have realized the necessity of banding together and fighting for the right of each individual to secure a fair and free presentation of his work" In the twenties and thirties, Varese had written a large number of highly experimental pieces, including Ecuatorial, which was written for bass vocal, percussion, woodwind, and two Theremin cellos. These are not the same as the more familiar Theremin, created by the same inventor, and were, as their name suggests, Theremins that were played like a cello, with a fingerboard and bow. Only ten of these were ever made, specifically for performances of Varese's work, and he later rewrote the work to use ondes martenot instead of Theremin cellos, which is how the work is normally heard now: [Excerpt: Edgard Varese, "Ecuatorial"] But Varese had spent much of the thirties, forties, and early fifties working on two pieces that were never finished, based on science fiction ideas -- L'Astronome, which was meant to be about communication with people from the star Sirius, and Espace, which was originally intended to be performed simultaneously by choirs in Beijing, Moscow, Paris, and New York. Neither of these ideas came to fruition, and so Varese had not released any new work, other than one small piece, Étude pour espace, an excerpt from the larger work, in Zappa's lifetime. Zappa followed up his interest in Varese's music with his music teacher, one of the few people in the young man's life who encouraged him in his unusual interests. That teacher, Mr Kavelman, introduced Zappa to the work of other composers, like Webern, but would also let him know why he liked particular R&B records. For example, Zappa played Mr. Kavelman "Angel in My Life" by the Jewels, and asked what it was that made him particularly like it: [Excerpt: The Jewels, "Angel in My Life"] The teacher's answer was that it was the parallel fourths that made the record particularly appealing. Young Frank was such a big fan of Varese that for his fifteenth birthday, he actually asked if he could make a long-distance phone call to speak to Varese. He didn't know where Varese lived, but figured that it must be in Greenwich Village because that was where composers lived, and he turned out to be right. He didn't get through on his birthday -- he got Varese's wife, who told him the composer was in Europe -- but he did eventually get to speak to him, and was incredibly excited when Varese told him that not only had he just written a new piece for the first time in years, but that it was called Deserts, and was about deserts -- just like the Mojave Desert where Zappa lived: [Excerpt: Edgard Varese, "Deserts"] As he later wrote, “When you're 15 and living in the Mojave Desert, and you find out that the World's Greatest Composer (who also looks like a mad scientist) is working in a secret Greenwich Village laboratory on a song about your hometown (so to speak), you can get pretty excited.” A year later, Zappa actually wrote to Varese, a long letter which included him telling the story about how he'd found his work in the first place, hoping to meet up with him when Zappa travelled to the East Coast to see family. I'll read out a few extracts, but the whole thing is fascinating for what it says about Zappa the precocious adolescent, and I'll link to a blog post with it in the show notes. "Dear Sir: Perhaps you might remember me from my stupid phone call last January, if not, my name again is Frank Zappa Jr. I am 16 years old… that might explain partly my disturbing you last winter. After I had struggled through Mr. Finklestein's notes on the back cover (I really did struggle too, for at the time I had had no training in music other than practice at drum rudiments) I became more and more interested in you and your music. I began to go to the library and take out books on modern composers and modern music, to learn all I could about Edgard Varese. It got to be my best subject (your life) and I began writing my reports and term papers on you at school. At one time when my history teacher asked us to write on an American that has really done something for the U.S.A. I wrote on you and the Pan American Composers League and the New Symphony. I failed. The teacher had never heard of you and said I made the whole thing up. Silly but true. That was my Sophomore year in high school. Throughout my life all the talents and abilities that God has left me with have been self developed, and when the time came for Frank to learn how to read and write music, Frank taught himself that too. I picked it all up from the library. I have been composing for two years now, utilizing a strict twelve-tone technique, producing effects that are reminiscent of Anton Webern. During those two years I have written two short woodwind quartets and a short symphony for winds, brass and percussion. I plan to go on and be a composer after college and I could really use the counsel of a veteran such as you. If you would allow me to visit with you for even a few hours it would be greatly appreciated. It may sound strange but I think I have something to offer you in the way of new ideas. One is an elaboration on the principle of Ruth Seeger's contrapuntal dynamics and the other is an extension of the twelve-tone technique which I call the inversion square. It enables one to compose harmonically constructed pantonal music in logical patterns and progressions while still abandoning tonality. Varese sent a brief reply, saying that he was going to be away for a few months, but would like to meet Zappa on his return. The two never met, but Zappa kept the letter from Varese framed on his wall for the rest of his life. Zappa soon bought a couple more albums, a version of "The Rite of Spring" by Stravinsky: [Excerpt: Igor Stravinsky, "The Rite of Spring"] And a record of pieces by Webern, including his Symphony opus 21: [Excerpt: Anton Webern, "Symphony op. 21"] (Incidentally, with the classical music here, I'm not seeking out the precise performances Zappa was listening to, just using whichever recordings I happen to have copies of). Zappa was also reading Slonimsky's works of musicology, like the Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns. As well as this "serious music" though, Zappa was also developing as an R&B musician. He later said of the Webern album, "I loved that record, but it was about as different from Stravinsky and Varèse as you could get. I didn't know anything about twelve-tone music then, but I liked the way it sounded. Since I didn't have any kind of formal training, it didn't make any difference to me if I was listening to Lightnin' Slim, or a vocal group called the Jewels (who had a song out then called "Angel in My Life"), or Webern, or Varèse, or Stravinsky. To me it was all good music." He had started as a drummer with a group called the Blackouts, an integrated group with white, Latino, and Black members, who played R&B tracks like "Directly From My Heart to You", the song Johnny Otis had produced for Little Richard: [Excerpt: Little Richard, "Directly From My Heart to You"] But after eighteen months or so, he quit the group and stopped playing drums. Instead, he switched to guitar, with a style influenced by Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Guitar Slim. His first guitar had action so bad that he didn't learn to play chords, and moved straight on to playing lead lines with his younger brother Bobby playing rhythm. He also started hanging around with two other teenage bohemians -- Euclid Sherwood, who was nicknamed Motorhead, and Don Vliet, who called himself Don Van Vliet. Vliet was a truly strange character, even more so than Zappa, but they shared a love for the blues, and Vliet was becoming a fairly good blues singer, though he hadn't yet perfected the Howlin' Wolf imitation that would become his stock-in-trade in later years. But the surviving recording of Vliet singing with the Zappa brothers on guitar, singing a silly parody blues about being flushed down the toilet of the kind that many teenage boys would write, shows the promise that the two men had: [Excerpt: Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, "Lost in a Whirlpool"] Zappa was also getting the chance to hear his more serious music performed. He'd had the high school band play a couple of his pieces, but he also got the chance to write film music -- his English teacher, Don Cerveris, had decided to go off and seek his fortune as a film scriptwriter, and got Zappa hired to write the music for a cheap Western he'd written, Run Home Slow. The film was beset with problems -- it started filming in 1959 but didn't get finished and released until 1965 -- but the music Zappa wrote for it did eventually get recorded and used on the soundtrack: [Excerpt: Frank Zappa, "Run Home Slow Theme"] In 1962, he got to write the music for another film, The World's Greatest Sinner, and he also wrote a theme song for that, which got released as the B-side of "How's Your Bird?", the record he made with Ray Collins: [Excerpt: Baby Ray and the Ferns, "The World's Greatest Sinner"] Zappa was able to make these records because by the early sixties, as well as playing guitar in bar bands, he was working as an assistant for a man named Paul Buff. Paul Buff had worked as an engineer for a guided missile manufacturer, but had decided that he didn't want to do that any more, and instead had opened up the first independent multi-track recording studio on the West Coast, PAL Studios, using equipment he'd designed and built himself, including a five-track tape recorder. Buff engineered a huge number of surf instrumentals there, including "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris: [Excerpt: The Surfaris, "Wipe Out"] Zappa had first got to know Buff when he had come to Buff's studio with some session musicians in 1961, to record some jazz pieces he'd written, including this piece which at the time was in the style of Dave Brubeck but would later become a staple of Zappa's repertoire reorchestrated in a rock style. [Excerpt: The PAL Studio Band, "Never on Sunday"] Buff really just wanted to make records entirely by himself, so he'd taught himself to play the rudiments of guitar, bass, drums, piano, and alto saxophone, so he could create records alone. He would listen to every big hit record, figure out what the hooks were on the record, and write his own knock-off of those. An example is "Tijuana Surf" by the Hollywood Persuaders, which is actually Buff on all instruments, and which according to Zappa went to number one in Mexico (though I've not found an independent source to confirm that chart placing, so perhaps take it with a pinch of salt): [Excerpt: The Hollywood Persuaders, "Tijuana Surf"] The B-side to that, "Grunion Run", was written by Zappa, who also plays guitar on that side: [Excerpt: The Hollywood Persuaders, "Grunion Run"] Zappa, Buff, Ray Collins, and a couple of associates would record all sorts of material at PAL -- comedy material like "Hey Nelda", under the name "Ned and Nelda" -- a parody of "Hey Paula" by Paul and Paula: [Excerpt: Ned and Nelda, "Hey Nelda"] Doo-wop parodies like "Masked Grandma": [Excerpt: The PAL Studio Band, "Masked Grandma"] R&B: [Excerpt: The PAL Studio Band, "Why Don't You Do Me Right?"] and more. Then Buff or Zappa would visit one of the local independent label owners and try to sell them the master -- Art Laboe at Original Sound released several of the singles, as did Bob Keane at Donna Records and Del-Fi. The "How's Your Bird" single also got Zappa his first national media exposure, as he went on the Steve Allen show, where he demonstrated to Allen how to make music using a bicycle and a prerecorded electronic tape, in an appearance that Zappa would parody five years later on the Monkees' TV show: [Excerpt: Steve Allen and Frank Zappa, "Cyclophony"] But possibly the record that made the most impact at the time was "Memories of El Monte", a song that Zappa and Collins wrote together about Art Laboe's dances at El Monte Stadium, incorporating excerpts of several of the songs that would be played there, and named after a compilation Laboe had put out, which had included “I Remember Linda” by Little Julian and the Tigers. They got Cleve Duncan of the Penguins to sing lead, and the record came out as by the Penguins, on Original Sound: [Excerpt: The Penguins, "Memories of El Monte"] By this point, though, Pal studios was losing money, and Buff took up the offer of a job working for Laboe full time, as an engineer at Original Sound. He would later become best known for inventing the kepex, an early noise gate which engineer Alan Parsons used on a bass drum to create the "heartbeat" that opens Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon: [Excerpt: Pink Floyd, "Speak to Me"] That invention would possibly be Buff's most lasting contribution to music, as by the early eighties, the drum sound on every single pop record was recorded using a noise gate. Buff sold the studio to Zappa, who renamed it Studio Z and moved in -- he was going through a divorce and had nowhere else to live. The studio had no shower, and Zappa had to just use a sink to wash, and he was surviving mostly off food scrounged by his resourceful friend Motorhead Sherwood. By this point, Zappa had also joined a band called the Soots, consisting of Don Van Vliet, Alex St. Clair and Vic Mortenson, and they recorded several tracks at Studio Z, which they tried to get released on Dot Records, including a cover version of Little Richard's “Slippin' and Slidin'”, and a song called “Tiger Roach” whose lyrics were mostly random phrases culled from a Green Lantern comic: [Excerpt: The Soots, "Tiger Roach"] Zappa also started writing what was intended as the first ever rock opera, "I Was a Teenage Maltshop", and attempts were made to record parts of it with Vliet, Mortenson, and Motorhead Sherwood: [Excerpt: Frank Zappa, "I Was a Teenage Maltshop"] Zappa was also planning to turn Studio Z into a film studio. He obtained some used film equipment, and started planning a science fiction film to feature Vliet, titled "Captain Beefheart Meets the Grunt People". The title was inspired by an uncle of Vliet's, who lived with Vliet and his girlfriend, and used to urinate with the door open so he could expose himself to Vliet's girlfriend, saying as he did so "Look at that! Looks just like a big beef heart!" Unfortunately, the film would not get very far. Zappa was approached by a used-car salesman who said that he and his friends were having a stag party. As Zappa owned a film studio, could he make them a pornographic film to show at the party? Zappa told him that a film wouldn't be possible, but as he needed the money, would an audio tape be acceptable? The used-car salesman said that it would, and gave him a list of sex acts he and his friends would like to hear. Zappa and a friend, Lorraine Belcher, went into the studio and made a few grunting noises and sound effects. The used-car salesman turned out actually to be an undercover policeman, who was better known in the area for his entrapment of gay men, but had decided to branch out. Zappa and Belcher were arrested -- Zappa's father bailed him out, and Zappa got an advance from Art Laboe to pay Belcher's bail. Luckily "Grunion Run" and "Memories of El Monte" were doing well enough that Laboe could give Zappa a $1500 advance. When the case finally came to trial, the judge laughed at the tape and wanted to throw the whole case out, but the prosecutor insisted on fighting, and Zappa got ten days in prison, and most of his tapes were impounded, never to be returned. He fell behind with his rent, and Studio Z was demolished. And then Ray Collins called him, asking if he wanted to join a bar band: [Excerpt: The Mothers, "Hitch-Hike"] The Soul Giants were formed by a bass player named Roy Estrada. Now, Estrada is unfortunately someone who will come up in the story a fair bit over the next year or so, as he played on several of the most important records to come out of LA in the sixties and early seventies. He is also someone about whom there's fairly little biographical information -- he's not been interviewed much, compared to pretty much everyone else, and it's easy to understand why when you realise that he's currently half-way through a twenty-five year sentence for child molestation -- his third such conviction. He won't get out of prison until he's ninety-three. He's one of the most despicable people who will turn up in this podcast, and frankly I'm quite glad I don't know more about him as a person. He was, though, a good bass player and falsetto singer, and he had released a single on King Records, an instrumental titled "Jungle Dreams": [Excerpt, Roy Estrada and the Rocketeers, "Jungle Dreams"] The other member of the rhythm section, Jimmy Carl Black, was an American Indian (that's the term he always used about himself until his death, and so that's the term I'll use about him too) from Texas. Black had grown up in El Paso as a fan of Western Swing music, especially Bob Wills, but had become an R&B fan after discovering Wolfman Jack's radio show and hearing the music of Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson. Like every young man from El Paso, he would travel to Juarez as a teenager to get drunk, see sex shows, and raise hell. It was also there that he saw his first live blues music, watching Long John Hunter, the same man who inspired the Bobby Fuller Four, and he would always claim Hunter as the man whose shows taught him how to play the blues. Black had decided he wanted to become a musician when he'd seen Elvis perform live. In Black's memory, this was a gig where Elvis was an unknown support act for Faron Young and Wanda Jackson, but he was almost certainly slightly misremembering -- it's most likely that what he saw was Elvis' show in El Paso on the eleventh of April 1956, where Young and Jackson were also on the bill, but supporting Elvis who was headlining. Either way, Black had decided that he wanted to make girls react to him the same way they reacted to Elvis, and he started playing in various country and R&B bands. His first record was with a group called the Keys, and unfortunately I haven't been able to track down a copy (it was reissued on a CD in the nineties, but the CD itself is now out of print and sells for sixty pounds) but he did rerecord the song with a later group he led, the Mannish Boys: [Excerpt: Jimmy Carl Black and the Mannish Boys, "Stretch Pants"] He spent a couple of years in the Air Force, but continued playing music during that time, including in a band called The Exceptions which featured Peter Cetera later of the band Chicago, on bass. After a brief time working as lineman in Wichita, he moved his family to California, where he got a job teaching drums at a music shop in Anaheim, where the bass teacher was Jim Fielder, who would later play bass in Blood, Sweat, and Tears. One of Fielder's friends, Tim Buckley, used to hang around in the shop as well, and Black was at first irritated by him coming in and playing the guitars and not buying anything, but eventually became impressed by his music. Black would later introduce Buckley to Herb Cohen, who would become Buckley's manager, starting his professional career. When Roy Estrada came into the shop, he and Black struck up a friendship, and Estrada asked Black to join his band The Soul Giants, whose lineup became Estrada, Black, a sax player named Davey Coronado, a guitarist called Larry and a singer called Dave. The group got a residency at the Broadside club in Ponoma, playing "Woolly Bully" and "Louie Louie" and other garage-band staples. But then Larry and Dave got drafted, and the group got in two men called Ray -- Ray Collins on vocals, and Ray Hunt on guitar. This worked for a little while, but Ray Hunt was, by all accounts, not a great guitar player -- he would play wrong chords, and also he was fundamentally a surf player while the Soul Giants were an R&B group. Eventually, Collins and Hunt got into a fistfight, and Collins suggested that they get in his friend Frank instead. For a while, the Soul Giants continued playing "Midnight Hour" and "Louie Louie", but then Zappa suggested that they start playing some of his original material as well. Davy Coronado refused to play original material, because he thought, correctly, that it would lose the band gigs, but the rest of the band sided with the man who had quickly become their new leader. Coronado moved back to Texas, and on Mother's Day 1965 the Soul Giants changed their name to the Mothers. They got in Henry Vestine on second guitar, and started playing Zappa's originals, as well as changing the lyrics to some of the hits they were playing: [Excerpt: The Mothers, "Plastic People"] Zappa had started associating with the freak crowd in Hollywood centred around Vito and Franzoni, after being introduced by Don Cerveris, his old teacher turned screenwriter, to an artist called Mark Cheka, who Zappa invited to manage the group. Cheka in turn brought in his friend Herb Cohen, who managed several folk acts including the Modern Folk Quartet and Judy Henske, and who like Zappa had once been arrested on obscenity charges, in Cohen's case for promoting gigs by the comedian Lenny Bruce. Cohen first saw the Mothers when they were recording their appearance in an exploitation film called Mondo Hollywood. They were playing in a party scene, using equipment borrowed from Jim Guercio, a session musician who would briefly join the Mothers, but who is now best known for having been Chicago's manager and producing hit records for them and Blood, Sweat, and Tears. In the crowd were Vito and Franzoni, Bryan Maclean, Ram Dass, the Harvard psychologist who had collaborated with Timothy Leary in controversial LSD experiments that had led to both losing their jobs, and other stalwarts of the Sunset Strip scene. Cohen got the group bookings at the Whisky A-Go-Go and The Trip, two of the premier LA nightclubs, and Zappa would also sit in with other bands playing at those venues, like the Grass Roots, a band featuring Bryan Maclean and Arthur Lee which would soon change its name to Love. At this time Zappa and Henry Vestine lived together, next door to a singer named Victoria Winston, who at the time was in a duo called Summer's Children with Curt Boettcher: [Excerpt: Summer's Children, "Milk and Honey"] Winston, like Zappa, was a fan of Edgard Varese, and actually asked Zappa to write songs for Summer's Children, but one of the partners involved in their production company disliked Zappa's material and the collaboration went no further. Zappa at this point was trying to incorporate more ideas from modal jazz into his music. He was particularly impressed by Eric Dolphy's 1964 album "Out to Lunch": [Excerpt: Eric Dolphy, "Hat and Beard"] But he was also writing more about social issues, and in particular he had written a song called "The Watts Riots Song", which would later be renamed "Trouble Every Day": [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Trouble Every Day"] Now, the Watts Uprising was one of the most important events in Black American history, and it feels quite wrong that I'm covering it in an episode about a band made up of white, Latino, and American Indian people rather than a record made by Black people, but I couldn't find any way to fit it in anywhere else. As you will remember me saying in the episode on "I Fought the Law", the LA police under Chief William Parker were essentially a criminal gang by any other name -- they were incompetent, violent, and institutionally racist, and terrorised Black people. The Black people of LA were also feeling particularly aggrieved in the summer of 1965, as a law banning segregation in housing had been overturned by a ballot proposition in November 1964, sponsored by the real estate industry and passed by an overwhelming majority of white voters in what Martin Luther King called "one of the most shameful developments in our nation's history", and which Edmund Brown, the Democratic governor said was like "another hate binge which began more than 30 years ago in a Munich beer hall". Then on Wednesday, August 11, 1965, the police pulled over a Black man, Marquette Frye, for drunk driving. He had been driving his mother's car, and she lived nearby, and she came out to shout at him about drinking and driving. The mother, Rena Price, was hit by one of the policemen; Frye then physically attacked one of the police for hitting his mother, one of the police pulled out a gun, a crowd gathered, the police became violent against the crowd, a rumour spread that they had kicked a pregnant woman, and the resulting protests were exacerbated by the police carrying out what Chief Parker described as a "paramiltary" response. The National Guard were called in, huge swathes of south central LA were cordoned off by the police with signs saying things like "turn left or get shot". Black residents started setting fire to and looting local white-owned businesses that had been exploiting Black workers and customers, though this looting was very much confined to individuals who were known to have made the situation worse. Eventually it took six days for the uprising to be put down, at a cost of thirty-four deaths, 1032 injuries, and 3438 arrests. Of the deaths, twenty-three were Black civilians murdered by the police, and zero were police murdered by Black civilians (two police were killed by other police, in accidental shootings). The civil rights activist Bayard Rustin said of the uprising, "The whole point of the outbreak in Watts was that it marked the first major rebellion of Negroes against their own masochism and was carried on with the express purpose of asserting that they would no longer quietly submit to the deprivation of slum life." Frank Zappa's musical hero Johnny Otis would later publish the book Listen to the Lambs about the Watts rebellion, and in it he devotes more than thirty pages to eyewitness accounts from Black people. It's an absolutely invaluable resource. One of the people Otis interviews is Lily Ford, who is described by my copy of the book as being the "lead singer of the famous Roulettes". This is presumably an error made by the publishers, rather than Otis, because Ford was actually a singer with the Raelettes, as in Ray Charles' vocal group. She also recorded with Otis under the name "Lily of the Valley": [Excerpt: Lily of the Valley, "I Had a Sweet Dream"] Now, Ford's account deserves a large excerpt, but be warned, this is very, very difficult to hear. I gave a content warning at the beginning, but I'm going to give another one here. "A lot of our people were in the street, seeing if they could get free food and clothes and furniture, and some of them taking liquor too. But the white man was out for blood. Then three boys came down the street, laughing and talking. They were teenagers, about fifteen or sixteen years old. As they got right at the store they seemed to debate whether they would go inside. One boy started a couple of times to go. Finally he did. Now a cop car finally stops to investigate. Police got out of the car. Meanwhile, the other two boys had seen them coming and they ran. My brother-in-law and I were screaming and yelling for the boy to get out. He didn't hear us, or was too scared to move. He never had a chance. This young cop walked up to the broken window and looked in as the other one went round the back and fired some shots and I just knew he'd killed the other two boys, but I guess he missed. He came around front again. By now other police cars had come. The cop at the window aimed his gun. He stopped and looked back at a policeman sitting in a car. He aimed again. No shot. I tried to scream, but I was so horrified that nothing would come out of my throat. The third time he aimed he yelled, "Halt", and fired before the word was out of his mouth. Then he turned around and made a bull's-eye sign with his fingers to his partner. Just as though he had shot a tin can off a fence, not a human being. The cops stood around for ten or fifteen minutes without going inside to see if the kid was alive or dead. When the ambulance came, then they went in. They dragged him out like he was a sack of potatoes. Cops were everywhere now. So many cops for just one murder." [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Trouble Every Day"] There's a lot more of this sort of account in Otis' book, and it's all worth reading -- indeed, I would argue that it is *necessary* reading. And Otis keeps making a point which I quoted back in the episode on "Willie and the Hand Jive" but which I will quote again here -- “A newborn Negro baby has less chance of survival than a white. A Negro baby will have its life ended seven years sooner. This is not some biological phenomenon linked to skin colour, like sickle-cell anaemia; this is a national crime, linked to a white-supremacist way of life and compounded by indifference”. (Just a reminder, the word “Negro” which Otis uses there was, in the mid-sixties, the term of choice used by Black people.) And it's this which inspired "The Watts Riot Song", which the Mothers were playing when Tom Wilson was brought into The Trip by Herb Cohen: [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Trouble Every Day"] Wilson had just moved from Columbia, where he'd been producing Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel, to Verve, a subsidiary of MGM which was known for jazz records but was moving into rock and roll. Wilson was looking for a white blues band, and thought he'd found one. He signed the group without hearing any other songs. Henry Vestine quit the group between the signing and the first recording, to go and join an *actual* white blues band, Canned Heat, and over the next year the group's lineup would fluctuate quite a bit around the core of Zappa, Collins, Estrada, and Black, with members like Steve Mann, Jim Guercio, Jim Fielder, and Van Dyke Parks coming and going, often without any recordings being made of their performances. The lineup on what became the group's first album, Freak Out! was Zappa, Collins, Estrada, Black, and Elliot Ingber, the former guitarist with the Gamblers, who had joined the group shortly before the session and would leave within a few months. The first track the group recorded, "Any Way the Wind Blows", was straightforward enough: [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Any Way the Wind Blows"] The second song, a "Satisfaction" knock-off called "Hungry Freaks Daddy", was also fine. But it was when the group performed their third song of the session, "Who Are The Brain Police?", that Tom Wilson realised that he didn't have a standard band on his hands: [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Who Are the Brain Police?"] Luckily for everyone concerned, Tom Wilson was probably the single best producer in America to have discovered the Mothers. While he was at the time primarily known for his folk-rock productions, he had built his early career on Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra records, some of the freakiest jazz of the fifties and early sixties. He knew what needed to be done -- he needed a bigger budget. Far from being annoyed that he didn't have the white blues band he wanted, Wilson actively encouraged the group to go much, much further. He brought in Wrecking Crew members to augment the band (though one of them. Mac Rebennack, found the music so irritating he pretended he needed to go to the toilet, walked out, and never came back). He got orchestral musicians to play Zappa's scores, and allowed the group to rent hundreds of dollars of percussion instruments for the side-long track "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet", which features many Hollywood scenesters of the time, including Van Dyke Parks, Kim Fowley, future Manson family member Bobby Beausoleil, record executive David Anderle, songwriter P.F. Sloan, and cartoonist Terry Gilliam, all recording percussion parts and vocal noises: [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet"] Such was Wilson's belief in the group that Freak Out! became only the second rock double album ever released -- exactly a week after the first, Blonde on Blonde, by Wilson's former associate Bob Dylan. The inner sleeve included a huge list of people who had influenced the record in one way or another, including people Zappa knew like Don Cerveris, Don Vliet, Paul Buff, Bob Keane, Nik Venet, and Art Laboe, musicians who had influenced the group like Don & Dewey, Johnny Otis, Otis' sax players Preston Love and Big Jay McNeely, Eric Dolphy, Edgard Varese, Richard Berry, Johnny Guitar Watson, and Ravi Shankar, eccentric performers like Tiny Tim, DJs like Hunter Hancock and Huggy Boy, science fiction writers like Cordwainer Smith and Robert Sheckley, and scenesters like David Crosby, Vito, and Franzoni. The list of 179 people would provide a sort of guide for many listeners, who would seek out those names and find their ways into the realms of non-mainstream music, writing, and art over the next few decades. Zappa would always remain grateful to Wilson for taking his side in the record's production, saying "Wilson was sticking his neck out. He laid his job on the line by producing the album. MGM felt that they had spent too much money on the album". The one thing Wilson couldn't do, though, was persuade the label that the group's name could stay as it was. "The Mothers" was a euphemism, for a word I can't say if I want this podcast to keep its clean rating, a word that is often replaced in TV clean edits of films with "melon farmers", and MGM were convinced that the radio would never play any music by a band with that name -- not realising that that wouldn't be the reason this music wouldn't get played on the radio. The group needed to change their name. And so, out of necessity, they became the Mothers of Invention.

america god tv love american new york california history texas black world children chicago english europe hollywood education mother los angeles lost law mexico french young dj spring blood western speak police trip keys harvard maryland memories massachusetts wolf valley dying mothers beatles martin luther king jr hunt cops paradise tears cd columbia milk west coast elvis air force dark side democratic rock and roll east coast lonely latino moscow beijing dolphins cocktails tigers var bob dylan sake djs lp sweat invention munich satisfaction lsd spike silly el paso pink floyd black americans watts slim halt guild symphony anaheim blonde my life penguins chester christmastime ned national guard mgm lambs grassroots herrera pal scales tijuana ems estrada green lantern crows jewels mexican americans buckley wichita manson sirius rite late show flips sophomores tilt ray charles american indian monterey frank zappa dewey buff mixcloud gee little richard vito italian americans monkees juarez la mesa rock music garfunkel terry gilliam goodies espace tom wilson blackouts greenwich village chicano ram dass coronado oldies deserts motorhead jerry lee lewis exceptions verve sunset strip frye mojave david crosby wipeout zappa debussy freak out gamblers stravinsky timothy leary tiny tim mojave desert howlin sun ra belcher goody wrecking crew ferns lenny bruce east la fielder steve allen midnight hour slippin wind blows el monte city slickers dave brubeck vliet negroes captain beefheart theremin ravi shankar bayard rustin varese thesaurus complete works ritchie valens alan parsons canned heat earth angel tim buckley monster magnet peter cetera mortenson broadside lightnin wanda jackson louie louie slidin wolfman jack spike jones spike milligan western swing bob wills for mother eric dolphy whisky a go go cecil taylor van dyke parks oldies but goodies arthur lee sonny boy williamson franzoni richard berry johnny guitar watson trouble every day webern mothers of invention kim fowley roulettes any way cheka sam goody in black midnighters steve mann robert sheckley king records bruce johnston ray collins i fought faron young johnny otis nelda anton webern laboe rocketeers ray hunt edgard var herb cohen bobby fuller four bobby beausoleil original sound theremins cordwainer smith ionisation studio z mac rebennack don van vliet big jay mcneely brain police mannish boys edgard varese long john hunter ecuatorial chief parker ron gregory tilt araiza

Episode 659: Whole 'Nuther Thing December 12, 2021

Whole 'Nuther Thing

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2021 116:17

"It's really true how nothin' matters.No mad, mad world and no mad hatters.No one's pitchin' cause there ain't no battersIn Coconut Grove".Please join me in our virtual Coconut Grove on the Sunday Edition of Whole 'Nuther Thing. I'll be serving up tasty morsels from The Donnas, Love, Jean Luc Ponty, The Moody Blues, Elton John, Santo & Johnny, The James Gang, Traffic, Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, Small Faces, Doors, Ramones, Crosby Stills & Nash, Genesis, Fleetwood Mac, Seatrain, Return To Forever, Joe Jackson, Bobby Fuller Four, The Beatles and Lovin' Spoonful.

Episode 138: “I Fought the Law” by the Bobby Fuller Four

A History Of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 1, 2021

Episode one hundred and thirty-eight of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “I Fought the Law", and at the mysterious death of Bobby Fuller. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a fifteen-minute bonus episode available, on "Hanky Panky" by Tommy James and the Shondells. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com No Mixcloud this week due to the large number of tracks by the Bobby Fuller Four Resources Information about the Crickets' post-Holly work comes from Buddy Holly: Learning the Game, by Spencer Leigh. There are two books available about Bobby Fuller -- the one I consulted most is Rock and Roll Mustangs by Stephen McParland, which can be bought as a PDF from https://payhip.com/cmusicbooks I also consulted I Fought the Law: The Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller by Miriam Linna and Randell Fuller. One minor note -- both these books spell Bob Keane's name Keene. Apparently he spelled it multiple ways, but I have chosen to use the spelling he used on his autobiography, which is also the spelling I have used for him previously. There are several compilations available of the Bobby Fuller Four's material, but the best collection of the hit singles is Magic Touch: The Complete Mustang Singles Collection. And this is an expanded edition of the Crickets' In Style album. Erratum I say Sonny Curtis wrote "Oh Boy!" -- I meant Sonny West. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript A warning, before I begin. This episode, more than most, deals with events you may find disturbing, including graphic descriptions of violent death. Please check the transcript on the podcast website at 500songs.com if you are worried that you might be upset by this. This episode will not be a pleasant listen. Now on with the episode... More than anything, Bobby Fuller wanted desperately to be Buddy Holly. His attitude is best summed up in a quote from Jim Reese, the guitarist with the Bobby Fuller Four, who said "Don't get me wrong, I thought the world of Bobby Fuller and I cared a lot for him, so I say this with the best intentions -- but he was into Buddy Holly so much that if Buddy Holly decided to wear one red sock and one blue sock and Bobby Fuller found out about it, Bobby Fuller would've had one red sock and one blue sock. He figured that the only way to accomplish whatever Buddy Holly had accomplished was to be as much like Buddy Holly as possible." And Reese was right -- Bobby Fuller really was as much like Buddy Holly as possible. Buddy Holly was from Texas, so was Bobby Fuller. Buddy Holly played a Fender Stratocaster, Bobby Fuller played a Fender Stratocaster. Buddy Holly performed with the Crickets, Bobby Fuller's biggest hit was with a Crickets song. Buddy Holly recorded with Norman Petty, Bobby Fuller recorded with Norman Petty. Of course, there was one big difference. Buddy Holly died in an accident when he was twenty-two. Bobby Fuller lived to be twenty-three. And his death was no accident... [Excerpt: The Bobby Fuller Four, "I Fought the Law"] After Buddy Holly quit the Crickets in 1958, they continued recording with Norman Petty, getting in guitarist Sonny Curtis, who had been an associate of the band members even before they were a band, and who had been a frequent collaborator with Buddy, and vocalist Earl Sinks. But while they kept recording, Petty didn't release any of the recordings, and the group became convinced that he wasn't really interested in doing so. Rather, they thought that he was just using them as leverage to try to get Buddy back. "Love's Made a Fool of You" was the record that made the Crickets lose their faith in Norman Petty. The song was one that Buddy Holly and Bob Montgomery had written way back in 1954, and Holly had revived it for a demo in 1958, recording it not as a potential song for himself but to give to the Everly Brothers, reworked in their style, though they never recorded it: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, "Love's Made a Fool of You"] When Holly and the Crickets had parted ways, the Crickets had recorded their own version of the song with Petty producing, which remained unreleased like everything they'd recorded since Buddy left. But on the very day that Buddy Holly died, Petty shipped a copy of the tape to Decca, express mail, so that a single could be released as soon as possible: [Excerpt: The Crickets, "Love's Made a Fool of You"] The Crickets never worked with Norman Petty again after that, they were so disgusted at his determination to cash in on the death of their friend and colleague. Petty continued to exploit Holly's work, getting in a band called the Fireballs to add new instrumental backing to Holly's old demos so they could be released as new singles, but the split between Petty and Holly's living colleagues was permanent. But the Crickets didn't give up performing, and continued recording new material, mostly written either by Sonny Curtis or by the group's drummer Jerry Allison, who had co-written several of the group's earlier hits with Holly. "More Than I Can Say" was written by Curtis and Allison, and didn't make the top forty in the US, but did become a top thirty hit in the UK: [Excerpt: The Crickets, "More Than I Can Say"] That was later also covered in hit versions by Bobby Vee and Leo Sayer. The B-side, "Baby My Heart", wasn't a hit for the Crickets, but was covered by the Shadows on their first album, which made number one on the UK charts. That performance was one of the few Shadows records at this point to have vocals: [Excerpt: The Shadows, "Baby My Heart"] The group's first post-Holly album collected all their singles without Holly to that point, plus a few new filler tracks. The album, In Style With the Crickets, didn't chart in the US, but was a success in the UK. Around the time that album was released, Earl Sinks quit the group, and became a songwriter. He collaborated with Buddy Holly's old musical partner Bob Montgomery on a variety of hits for people like Brenda Lee, and in the seventies went back into performing for a while, having minor solo country hits as Earl Richards, and then bought a chain of abbatoirs. Allison and Curtis supplemented their income from the Crickets with session work -- Allison backed the Everly Brothers on "Til I Kissed You": [Excerpt: The Everly Brothers, "Til I Kissed You"] and both of them played on Eddie Cochran's last studio session, playing on "Three Steps to Heaven", with Curtis playing the electric lead while Cochran played the acoustic: [Excerpt: Eddie Cochran, "Three Steps to Heaven"] After that, the group went on tour in the UK as the backing band for the Everly Brothers, where they coincidentally bumped into Cochran, who told them "If I knew you guys were coming, I'd have asked you to bring me a bottle of American air.” They would never see Cochran again. Shortly after that tour, Sonny Curtis was drafted -- though while he was in the army, he wrote "Walk Right Back" for the Everly Brothers, as we discussed in the episode on "Cathy's Clown": [Excerpt: The Everly Brothers, "Walk Right Back"] Joe Mauldin gave up on music for a while, and so for a while The Crickets consisted of just Jerry Allison, new singer Jerry Naylor, and guitarist Tommy Allsup, who had played with Holly after Holly left the Crickets. That lineup recorded the "Bobby Vee Meets the Crickets" album, with Bobby Vee singing lead: [Excerpt: Bobby Vee and the Crickets, "Well... All Right"] Curtis would return once his time in the army was over, and eventually, in the 1970s, the group would stabilise on a lineup of Curtis, Mauldin, and Allison, who would play together more or less consistently until 2015. But for a few years in the early sixties there was a lot of lineup shuffling, especially as Allison got drafted not long after Curtis got out of the Army -- there was one UK tour where there were no original members at all, thanks to Allison's absence. When Curtis was out of the group around the time of the Bobby Vee album, Snuff Garrett tried to get a friend of his to join as the group's new lead singer, and brought him to LA, but it didn't work out. Garrett later said "He and Jerry didn't hit it off in the way I imagined. After a few months, it was over and the guy started playing clubs around LA. I did demos with him and took them to my boss, the president of Liberty, and he said, ‘You've got enough of your friends signed to the label. You've signed the Crickets and Buddy Knox and they're not doing much business, and this guy can hardly speak English.' I said, ‘Well, I think he's going to be something.' ‘Okay,' he said, ‘Drop one of the acts you've got and you can sign him.' I said, ‘Forget it.' A year later, he was an international star and his name was Trini Lopez" Lopez's big hit, "If I Had a Hammer", was recorded in a live show at a club called PJs: [Excerpt: Trini Lopez, "If I Had a Hammer"] PJs was owned by a gangster named Eddie Nash, who is now best known as the prime suspect in a notorious case known as the Wonderland Murders, when in 1981 four people were horribly beaten to death, either with the assistance of or to send a message to the porn star John Holmes, depending on which version of the story you believe. If you're unfamiliar with the case, I advise you not to google it, as it's very far from pretty. I bring this up because PJs would soon play a big part in the career of the Bobby Fuller Four. Bobby Fuller was born in the Gulf Coast of Texas, but his family moved about a lot during his formative years, mostly in the Southwestern US, living in Lubbock, Texas, Hobbs, New Mexico, and Salt Lake City, Utah, among other places, before finally settling down in El Paso. El Paso is a border town, right up close to the border with Mexico, and that meant that it had a complicated relationship with Juarez, the nearest large town on the Mexican side of the border. Between 1919 and 1933, the selling and consumption of alcohol had been made illegal in the United States, a period known as Prohibition, but of course it had not been criminalised in Mexico, and so during those years any time anyone from El Paso wanted to get drunk they'd travel to Juarez. Even after Prohibition ended, Juarez had a reputation as a party town, and Randy Fuller, Bobby's brother, would later tell a teen magazine "You can grow up in El Paso and get really bad -- it's Juarez that makes it that way. Whatever personality you have, you have it 100%. You can go to Juarez and get drunk, or stay in El Paso and get religion" Of course, from the outside, that sounds a whole lot like "now look what YOU made ME do". It's not the fault of those white people from Texas that they travel to someone else's city in someone else's country and get falling-down drunk and locked up in their jails every weekend, but it's the fault of those tempting Mexicans. And when Bobby and Randy Fuller's older brother Jack disappeared in 1961, while Bobby was off at university, that was at first what everyone thought had happened -- he'd gone to Juarez, got drunk, and got locked up until he could sleep it off. But when he didn't reappear after several days, everyone became more concerned. It turned out that Jack had met a man named Roy Handy at a bus depot and started chatting with him. They'd become friendly, and had gone off to do some target shooting together in the desert. But Handy had seen what looked like a wad of thousand-dollar bills in Jack's sun visor, and had decided to turn the gun on Jack rather than the target, killing him. The thousand-dollar bills had been play money, a gift bought for a small child who lived nearby. Because of the murder, Bobby Fuller moved back to El Paso from Denton in North Texas, where he had been studying music at university. He did enroll in a local college, but gave up his studies very quickly. Bobby had been something of a musical prodigy -- his original plan before going to North Texas State University had actually been to go to Juilliard, where he was going to study jazz drumming. Instead, while Bobby continued his drumming, he started living a party lifestyle, concentrating on his car, on women -- he got multiple women pregnant in his late teens and early twenties -- and on frequent trips to Juarez, where he would spend a lot of time watching a local blues musician, Long John Hunter: [Excerpt: Long John Hunter, "El Paso Rock"] Meanwhile, a music scene had been growing in El Paso since the late 1950s. A group called the Counts were at the forefront of it, with instrumentals like "Thunder": [Excerpt: The Counts, "Thunder"] The Counts splintered into various groups, and one of them became The Embers, who Bobby Fuller joined on drums. Fuller was also one of a tiny number of people at this time who actually had a home studio. Fuller had started out with a simple bedroom studio, but thanks to his parents' indulgence he had repurposed a big chunk of their house as a studio, including building, with his brother Randy, an echo chamber (though it didn't work very well and he stuck with tape echo). It was in that home studio that the Embers recorded their first single, "Jim's Jive", with Fuller on drums and Jim Reese on lead guitar: [Excerpt: Jerry Bright and The Embers, "Jim's Jive"] That was released on a tiny local label, Yucca Records, which also released the Embers' second single -- and also released two Bobby Fuller solo singles, starting with "You're in Love": [Excerpt: Bobby Fuller, "You're in Love"] That was recorded at Fuller's home studio, with the Embers backing him, and became the number one single locally, but Yucca Records had no national distribution, and the record didn't get a wider release. Fuller's second single, though, was the first time his Buddy Holly fixation came to the forefront. Fuller was, by many accounts, *only* interested in sounding like Buddy Holly -- though his musical tastes were broad enough that he also wanted to sound like Eddie Cochran, Ritchie Valens, and the Crickets. But that was the extent of Fuller's musical world, and so obviously he wanted to work with the people who had worked with Holly. So his second single was recorded at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico, with Petty's wife Vi, who had played keyboards on some Buddy Holly records, on keyboards and backing vocals: [Excerpt: Bobby Fuller, "Gently My Love"] But as it turned out, Fuller was very underwhelmed by the experience of working with Petty, and decided that he was going to go back to recording in his home studio. Fuller left the Embers and started performing on his own, playing rhythm guitar rather than drums, with a band that initially consisted of his brother Randy on bass, Gaylord Grimes on drums, and Jim Reese on lead guitar, though there would be constant lineup changes. Two of the many musicians who drifted in and out of Fuller's revolving band lineup, Larry Thompson and Jerry Miller, were from the Pacific Northwest, and were familiar with the scene that I talked about in the episode on "Louie, Louie". Thompson was a fan of one of the Pacific Northwest bands, the Frantics, who had hits with tracks like "Werewolf": [Excerpt: The Frantics, "Werewolf"] Thompson believed that the Frantics had split up, and so Fuller's group took on that name for themselves. When they found out that the group *hadn't* split up, they changed their name to the Fanatics, though the name on their bass drum still read "The Frantics" for quite a while. Jerry Miller later moved back to Seattle, where he actually joined the original Frantics, before going on to become a founder member of Moby Grape. Fuller started his own record label, Eastwood Records, and put out another solo single, which covered the full breadth of his influences. The B-side was "Oh Boy!", the song Sonny Curtis had written for Buddy Holly, while the A-side was "Nervous Breakdown", which had originally been recorded by Eddie Cochran: [Excerpt: Bobby Fuller, "Nervous Breakdown"] Everything was very fluid at this point, with musicians coming and going from different lineups, and none of these musicians were only playing in one band. For example, as well as being lead guitarist in the Fanatics, Jim Reese also played on "Surfer's Paradise" by Bobby Taylor and the Counts: [Excerpt: Bobby Taylor and the Counts, "Surfer's Paradise"] And Bobby's record label, renamed from Eastwood to Exeter, was releasing records by other artists as well as Bobby and the Fanatics, though none of these records had any success. In early 1963 Fuller and his latest lineup of Fanatics -- Randy, drummer Jimmy Wagnon, and guitarist Tex Reed -- travelled to LA to see if they could become successful outside El Paso. They got a residency at the Hermosa Biltmore, and also regularly played the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, where the Beach Boys and Dick Dale had both played not long before, and there they added some surf instrumentals to their repertoire. Bobby soon became almost as keen on surf music as he was on rockabilly. While in LA, they tried all the record companies, with no success. The most encouragement they got came from Bob Keane at Del-Fi, the label that had previously been Ritchie Valens' label, who told him that the tapes they brought him of their El Paso recordings sounded good but they needed better songs, and to come back to him when they had a hit song. Bobby determined to do just that. On their return to El Paso, Bobby Fuller and the Fanatics recorded "Stringer" for Todd Records, a small label owned by Paul Cohen, the former Decca executive who had signed Buddy Holly but not known what to do with him: [Excerpt: Bobby Fuller and the Fanatics, "Stringer"] Fuller also opened his own teen nightclub, the Teen Rendezvous, which he named after the Balboa ballroom. The Fanatics became the regular band there, and at this point they started to build up a serious reputation as live performers. The Teen Rendezvous only stayed open for a few months, though -- there were complaints about the noise, and also they booked Bobby Vee as a headliner one night. Vee charged a thousand dollars for his appearance, which the club couldn't really afford, and they didn't make it back on the doors. They'd hoped that having a prestigious act like Vee play there might get more people to come to the club regularly, but it turned out that Vee gave a sub-par performance, and the gamble didn't pay off. It was around this time that Fuller made his first recording of a song that would eventually define him, though it wasn't his idea. He was playing the Crickets In Style album to his brother Randy, and Randy picked up on one song, a Sonny Curtis composition which had never been released as a single: [Excerpt: The Crickets, "I Fought the Law"] Randy thought the Crickets' actual record sounded horrible, but he also thought the song had the potential to be a really big hit. He later explained "The James Dean movie Rebel Without a Cause had made a big impression on me, and I told Bobby, 'Man, let's do that one... it oughta sell a million copies'. Everyone was into the whole rebel thing, with switchblades and stuff like that. It just seemed like a natural thing for us to do." Fuller recorded his own version of the song, which once again became a local hit: [Excerpt: Bobby Fuller, "I Fought The Law (El Paso version)"] But even though the record did get some national distribution, from VeeJay Records, it didn't get any airplay outside the Southwest, and Fuller remained a local star with absolutely no national profile. Meanwhile, he was still trying to do what Bob Keane had asked and come up with a hit song, but he was stuck in a musical rut. As Jim Reese would later say, "Bobby was a great imitator. He could sing just like Holly, McCartney, Lennon, or Eddie Cochran. And he could imitate on the guitar, too. But Bobby never did Bobby". To make matters worse, the Beatles came on to the American musical scene, and caused an immediate shift in the public taste. And Bobby Fuller had a very complicated relationship with the Beatles. He had to play Beatles songs live because that's what the audiences wanted, but he felt that rock and roll was *American* music, and he resented British people trying to play it. He respected them as songwriters, but didn't actually like their original material. He could tell that they were huge Buddy Holly fans, like him, and he respected that, but he loathed Motown, and he could tell they were listening to that too. He ended up trying to compromise by playing Buddy Holly songs on stage but introducing them by talking about how much the Beatles loved Buddy Holly. Another person who was negatively affected by the British Invasion was Bob Keane, the man who had given Fuller some encouragement. Keane's Del-Fi Records had spent the previous few years making a steady income from churning out surf records like "Surf Rider" by the Lively Ones: [Excerpt: The Lively Ones, "Surf Rider"] And the Surfer's Pajama Party album by the Bruce Johnston Surfing Band: [Excerpt: Bruce Johnston, "The Surfer Stomp"] But as surf music had suddenly become yesterday's news, Del-Fi were in financial trouble, and Keane had had to take on a partner who gave the label some financial backing, Larry Nunes. Now, I am going to be very, very, careful about exactly what I say about Nunes here. I am aware that different people give very, very, different takes on Nunes' personality -- Barry White, for example, always said that knowing Nunes was the best thing that ever happened to him, credited Nunes with everything good in his career, and gave him credit on all his albums as his spiritual advisor. However, while White made Nunes out to be pretty much a saint, that is not the impression one gets from hearing Bob Keane or any of Bobby Fuller's circle talk about him. Nunes had started out in the music business as a "rack jobber", someone who ran a small distribution company, selling to small family-owned shops and to secondary markets like petrol stations and grocery stores. The business model for these organisations was to get a lot of stock of records that hadn't sold, and sell them at a discount, to be sold in discount bins. But they were also a perfect front for all sorts of criminal activity. Because these were bulk sales of remaindered records, dead stock, the artists weren't meant to get royalties on them, and no real accounting was done of the sales. So if a record label "accidentally" pressed up a few thousand extra copies of a hit record and sold it on to a rack jobber, the artists would never know. And if the Mafia made a deal with the record pressing plant to press up a few thousand extra copies, the *record label* would never know. And so very, very, quickly this part of the distribution system became dominated by organised crime. I have seen no proof, only rumours, that Nunes was directly involved in organised crime, but Bob Keane in particular later became absolutely convinced he was. Keane would later write in his autobiography: “I wondered if I had made a deal with the Devil. I had heard that Larry had a reputation for being associated with the Mob, and as it turned out three years later our relationship ended in deception, dishonesty, and murder. I consider myself very lucky to have come out of my relationship with Nunes in one piece, virtually unscathed." Again, this is Keane's interpretation of events. I am not saying that Larry Nunes was a mobster, I am saying that Bob Keane repeatedly made that accusation many times, and that other people in this story have said similar things. By late 1964, Bobby Fuller had come up with a song he was pretty sure *would* be a successful single, like Keane had wanted, a song called "Keep on Dancing" he'd written with Randy: [Excerpt: Bobby Fuller, “Keep On Dancing”] After some discussion he managed to persuade Randy, Jim Reese, and drummer DeWayne Quirico to move with him to LA -- Bobby and Randy's mother also moved with them, because after what had happened to her eldest son she was very protective of her other children. Jim Reese was less keen on the move than the others, as he thought that Fuller was only interested in himself, not in the rest of the Fanatics. As Reese would later say, "Bobby wanted us all to go to California, but I was leery because it always had been too one-sided with Bobby. He ran everything, hired and fired at the least whim, and didn't communicate well with other people. He was never able to understand that a musician, like other people, needs food, gasoline, clothes, a place to live, etc. I often felt that Bobby thought we should be following him anywhere just for the thrill of it." Eventually, Fuller got them to go by agreeing that when they got to LA, everything would be split equally -- one for all and all for one, though when they finally made a deal with Keane, Fuller was the only one who ended up receiving royalties. The rest of the group got union scale. Keane agreed that "Keep on Dancing" could be a hit, but that wasn't the first record the group put out through one of Keane's labels. The first was an instrumental titled "Thunder Reef": [Excerpt: The Shindigs, "Thunder Reef"] That wasn't released as by the Fanatics, but as by The Shindigs -- Keane had heard that Shindig! needed a house band and thought that naming the group after the show might be a way to get them the position. As it happened, the TV show went with another group, led by James Burton, who they called the Shindogs, and Keane's plan didn't work out. The Shindigs single was released on a new Del-Fi subsidiary, Mustang, on which most future records by the group would be released. Mustang was apparently set up specifically for the group, but the first record released on that label was actually by a studio group called The Surfettes: [Excerpt: The Surfettes, "Sammy the Sidewalk Surfer"] The Surfettes consisted of Carol Connors, the former lead singer of the Teddy Bears and writer of "Hey Little Cobra", and her sister Cheryl. Carol had written the single with Buzz Cason, of Brenda Lee's band, and the session musicians on that single included several other artists who were recording for Del-Fi at the time -- David Gates, Arthur Lee, and Johnny Echols, all of whom we'll be hearing more about in future episodes. Almost simultaneously with the Shindigs single, another single by the Fanatics was released, "Those Memories of You": [Excerpt: Bobby Fuller and the Fanatics, "Those Memories of You"] That single, backed by a surf instrumental called "Our Favourite Martian", was released on Donna Records, another Del-Fi subsidiary, as by Bobby Fuller and the Fanatics, which made the other group members furious -- what had happened to one for all and all for one? Randy Fuller, who was a very aggressive young man, was so annoyed that he stormed into Bob Keane's office and frisbeed one of the singles at his head. They didn't want to be Bobby's backing band, they wanted to be a proper group, so it was agreed the group's name would be changed. It was changed to The Bobby Fuller Four. Jim Reese claimed that Keane and Fuller formed The Bobby Fuller Four Inc, without the other three members having participation, and made them employees of the corporation. Reese said "this didn't fit in with my concept of the verbal agreement I had with Bobby, but at least it was better than nothing". The group became the house band at the Rendezvous, playing their own sets and backing people like Sonny and Cher. They then got a residency at the Ambassador Hotel in Hollywood, and then Jim Reese quit the band. Fuller phoned him and begged him to come back, and as Reese said later "I again repeated my conditions about equal treatment and he agreed, so I went back -- probably the biggest mistake I ever made." The group's first single as the Bobby Fuller Four, released on Mustang as all their future records were, was "Take My Word": [Excerpt: The Bobby Fuller Four, "Take My Word"] The record was unsuccessful -- Keane's various labels, while they were better distributed than Bobby's own labels back in El Paso, still only had spotty distribution, and Mustang being a new label it was even more difficult to get records in stores. But the group were getting a reputation as one of the best live acts in the LA area at the time. When the club Ciro's, on the Sunset Strip, closed and reopened under its new name It's Boss, the group were chosen to perform at its grand reopening, and they played multiple four- to six-week residencies at PJ's. The next record the group released, "Let Her Dance", was a slight rewrite of "Keep on Dancing", the song the Fuller brothers had written together, though Bobby was the only credited writer on the label: [Excerpt: The Bobby Fuller Four, "Let Her Dance"] That was the first single they recorded at a new state-of-the-art studio Keane had opened up. That studio had one of the first eight-track machines in LA, and a truly vast echo chamber, made up from a couple of unused vaults owned by a bank downstairs from the studio. But there were big arguments between Fuller and Keane, because Fuller wanted only to make music that could be reproduced live exactly as it was on the record, while Keane saw the record as the important thing. Keane put a percussion sound on the record, made by hitting a bottle, which Fuller detested as they couldn't do it live, and the two would only end up disagreeing more as they continued working together. There's a lot of argument among Fuller fans about this -- personally I can see both sides, but there are people who are very much Team Bobby and think that nothing he recorded for Mustang is as good as the El Paso recordings, because of Bob Keane diluting the raw power of his live sound. But in an era where studio experimentation was soon to lead to records like "Strawberry Fields Forever" or "Good Vibrations", I think a bit of extra percussion is hardly an unforgivable dilution: [Excerpt: The Bobby Fuller Four, "Let Her Dance"] KRLA radio started playing "Let Her Dance" every hour, at the instigation of Larry Nunes -- and most of the people talking about this have implied that he bribed people in order to get this to happen, or that it was through his alleged Mob connections. Certainly, he knew exactly when they would start playing the record, and how frequently, before they did. As a result of this exposure, "Let Her Dance" became a massive local hit, but they still didn't have the distribution to make it a hit outside California. It did, though, do well enough that Liberty Records asked about putting the record out nationally. Keane came to a verbal agreement, which he thought was an agreement for Liberty to distribute the Mustang Records single, and Liberty thought was an agreement to put out the single on their own label and have an option on future Fuller recordings. Liberty put the record out on their own label, without Keane having signed anything, and Keane had to sue them. The result was that the record was out on two different labels, which were suing each other, and so it hardly had any chance at any kind of success. The legal action also affected the next single, "Never to Be Forgotten": [Excerpt: The Bobby Fuller Four, "Never to Be Forgotten"] That's often considered the best of the band's originals for Mustang, and was written by the Fuller brothers -- and both of them were credited this time -- but Liberty sued Keane, claiming that because they'd released "Let Her Dance", they also had an option on the next single. But even though the group still weren't selling records, they were getting other opportunities for exposure, like their appearance in a film which came out in April 1966. Though admittedly, this film was hardly A Hard Day's Night. Indeed, a lot of people have claimed that The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini was cursed. The film, which went through the working titles Pajama Party in a Haunted House, Slumber Party in a Haunted House, Bikini Party in a Haunted House, and Ghost in a Glass Bikini, was made by the cheapy exploitation company American International Pictures, and several people involved in it would die in the next four years, starting with Buster Keaton, who was meant to appear in the film, but had to back out due to his health problems and died before the film came out. Then on the first day of filming, a grip fell to his death. In the next four years, two of the film's young stars, Sue Hamilton and John Macchia, would die, as would Philip Bent, an actor with a minor role who died in July 1966 in a plane crash which also took the life of Peter Sachse, an extra on the film who was married to a cast member. Three more stars of the film, Francis X Bushman, Basil Rathbone, and Boris Karloff would also all be dead within a handful of years, but they were all elderly and unwell when filming started. I don't believe in curses myself, but it is a horrible run of bad luck for a single film. To make matters worse, the group weren't even playing their own music in the film, but lipsynching to tracks by other musicians. And they had to play Vox instruments in the film, because of a deal the filmmakers had made, when the group all hated Vox instruments, which Jim Reese thought of as only good for starting bonfires. For the next single, Keane had discussed with Fuller what songs the group had that were "different", but Fuller apparently didn't understand what he meant. So Keane went to the rest of the group and asked them what songs always went over well in live performances. All three band members said that "I Fought the Law" should be the next single. Bobby disagreed, and almost got into a fistfight with his brother over it -- they'd already released it as a single once, on his own label, and he didn't want to do it again. He also wanted to record his own material not cover versions. But the others prevailed, and "I Fought the Law" became the record that would define the group: [Excerpt: The Bobby Fuller Four, "I Fought the Law"] "I Fought the Law" became the group's breakthrough hit. It made the top ten, and turned the song, which had previously been one of the Crickets' most obscure songs, into a rock and country standard. In the seventies, the song would be recorded by Hank Williams Jr, the Clash, the Dead Kennedys and more, and all of them would be inspired by the Bobby Fuller Four's version of the song, not the Crickets' original. Around this time, the group also recorded a live album at PJs, in the hope of duplicating Trini Lopez's success with his earlier album. The album was shelved, though, because it didn't capture the powerhouse live act of the group's reputation, instead sounding rather dull and lifeless, with an unenthused audience: [Excerpt: The Bobby Fuller Four, "Oh Boy!"] While "I Fought the Law" was a huge success, it started a period of shifts within the band. Shortly after the PJs album was recorded, DeWayne Quirico quit the band and moved back to El Paso. He was temporarily replaced by Johnny Barbata, who would later become a member of the Turtles, before Fuller's preferred replacement Dalton Powell was able to get to LA to join the band. There seems to have been some shuffling about, as well, because as far as I can tell, Powell joined the band, then quit and was replaced by Barbata returning, and then rejoined again, all in about a six month period. Given the success of "I Fought the Law", it only made sense that at their first recording session with Powell, the group would record more tracks that had originally been on the Crickets' In Style album. One of these, their version of "Baby My Heart", went unreleased at the time, though to my taste it's the best thing the group ever did: [Excerpt: The Bobby Fuller Four, "Baby My Heart"] The other, "Love's Made a Fool of You", became the group's next single: [Excerpt: The Bobby Fuller Four, "Love's Made a Fool of You"] "Love's Made a Fool of You" was also a success, making number twenty-six in the charts, but the group's next session, which would produce their last single, was the cause of some conflict. Keane had noticed that soul music was getting bigger, and so he'd decided to open up a sister label to Mustang, Bronco, which would release soul and R&B music. As he didn't know much about that music himself, though of course he had worked with Sam Cooke, he decided to hire an A&R man to deal with that kind of music. The man he chose was a piano player named Barry White, still several years from making his own hit records. White had had some success as an arranger and producer already, having arranged "The Harlem Shuffle" for Bob and Earl, on which he also played piano: [Excerpt: Bob and Earl, "The Harlem Shuffle"] Despite White's remit, the records he produced for Bronco and Mustang weren't especially soulful. "Back Seat 38 Dodge" by Opus 1, for example, is a psychedelic updating of the kind of car songs that the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean had been doing a couple of years earlier: [Excerpt: Opus 1, "Back Seat 38 Dodge"] White was present at what became the final Bobby Fuller Four session, though accounts differ as to his involvement. Some have him arranging "The Magic Touch”, others have him playing drums on the session, some have him co-producing. Bob Keane always said that the record had no involvement from White whatsoever, that he was there but not participating, but various band members, while differing on other things, have insisted that White and Fuller got into huge rows, as Fuller thought that White was trying to turn his music into Motown, which he despised. The finished record does sound to me like it's got some of White's fingerprints on it: [Excerpt: The Bobby Fuller Four, "The Magic Touch"] But "The Magic Touch" flopped -- it departed too far from the updated Buddy Holly sound of the group's hit singles, and audiences weren't responding. “The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini” came out and was an embarrassment to the band – and on July the eleventh the next in that horrible series of deaths linked to the film happened, the plane crash that killed Philip Bent and Peter Sachse. On July the sixteenth, William Parker, the long-serving chief of the LAPD, had died. If, hypothetically, someone wanted to commit a crime in LA and not have it investigated too closely, the few days after Parker's death, when the entire department was in mourning and making preparations for a massive public funeral, would have been a good time to do so. Two days after Parker's death, July the eighteenth 1966, was going to be the crunch point for the Bobby Fuller Four. They had a recording session scheduled for 8:30AM, but they also were planning on having a band meeting after the session, at which it was likely the group were going to split up. Jim Reese had just got his draft notice, Bobby and Randy were getting on worse, and nobody was happy with the music they were making. They were going to finish the album they were working on, and then Bobby was going to go solo. Or at least that was what everyone assumed -- certainly Ahmet Ertegun had been sniffing round Bobby as a solo artist, though Bobby kept saying publicly he wanted to continue working with the band. There were also later rumours that Morris Levy had been after Bobby, and had even signed him to a deal, though no documentary evidence of such a deal has surfaced. It seemed that if there was to be a group at all, it would just be a name for any random musicians Bobby hired. Bobby also wanted to become a pure recording artist, and not tour any more -- he hated touring, thought people weren't listening to the band properly, and that being away from home meant he didn't have time to write songs, which in turn meant that he had to record what he thought of as substandard material by other people rather than his own original material. He wanted to stay in LA, play clubs, and make records. But even though making records was what he wanted to do, Bobby never turned up for the recording session, and nor did he turn up for the group meeting afterwards. The group's next single had been announced as "It's Love Come What May": [Excerpt: Randy Fuller, "It's Love Come What May"] When that was released, it was released as a Randy Fuller solo single, with Randy's voice overdubbed on top of Bobby's. Because there was no use putting out a record by a dead man. Here's what we actually know about Bobby Fuller's death, as far as I can tell. There are a lot of conflicting claims, a lot of counternarratives, and a lot of accusations that seek to tie in everyone from Charles Manson to Frank Sinatra, but this is as close as I can get to the truth. Bobby and Randy were living together, with their mother, though Randy was out a lot of the time, and the two brothers at that point could barely stand to be in the same room with each other, as often happens in bands where brothers work together. On the night of July the seventeenth, Bobby Fuller left the house for a couple of hours after getting a phone call -- some people who were around said he was going to see a girlfriend named Melody to buy some acid from her, but she says he didn't see her that night. Melody was a sex worker, who was also reputedly the girlfriend of a local nightclub owner who had Mob connections and was jealous of her attachments to other men -- though she denies this. Nobody has ever named which club owner, but it's generally considered to be Eddie Nash, the owner of PJs. Melody was also friends with Larry Nunes, and says she acted as a go-between for Nunes and Fuller. Fuller got back in around 2:30 AM and spent some time having beer with the building manager. Then at some point he went out again -- Bobby was a night owl. When his mother, Lorraine, woke up, she noticed her car, which Bobby often used to borrow, wasn't there. She had a terrible bad feeling about her son's whereabouts -- though she often had such feelings, after the murder of her eldest son. She kept checking outside every half hour or so to see if he was coming home. At 5PM, two musicians from El Paso, Ty Grimes and Mike Ciccarelli, who'd come to LA to see Fuller, pulled into the parking lot near his apartment block. There were no other cars nearby. A car pulled in beside them, but they didn't pay any attention. They went up the stairs and rang the doorbell. While they were ringing the doorbell, Lorraine Fuller was out checking the mail, and noticed her car, which hadn't been there earlier. She opened the door. Ty Grimes later said "When we walked back to Mike's car, Bobby's car was now parked next to Mike's, and he was laying in the front seat already dead. We also saw his mom being helped toward the apartment." Fuller had been dead long enough for rigor mortis to have set in. While Lorraine Fuller later said that his hand had been on the ignition key, there was actually no key found in the car. He had apparently died from inhaling petrol. His body was covered in bruises, and the slippers he was wearing looked like they'd been dragged across the ground. His body was covered in petrol, and his right index finger was broken. Bob Keane has later said that Larry Nunes knew some details of the crime scene before he was told them. According to the other members of the band, there was an eight hundred thousand dollar life insurance policy on Bobby's life, held by the record company. Keane didn't get any money from any such policy, and stated that if such a policy existed it must have been taken out by Nunes, who soon stopped working with Keane, as Keane's labels collapsed without their one remaining star. The death was initially ruled a suicide, which would not pay out on an insurance claim, and later changed to accidental death, which would. Though remember, of course, we have only the word of Bobby's other band members that any insurance policy existed. No real police investigation was ever carried out, because it was such an open-and-shut case. At no point was it ever considered a murder by the famously corrupt LAPD. Bob Keane hired private investigators to investigate the case. One of them was shot at, and the others gave up on the investigation, scared to continue. The autopsy report that was issued months after the fact bore no resemblance to what any of the witnesses said they saw of the state of Fuller's body. More than thirty years later, Keane tried to get the information the LAPD held about the case, and was told that it could only be accessed by a family member. Keane contacted Randy Fuller, who was then told that the entire case file was missing. So all we can go on as far as the official records go is the death certificate. Which means that I lied to you at the start of the episode. Because officially, no matter what impression you might have got from everything I just said, Bobby Fuller's death *was* an accident.

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Capital Rioting Punk

The Lawrence Ross Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2021 1:08

A song concerning Jenna Ryan, a participant in the January 06 Capital riots, to the tune of "I Fought The Law"" by Bobby Fuller Four. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lawrence-ross9/message

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163: The Mysterious Death of Bobby Fuller

Ghost Town

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 28, 2021 28:44

The mysterious death of Bobby Fuller of the Bobby Fuller Four on July 18th, 1966 leads to more questions than answers, and remains unsolved.Get your discount for Smile Brilliant now! https://www.smilebrilliant.com - promo code: GHOSTNew True Crime video: https://youtu.be/ps0HrNqSwO8Haunted Merch: http://bit.ly/ghosttownstuffPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/ghosttownpodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ghosttownpodSources: https://bit.ly/3kcwMyQ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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163: The Mysterious Death of Bobby Fuller

Ghost Town

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 28, 2021 30:44

The mysterious death of Bobby Fuller of the Bobby Fuller Four on July 18th, 1966 leads to more questions than answers, and remains unsolved. Get your discount for Smile Brilliant now! https://www.smilebrilliant.com - promo code: GHOST New True Crime video: https://youtu.be/ps0HrNqSwO8 Haunted Merch: http://bit.ly/ghosttownstuff Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ghosttownpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ghosttownpod Sources: https://bit.ly/3kcwMyQ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Fuego En La Pista de Baile #32 -Especial Sant Joan 23Junio2021

Podcast de iPop Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 24, 2021 209:05

Fuego en la Pista de Baile, los éxitos y las novedades más underground en www.ipopfm.com, cada miércoles de 20 a 21 horas. 🎸 Tracklist: 1. Smokey Robinson ad The Miracles – You Really Got a Hold on Me 2. The Temptations – My Girl 3. The Capitols – Cool Jerk 4. Ken Boothe – You Left The Water Running 5. Desmond Dekker – You Can Get It If You Really Want 6. Mr. Symarip – You Can’t Leave Now 7. Val Bennet – Reggae City 8. Rudy Mills – John Jones 9. Los Granadians del Espacio Exterior – Buena Costumbre 10. Laurel Aitken – Rudi Got Married 11. Tony Borders – Lonely Weekends 12. Rufus Thomas – All Night Worker 13. The Contours – Do You Love Me 14. The Beatles – Twist and Shout 15. David Bowie – The Jean Genie 16. Bo Diddley – Pills 17. The 101’ers – Letsagetabitarockin 18. Los Saicos – Demoler 19. John Lee Hooker – Dimples 20. Rosco Gordon – No More Doggin 21. Ronnie Dawson – Rockin Bones 22. The Cramps – Save It 23. Chuck Berry – Come On 24. The Rivingtons – Papa Oom Mow Mow 25. Joe Jones – California Sun 26. The Velvelettes – Needle In a Haystack 27. The Shirelles – Mama Said 28. The Ronettes – Be My Baby 29. Ramones – Do You Wanna Dance? 30. Freddie and The Filos – Dance Girl, Dance 31. Heatwaves – My Baby is True 32. The Beach Boys – All Summer Long 33. Chubby Checker – Let’s Twist Again 34. The Gentrys – Keep On Dancing 35. The Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought The Law 36. Don and The Goodmans – Turn On 37. The Troggs – With A Girl Like You 38. The Sonics – Have Love Will Travel 39. The Kingsmen – Louie Louie 40. The Seeds – Try To Understand 41. Gregory Dee and The Avanties – Love You 42. ? Mark and The Mysterians – 96 Tears 43. Doctor Explosion – Rompí la Televisión 44. The Who – I Can’t Explain 45. Los Flechazos – A toda velocidad 46. The Human Beinz – Nobody But Me 47. The Kinks – Victoria 48. Spencer Davis Group – Keep On Running 49. Wilson Picket – Midnight Hour 50. Laura Greene – Moonlight, Music and You 51. The Flirtations – Little Darling I Need You 52. The Elgins – Heaven Must Have Sent You 53. Brighton 64 – El Mejor Cocktail 54. The Jam – Sweet Soul Music 55. Secret Affair – Time For Action 56. Squire – Get Ready To Go 57. The Rage – Temptation 58. The Chords – Maybe Tomorrow 59. The Specials – Hey, Little Rich Girl 60. Sophie George – Girlie Girlie 61. Jimmy Cliff – The Harder They Come 62. Dandy Livingstone – Suzanne Beware of The Devil 63. The Clash – White Man In Hammersmith Palais 64. Rancid – Roots Radical 65. New York Dolls – Trash 66. Polansky y el Ardor – Ataque Preventivo de la URSS 67. Gen X – Dancing With Myself 68. The Housemartins – Five Get Over Excited 69. PennyCocks – It’s My Life 70. La Granja – Los chicos quieren diversión 71. The Speedways – Just Another Regular Summer 72. The Lemonheads – Mrs. Robinson 73. The Real Kids – All Kindsa Girls 74. Radio Birdman – Aloha Steve and Danno 75. MCD – Barrenkalle 76. Los Vegetales – Odio el Verano 77. Panellet – Ball de Graduació

1966 - March: The Standells “The Live Ones”

What the Riff?!?

Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2021 28:13

The Standells were a Los Angeles garage band formed in the early 60's, often referred to as an early punk band. The lineup was Larry Tamblyn on organ and vocals, Tony Valentino on guitar, Gary Lane on bass, and former Mouseketeer Dick Dodd on drums and lead vocals. The name came from Tamblyn and Valentino, and referenced their standing around booking agents, trying to get a job.The group made use of their Los Angeles roots by appearing in several low budget films in the 1960's including “Get Yourself a College Girl” in 1964 and the cult classic “Riot on Sunset Strip” in 1967. They also appeared on the television series “The Munsters” as themselves in the episode “Far Out Munster.” They also appeared on The Bing Crosby Show under a pseudonym “The Love Bugs.” The Live Ones EP was recorded in March 1966, and showcases both the sound and the attitude of The Standells. The songs are short like most songs of the era, and make extensive use of the organ in the music. The Standells big hit was “Dirty Water,” a reference to Boston Harbor and Charles River which was notorious for its pollution at the time. Their first major gig was at The Oasis in Honolulu, which may explain the surfer influence. In 1966, The Standells toured with The Rolling Stones.The Standells continue to perform today, though the lineup has changed over time.Mr. NobodyThis song is about a guy hitting on the author's girlfriend. He isn't having any of it. “So you can take your fancy car and drive away real far. The world is full of nobodies like you are.”Why Pick On Me?If you've ever been attracted to a flirtatious girl who is there one moment and gone the next, you can identify with this tune. The lyrics that bring it home are, “candy kisses don't mean a thing if only flies those kisses bring.”Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear WhiteThis track references the contrast between blue collar workers and white collar workers. When white collar workers thumb their nose at blue collar workers, sometimes the good guy isn't the one wearing white! “Everyday I work Hard. At night I spend restless time. Those rich kids and all their lazy money, they can't hold a candle to mine.”GloriaThe Standells covered this garage band standard by Van Morrison and his band Them. Many bands covered this song, perhaps the most popular of these covers was done by The Doors. ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:“Born Free” by Matt Monro (Main Theme to the motion picture “Born Free”)This movie was released in March 1966, and told the tale of a couple who raised a lion cub and released it back into the wild. STAFF PICKS:Batman by Jan and DeanRob starts our staff picks with a cover from the campy cult classic superhero show of the 60's. A number of groups covered the song from the television show. Jan and Dean were football players who met while singing in the shower after practice and decided to form a band. They had a number of surfer inspired hits at the time.I Fought The Law by The Bobby Fuller FourBruce's staff pick is a song covered by The Clash in 1978. The Bobby Fuller Four had success covering this song in 1966, but the original goes back to 1959 when Sonny Curtis recorded it with the Crickets after he took the place of the late Buddy Holly. Just six months after the song hit the charts, Bobby Fuller was found dead from asphyxiation in his mother's car. The death was ruled a suicide, but many believe he was murdered. The Ballad of the Green Berets by Staff Sargent Barry SadlerBrian's staff pick is a positive, popular patriotic song. This would prove an unusual popular song as the protest song became more entrenched in rock music. This was the number 1 song of 1966. Barry Sadler released an album by the end of the year, though none of his other songs would prove as popular. I Spy (for the FBI) by Jamo ThomasWayne's closes out our staff picks this week with a Chicago group taking a Motown feel. It peaked at number 98 in the US, though it did slightly better in the UK. INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:Hi Heel Sneaker by the Ramsey Lewis TrioWe close out this episode with a jazzy number from Chicago-based Ramsey Lewis.

chicago uk los angeles fbi rolling stones doors clash oasis riot motown honolulu green beret crickets van morrison munsters buddy holly sunset strip dirty water boston harbor ramsey lewis charles river tamblyn bobby fuller matt monro get yourself standells i fought the law ramsey lewis trio bobby fuller four gary lane sonny curtis jan and dean

2.5 - Bobby Fuller (The Bobby Fuller Four)

Death By Music Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2021 55:12

Bobby Fuller died at the young age of 24 under very mysterious circumstances. His death was ruled a suicide, but the facts of the case seem to point towards foul play. Who would douse themself in gasoline for no reason? deathbypodcastteam@gmail.comListen to the accompanying playlist for this episode on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4lGnOkNc7hXIg260CunUdC?si=jOAg8cR-QS2zHmSV7REcsg .By Alex Motteler, Cassie Gardener, and Drew Orton. Music by Demons. Artwork by Mike Johnson.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/deathbypodcastteam)

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Episode 162: I Fought the Law

Criminal

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2021 44:27

The song “I Fought the Law” by the Bobby Fuller Four reached number 9 on the Billboard Charts in the week of March 12, 1966. Just months later, Bobby Fuller was found dead. The mystery of what happened to him has been called “the rock and roll version of John F. Kennedy’s assassination.” Learn more in Miriam Linna and Randell Fuller’s book, I Fought the Law: The Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller. We made a special playlist of music discussed in this episode. Check out our online shop. Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. If you haven’t already, please review us on Apple Podcasts! It’s an important way to help new listeners discover the show: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our newsletter, The Accomplice. If you’d like to introduce friends or family members to podcasts, we created a How to Listen guide based on frequently asked questions. For a transcript of this episode, send an email to transcripts@thisiscriminal.com with the episode name and number. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Sponsors: Article Article is offering our listeners $50 off their first purchase of $100 or more. to claim, visit article.com/criminal and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout. Better Help Get 10% off your first month with discount code criminal at BetterHelp.com/criminal Nutrafol going to Nutrafol.com and entering the promo code CRIMINAL to save 20% off your first month’s subscription, plus free shipping on every order. Progressive Get your quote online at Progressive.com and see how much you could be saving Rothy’s check out all the amazing shoes, bags and masks available right now at rothys.com/criminal. Simplisafe Visit SimpliSafe.com/criminal to get a free camera plus SimpliSafe’s holiday savings. Squarespace Try Squarespace.com/criminal for a free trial and when you’re ready to launch, use the offer code CRIMINAL to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Sun Basket Sun Basket is offering $35 off your order when you go right now to sunbasket.com/criminal and enter promo code criminal at checkout. Virtue Labs Visit virtuelabs.com and use the code CRIMINAL to receive 20% off plus free shipping on your Virtue order. Ziprecruiter See for yourself how ZipRecruiter makes hiring faster and easier. Try it now for free at ZipRecruiter.com/criminal.

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RATB: Uutisia ja kuunnellut levyt: Eagles ja Ricky Warwick

Rock Around The Blog

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2021 39:55

Rock Around The Blog käy läpi alan uutiset ja uutuudet. Kuunnelluissa levyissä Eagles: Desperado ja Ricky Warwick: When Life Was Hard And Fast. Studiossa Sami Ruokangas ja Juha Kakkuri. Jakson Spotify-soittolista: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5O2Uhtx3YLKDkjHkYURp0h?si=HWVqHr1WRq6rdcNZsAWcDQ Menossa mukana myös Sweden Rock, Guns N´ Roses, Rockfest, Larkin Poe, Steve Miller Band, Norah Jones, Elton John, Metallica, Gorillaz, Miley Cyrus, Ray Davies, Kinks, Billy F Gibbons, ZZ Top, Slim Harpo, Bo Diddley, Matt Sorum, The Cult, Mick Fleetwood, Steven Tyler, Kirk Hammett, Judas Priest, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Legs Diamond, Deep Purple, Rock Candy, Andy Pearce, Ismo Karo, Pekka Pietiläinen, Joan Baez, Flying Burrito Brothers, Glyn Johns, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Beatles, Eric Clapton, Clash, New Model Army, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, J.D. Souther, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash, Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh, Black Star Riders, Phil Lynott, Thin Lizzy, Stiff Little Fingers, Bruce Springsteen, Buckcherry, Keith Nelson, Xavier Muriel, Blackberry Smoke, Charlie Starr, Dizzy Reed, Andy Taylor, Duran Duran, Luke Morley, Thunder, Joe Elliott, Def Leppard, Willy DeVille, Mink DeVille, Dead or Alive, Britney Spears, Eddie Cochran, The Bottle Rockets, The Ramones, Bobby Fuller Four, Elvis Presley, The Almighty, Iron Maiden, Clutch, Skunk Anansie, Carin A. Hazmat ja Alice Cooper.

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"Dig This With The Splendid Bohemians" - Featuring Bill Mesnik and Rich Buckland - NEW SERIES! "PUT ON A STACK OF 45's"- CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT- BOBBY FULLER FOUR- "I FOUGHT THE LAW"- The Boy

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Play Episode Listen Later Mar 7, 2021 25:42

"THE MYSTERY LIVES ON":https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Bobby_Fuller

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TMBDOS! Episode 226: "Dance Charlie Dance" (1937) & "The Law in Her Hands" (1936).

They Must Be Destroyed On Sight!

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 15, 2021 85:22

Lee, Daniel and Leah are back this week checking out two films featuring the talents of the lovely Glenda Farrell. First it's an example of the classic small-town boy gets taken for a sucker tale, "Dance Charlie Dance" (1937) and then they move over to a film about smart, independent female lawyers trying to make their way in a male-dominated profession, "The Law in Her Hands" (1936). Which film did a heel turn on the hosts and made them hate it? Tune in to find out. Leah and Lee also talk about what they've watched as of late. "Dance Charlie Dance" IMDB "The Law in her Hands" IMDB If you like beer reviews, check out friend of the show, Tomas' YouTube Channel here. Featured Music: "La-La-La Lies" by The Who; "Let Her Dance" by Bobby Fuller and The Bobby Fuller Four; and "Lawyers in Love" by Jackson Browne.

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I Fought The Law by Bobby Fuller Four

Danny Lane's Music Museum

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 2, 2021

Label: Mustang 3014Year: 1966Condition: M-Last Price: $36.00. Not currently available for sale.This is one of the records, along with some of the early Beatles and many others, that demonstrated one way that rockabilly transitioned into a musical form that became known as Power Pop. Absolutely essential single — note that both Rolling Stone (#177) and Dave Marsh (#102) put it high on their respective lists of the greatest singles ever made. Great B side, too! Note: This beautiful copy grades very close to Mint in appearance (Labels, Vinyl), and has pristine Mint sound.

Submarino Amarillo 2.0 - 04.12.2020

Submarino Amarillo 2.0

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 4, 2020 59:56

Podcast del programa Submarino Amarillo 2.0, emitido en Radio Círculo el 4 de Diciembre de 2020. Navegando a través de las canciones de Royal Republic, Ten Tonnes, Josh Rouse, Razorlight o el lado más navideño de Liam Gallagher. Escuchamos a Morcheeba y Morningwood y rescatamos tesoros de Cat Stevens, Buddy Holly y Bobby Fuller Four. Y terminamos como siempre en el puerto de Liverpool para contarte la historia de Paperback Writer, la canción que Paul McCartney escribió pensando en un escritor sin éxito. Con Iván Ramos y Andrés Jiménez. No nos faltes. No somos nada sin tu locura.

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Cover Songs from the '70s - #1

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2020 121:07

Oscar Wilde is credited with the quote, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery … ”. But in popular music, a cover version, remake, cover song, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by someone other than the original artist or composer of a song. Sometimes, a cover version can become even more popular than the original. Enjoy these 35 cover songs from the 1970s. Another musical exhibit from The Music Museum. Enjoy. **** Join the conversation on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008232395712 **** or by email at dannymemorylane@gmail.com **** In this episode, you’ll hear: 1) Come Together [Cover of The Beatles' 1969 version] by Aerosmith 2) That'll Be The Day [Cover of Buddy Holly & The Crickets' 1957 version] by Linda Ronstadt 3) She's Not There [Cover of The Zombies' 1964 version] by Santana 4) Everlasting Love [Cover of Robert Knight's 1967 version] by Carl Carlton 5) You Really Got Me [Cover of The Kinks' 1964 version] by Van Halen 6) Ain't No Mountain High Enough [Cover of Marvin & Tammi's 1967 version] by Diana Ross 7) Handy Man [Cover of Jimmy Jones' 1960 version] by James Taylor 8) (I Know) I'm Losing You [Cover of The Temptations' 1966 version] by Rare Earth 9) He Don't Love You (Like I Love You) [Cover of Jerry Butler's 1960 version] by Tony Orlando & Dawn 10) Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Cover of The Beatles' 1967 version] by Elton John (with John Lennon, backing vocals) 11) Let's Work Together [Cover of Wilbert Harison's 1962 version] by Canned Heat 12) On Broadway [Cover of The Drifters' 1963 version] by George Benson 13) Spanish Harlem [Cover of Ben E. King's 1960 version] by Aretha Franklin 14) Ain't That A Shame [Cover of Fats Domino's 1955 version] by Cheap Trick 15) Only Sixteen [Cover of Sam Cooke's 1959 version] by Dr. Hook 16) Blue Bayou [Cover of Roy Orbison's 1963 version] by Linda Ronstadt 17) The Locomotion [Cover of Little Eva's 1962 version] by Grand Funk Railroad 18) Rockin' Robin [Cover of Bobby Day's 1958 version] by Michael Jackson 19) Maybe [Cover of The Chantels' 1958 version] by Janis Joplin 20) Roll Over Beethoven [Cover of Chuck Berry's 1956 version] by Electric Light Orchestra 21) Stand By Me [Cover of Ben E. King's 1961 version] by John Lennon 22) MacArthur Park [Cover of Richard Harris' 1968 version] by Donna Summer 23) Twistin' The Night Away [Cover of Sam Cooke's 1962 version] by Rod Stewart 24) Lookin' For A Love [Cover of The Valentinos' 1962 version] by The J. Geils Band 25) Knock On Wood [Cover of Eddie Floyd's 1966 version] by Amii Stewart 26) The Wonder Of You [Cover of Ray Peterson's 1959 version] by Elvis Presley 27) Gloria [Cover of Them's 1964 version] by Patti Smith 28) Hooked On A Feeling [Cover of B.J. Thomas's 1968 version] by Blue Swede 29) You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful And You're Mine) [Cover of Johnny Burnette's 1960 version] by Ringo Starr 30) Yes, I'm Ready [Cover of Barbara Mason's 1965 version] by Teri DeSario with K.C. 31) Another Saturday Night [Cover of Sam Cooke's 1963 version] by Cat Stevens 32) You're No Good [Cover of Dee Dee Warwick's 1963 version] by Linda Ronstadt 33) I Fought The Law [Cover of Bobby Fuller Four's 1966 version] by The Clash 34) Mockingbird [Cover of Inez & Charlie Foxx's 1963 version] by Carly Simon & James Taylor 35) Love Hurts [Cover of The Everly Brothers' 1960 version] by Nazareth

Internet Radio Man #138 Requests

Radio Wilder

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 18, 2020 122:29

Nashville!! I've got 5 Daughters Bakery and their 100 layer doughnut is on my mind! We will be down there in a month to pick up my 'Little Zeus Coupe' with my brother, nephew and my wife. And, we are going to try the 100 layer doughnut. Check out 5 Daughters and their doughnut cam - https://fivedaughtersbakery.com/. It is very cool! Speaking of Nashville, one of radiowilder.com's favorites, All Them Witches, has a new album out and we are playing 'Enemy of My Enemy' in this week's show It's a bruiser! 5 Daughters has over 300 different doughnuts and while we don't have quite that many different artists on this week's show, there is a damn good selection! Prima Donnas, Calvin Russel, David Ruffin, The Bompops, The Bobby Fuller Four, The Jam and plenty more! Music starts when 'Baby Ruth' cleans up her campsite, waxes her RV and of course, knits a new sweater because it's starting to get cold! Check us out at radiowilder.com, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, iTunes and many other feeds. After the show is over, you can stream us by clicking the streaming link also at radiowilder.com. Shout out to Switzerland and Eagle, Idaho! Thanks for hanging out with us! Harry and the Wilder Bunch!

The Mysterious Death of Bobby Fuller

Unexplained Mysteries

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2020 49:45

In 1966, Lorraine Fuller found her son, the eponymous frontman of The Bobby Fuller Four, dead under mysterious circumstances. His bandmates and family suspected foul play—and the list of suspects runs the gamut from the LA mafia to notorious cult leader Charles Manson.

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I Fought The Law by Bobby Fuller Four

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Play Episode Listen Later Jul 9, 2020

Label: Mustang 3014Year: 1966Condition: M-Last Price: $32.00. Not currently available for sale.This is one of the records, along with some of the early Beatles and many others, that demonstrated one way that rockabilly transitioned into a musical form that became known as Power Pop. Absolutely essential single — note that both Rolling Stone (#177) and Dave Marsh (#102) put it high on their respective lists of the greatest singles ever made. Great B side, too! Note: This beautiful copy has Mint labels, and the vinyl looks only lightly touched. The audio grades close to Mint.

Punks in Parkas - July 2, 2020

Punks in Parkas

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 3, 2020 58:18

Captain Dan and Penny Lane bring you some hot tunes to cool you off during this summer heatwave! Heat tracks from the likes of The Bobby Fuller Four, Val Bennet, Love, Desmond Dekker and more!

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Find Your Joy: SAVAGE SWORD OF CRIMINAL

FW Presents

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 17, 2020 43:07

Listeners, what is best in life? Eh...fuggedaboutit. On this episode of FW Presents, Ryan Daly welcomes Andrew Leyland back to discuss SAVAGE SWORD OF CRIMINAL by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. This special magazine-sized chapter of Brubaker and Phillips' acclaimed hardboiled Criminal series is a love letter to Marvel's Savage Sword of Conan from the '70s. Let us know what you think! Leave a comment or send an email to: RDalyPodcast@gmail.com. Check out Andy's podcast The Palace of Glittering Delights and other shows at: http://twotruefreaks.com/shows.php?show=37 This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK. Visit our WEBSITE: http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/ Follow us on TWITTER - https://twitter.com/FWPodcasts Like our FACEBOOK page - https://www.facebook.com/FWPodcastNetwork Use our HASHTAG online: #FWPodcasts Or subscribe via iTunes as part of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-fire-and-water-podcast/id463855630 Support the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fwpodcasts Music this episode: "I Fought the Law" by The Bobby Fuller Four; "Anvil of Crom" by Basil Poledouris; "The Fun Lovin' Criminal" by Fun Lovin' Criminals. Thanks for listening!

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BOBBY FULLER (MINDSHOCK TRUE CRIME PODCAST)

MINDSHOCK

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2019 79:45

A comprehensive examination of the bizarre and mysterious death of 23-year old rocker Bobby Fuller of the Bobby Fuller Four, who rose to fame just six months prior to his death with the hit song - "I Fought the Law". Originally ruled a suicide, many unanswered questions remain regarding his demise, with conspiracy theories ranging from accidental drug overdose, to murder, involving the Mob, shady record producers, and even police involvement. YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/mindshock AUDIBLE FREE TRIAL - https://amzn.to/2KRHO8C SUPPORT MINDSHOCK - https://www.paypal.me/mindshock -SOCIAL- FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/MindshockPodcast TWITTER - https://twitter.com/MindshockPod PATREON - https://www.patreon.com/mindshock MEDIUM - https://medium.com/@mindshock --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mindshock/support

TCBCast 057: Rubberneckin'

TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2019 69:36

TCBCast is back after a week off! In this "shorter" TCBCast, Justin outlines the next 2-3 weeks of the show and his busy non-show commitments, then Gurdip & Justin discuss several major news items including news of a new Fun In Acapulco FTD set and an upcoming 1969 live show Record Store Day release. For Song of the Week, Gurdip takes on a rollicking classic from the Bobby Fuller Four while Justin looks, stares, everywhere and sees everything in sight. Featured Songs of the Week: Gurdip: I Fought the Law (Bobby Fuller Four) Justin: Rubberneckin'

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059 - I Fought The Law - The CoverUp

The CoverUp

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2019 21:53

The complete story of Rock and Roll and its evolution, captured in one song. Amanda and Rich discuss I Fought The Law by The Crickets, covered by the Bobby Fuller Four, by The Clash, and by The Dead Kennedys

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A collection of early '60s tunes by the King and his contemporaries... 1) The Lady Loves Me by Elvis Presley & Ann-Margaret 2) England Swings by Roger Miller 3) Little Town Flirt by Del Shannon 4) Fools Rush In by The Everly Brothers 5) Gimme Little Sign by Brenton Wood 6) Can't Get Used to Losing You by Andy Williams 7) The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore by The Walker Brothers 8) Deep Purple by Nino Tempo & April Stevens 9) Dream Baby by Roy Orbison 10) I'm Leaving It Up to You by Dale & Grace 11) Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto 12) Ruby Baby by Dion 13) Let Her Dance by Bobby Fuller Four 14) I Just Wanna Make Love to You by The Righteous Brothers 15) Bossa Nova Baby by Elvis Presley

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Ep. 51 - SONNY CURTIS ("I Fought the Law")

Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2016 58:11

Sonny Curtis began his music career in Lubbock, Texas, playing lead guitar in Buddy Holly’s pre-Crickets band, The Three Tunes. He landed his first hit as a songwriter when Webb Pierce took his song “Someday” to #12 on the Billboard country chart in 1957. He went on to his own performing career, both as a solo artist and as the longtime guitarist and vocalist for the post-Buddy Holly Crickets, while continuing to write songs that became hits for others. These include The Everly Brothers’ “Walk Right Back,” Andy Williams’ “A Fool Never Learns,” The Bobby Fuller Four’s “I Fought the Law,” Bobby Goldsboro’s “The Straight Life,” Leo Sayer’s “More Than I Can Say,” and Keith Whitley’s #1 country hit, “I’m No Stranger to the Rain.” In addition, Curtis wrote and performed “Love is All Around,” the theme song to The Mary Tyler Moore Show. His music has been covered by Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, The Grateful Dead, The Stray Cats, Bryan Adams, John Cougar Mellencamp, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, Jr., Joan Jett, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Chet Atkins, Johnny Rivers, Green Day, Harry Nilsson, Glen Campbell, and many others. He’s a member of the Musician’s Hall of Fame and the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991. In 2012 he and his fellow Crickets were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which also counted Sonny’s “I Fought the Law” as one of the 500 “Songs That Shaped Rock.” Similarly, “I Fought the Law” is on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”

Bonus Mix - Labor Daze

Big Mouth USA

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2016 43:13

Here's a little mix of tunes for a nice, lazy Labor Day. Enjoy! 1) Lies by JJ Cale 2) Everybody Monday by Laghonia 3) Gotta Travel On by Bob Dylan 4) Marlene by Kevin Coyne 5) My Dark Hour by Steve Miller Band (feat Paul McCartney) 6) Lazy Waters by The Byrds 7) Living Without You by Manfred Mann's Rare Earth Band 8) Sleepy Eyes by Morning 9) Hymn to Me by Brinsley Schwarz 10) High Rollers by New Riders of the Purple Sage 11) Tulsa Turnaround by First Edition 12) Coming into Los Angeles by Arlo Guthrie 13) Let Her Dance by Bobby Fuller Four

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Secret Origins #44: Clayface I (and IV), Clayface II, and Clayface III

Secret Origins Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2016 130:27

Ryan Daly and guests Chris Franklin and Kyle Benning cover Secret Origins #44, which tells the stories of not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different Batman villains who have gone by the name Clayface. This issue of Secret Origins serves as a lead-in/tie-in to the “Mudpack” storyline from Detective Comics #604 through #607. Secret Origins Podcast Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/secretoriginspodcast Secret Origins Podcast on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/httpsecretoriginspodcastlibsyncom/secret-origins-podcast?refid=stpr Let us know what you think! Leave a comment or send an email to: RDalyPodcast@gmail.com. Follow Chris Franklin on the Super Mates and Power Records Podcasts here on the Fire and Water Podcast Network at: http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/shows/ and check out Kyle’s King-Size Comics, Giant-Size Fun Podcast feed at: http://kingsizecomicsgiantsizefun.blogspot.com This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK. Visit our WEBSITE: http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/ Follow us on TWITTER - https://twitter.com/FWPodcasts Like our FACEBOOK page - https://www.facebook.com/FWPodcastNetwork Use our HASHTAG online: #FWPodcasts Subscribe via iTunes as part of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-fire-and-water-podcast/id463855630 “Premonition” (Theme for Secret Origins Podcast) written and performed by Neil Daly. Additional music: “Minnie the Moocher” by Cab Calloway; “The Phantom of the Opera” composed by Andrew Lloyd Weber; “I Fought the Law” by the Bobby Fuller Four; “Ugly” by Smashing Pumpkins; “Brilliant Disguise” by Bruce Springsteen. Thanks for listening!

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Rock Bruise: Born to Bruise

TONES FOR THE HEAD

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2013 55:06

http://headxones.podomatic.com/ Benny Joy . Frank Black . Otis Fodder . The Stickmen . Coliseum . Glitter Mini 9 . Bobby Fuller Four . The Slickers . Los Gatos Locos . Little Esther Phillips . Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers . Dysrhythmia . Flamin' Groovies .The Demolition Doll Rods . Pseudonymph . The Stooges . The Avengers . Data Thieves . Atari Teenage Riot . Crass . Tuxedo Moon . Peggy Lee

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Show 43 Part 1 - 29 minutes 30 seconds - The Dynotones - The Surfaders

Shrunken Head Lounge Surf Music Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 26, 2012 29:30

Shrunken Head Lounge Surf Radio Show Running Time: 29 minutes 30 seconds The Dynotones - The Surfaders The DYNOTONES (left), hailing from Orange County, California, are a four piece instrumental surf/hot rod combo consisting of: Dano Nichols (guitar), Dan Moses (guitar), Rob Kruse (bass Guitar), and Tim Fitzpatrick (drums). Influences of the band include: The Lively Ones, Link Wray, The Astronauts, The Bobby Fuller Four, The Pyramids, and The Ventures. The DYNOTONES have been playing their brand of instrumental rock-n-roll since the spring of 1995. Playing small clubs to outdoor events, The DYNOTONES have perfected the nostalgic sounds of the past and developed a style that has earned them a place among todays most successful instrumental groups, as well as complementing those of the past. The Surfaders (right) are probably the most unlikely, but therefore also one of the most exciting instrumental surf outfits of the Netherlands. It all started when drummer Evert advertised for a gitarist and bassplayer to form an old-school punk-garage band. Jonas was the only gitarist brave and hip enough to respond. Within minutes Evert and Jonas discovered their mutual love of instrumental surf music and started experimenting in the backroom of a local musicstore, after closing time. Gaston, who was really looking for an exciting alternative rock band with interests in world-music, joined them on bass, which worked so well that soon Holland was one surf-power-trio richer. The first public Surfaders gig was at the legendary Maloe Melo venue in Amsterdam, and soon groovy underground festivals such as BUT-Film, MadNes, Car-Art and the first Hot-Rod Surf Weekend were booking The Surfaders to embellish parties with their special mix of classic surf melody, punk energy, and cinematic atmospherics. Working hard on composing tracks for their first album, The Surfaders decided to recruit an extra guitarist to expand their musical horizon even further. And with Stef, who was really looking for e new heavy rock 'n' roll or metal band, they foud the perfect partner in crime to complete the tracks. Having played with bands such as Mullet Monster Mafia from Brazil and The Surfing Henchmen from Denmark, The Surfaders were proud to play the 2011 edition of the North Sea Surf Festival, opening for bands such as Phantom Four and The Razorblades In January 2012 they Surfaders were so hot that they needed only two weekends at the famous IJland studio in Amsterdam to record all 13 tracks of their first album: Dragstrip Murder Mystery.

Come To The Sunshine Valentine's Day Special

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Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2012 119:40

First aired February 8, 2010, this edition of Internet radio's "Come To The Sunshine" is a special Valentine's themed episode. Host Andrew Sandoval spins music by Cilla Black, The Merry-Go-Round, Parade, Billy Nicholls, Del Shannon, Jackie DeShannon, The Fourmost, Kinks, Who, Bee Gees, Grapefruit, Los Bravos, Zombies, Action, The Alan Price Set, Pete Dello, Dusty Springfield, Twice As Much, the Bobby Fuller Four, Nirvana, Turtles, Association, Searchers, the Escorts, and many more! A full playlist is available on www.cometothesunshine.com

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 29, 2011

Fezz Vol. 1 NO. 12 The Monsters Playlist:Halloween Scream, The MeteorsAt The House Of Frankenstein, Big Bee KornegayThe Monster, Bobby PleaseVampira, Bobby BareThe blob, five blobsThe Cat, Rod WillisDinner with Dracula, John ZacherleDo the Zombie, SymbolsMr. Ghost Goes to Town, The Five Jones BoysDon't Meet Mr Frankenstein, Carlos Casal Jr.Swamp Gal, Tommy BellWerewolf, Gary Warren Mad House Jump, The DaylightersThe Mummy's Bracelet, Lee RossWombie Zombie, Billy TaylorVoodoo Voodoo, LaVern BakerGraveyard Rock, Tarantula GoulGravedigger, Mass TemperThe Witch, The SonicsThere's A Ghost In My House, R Dean TaylorDead, Cresa WatsonWitch Queen Of New Orleans, RedboneGraveyard, Leroy BowmanThe Gila Monster, Joe JohnsonNightmare Hop, Earl PattersonWatusi Zombie, Jan DavisYou Can Get Him Frankenstein, The Castle KingsRockin' In The Graveyard, Jackie MorningstarKing of Monsters, Man... or Astro-Man?Werewolves On Wheels, The Mercury FourJekyll And Hyde, Jim BurgettShockmonster Stomp, The Ghastly OnesI Was A Teenage Werewolf, The CrampsWolfman, Bobby Fuller FourWolfman, The Dynotones Halloween, The MisfitsGraveyard Queen, Zombie Ghost TrainSkeleton Swamp, Coffin NailVampires Curse, Koffin KatsDaddies Makin' Monsters, Demented Are GoLeather Zombie, Phantom RockersVampiresa Mujer, Jonathan RichmanNight of the Vampire, Roky Erickson and the Explosives

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Come To The Sunshine #50 featuring The Bobby Fuller Four

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2011 117:12

First aired March 30, 2009 at 4PM "Come To The Sunshine" show #50 features host Andrew Sandoval presenting '60s singles in MONO by: The Critters/Danny Hutton/Friends Of The Family/Bill Soden/The Tapestry/Fountain Of Youth/The Guilloteens/The Reasons Why/Phluph/The Tokens/The Marshmellow Highway/The Don Meehan Project/Company Front/Calliope/Stone Poneys/The Seagulls/The Free Design/The Dawnbreakers/The Domestic Help/Michael Hour two is an artist spotlight on the Bobby Fuller Four and their two Mustang LP's: KRLA King Of The Wheels and I Fought The Law. Selections from these discs will be presented in glorious MONO and what's more - SOME OF THE SONGS ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT RECORDINGS TO THEIR MORE COMMONLY HEARD STEREO COUNTERPARTS! Also featured are some of Bobby's non-LP singles and, of course, some one-of-a-kind rarities. Playlists available at www.cometothesunshine.com

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Come To The Sunshine #65 featuring Bobby Vee

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2011 111:13

Broadcast the first day of November in 2010, episode #65 of "Come To The Sunshine" features host Andrew Sandoval presenting scintillating sixties singles by Phil Taylor; High Society; East Side Kids; The Byrds; The Models; Jonny Rome and The Second Thought; Sonny & Cher; Bobby Fuller Four; The Mother Love; Colours; Small Faces; The Brothers Cain; Linzer And Randell; Shades Of Morley Brown; Barry Mitchell + an incredible artist spotlight on the under appreciated and often overlooked late '60s recordings of Mr. Bobby Vee.

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"Come To The Sunshine" Hot 100 countdown Part Four

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 18, 2011 56:41

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of "Come To The Sunshine," a Special HOT 100 list was compiled from some of the 3,018 unique songs by 837 artists that the show has played since 2006. How many songs each artist accrued with multiple plays and how many total times they appeared on the program defined their final chart position. In hour four of the broadcast, host Andrew Sandoval counts down artist and songs 39 through 21. These include The Move; Fountain Of Youth; Smokey And His Sister; Nirvana; Manfred Mann; Dusty Springfield; The Lewis & Clarke Expedition; The Ivy League; Bobby Fuller Four; The Mindbenders; Bee Gees; Every Mother's Son; The Pretty Things; Buffalo Springfield; The Association; The Grass Roots; Gordon Waller; The Turtles; Dion And The Wanderers. The full show is available in five parts. This episode is part four of five.

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Fezz Vol. 1 No.9 Tribute to Trailer Park

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 9, 2011

Click to Play Playlist:Lakeside Trailer Park, Beat FarmersOn the Road Again, Willie NelsonRoute 23, Wayne HancockWhite Lightning, Waylon JenningsBuckaroo, Buck OwensThanks a Lot, Ernest TubbLonghaired Redneck, David Allan CoeBranded Man, Merle Haggardfungus among us, Hugh Barret and the victorsMaybelle, Jack CrayWhole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On, Big MaybelleCasting My Spell, Roy OrbisonI've Got It Made, Thomas WayneScorpion, The CarnationsThinkin' About You, Checkmates InternationalI Can Beat Your Drum, FevertreeGo Gorilla, The IdealsKool It, The ImpacsThe Phantom Dragster, The Bobby Fuller FourPablo Picasso, Jonathan Richmond & the Modern LoversHombre Secreto, The PlugzI Got A right, StoogesKeep a Knockin', The SonicsTornado, The JiantsHillbilly Wolf, Link WrayU.F.O.s, Big Rigs and BBQ, Mojo NixonPiece of dead meat, Slapping SuspendersThe Call Of The Wreckin Ball, XNo More Hot Dogs, Hasil AdkinsSwing the Big Eyed Rabbit, The CrampsThe Meat, DeadboltMystery Meat, Man or Astro ManWar Pigs, Melissa Auf Der MaurKing of the Road, Roger Miller

Fezz Vol.1 NO.8 Hot Rod Hell

Play Episode Listen Later May 28, 2011

Click to Play Playlist;Hot-Rodders Dream, Ray BurdenHot Rod Shotgun Boogie, Tillman FranksSpeedway Rock, Jerry WoodardBig Wheel, Walt Benton & The SnappersBallad of Thunder Road, Robert MitchumConvertible Car, Wally HughesHot Rod Model-A, Hot Rod TrioBig Green Car, Billy CarrollTransfusion, Nervous NorvusStick Shift, The Duals Cadillac Baby, Bill SherrillCadillac Man, The JestersBig Black Cadillac, King KurtPink Cadillac, Hal WillisRed Cadillac & A Black Moustache, Hank C BurnetteBrand New Cadillac, Wayne Hancock59 Cadillac, Crazy RockersCadillac, Sun CatsPink 'n' Black Cadillac, Rockabilly WildcatsBlack Cadillac, Three Bad JacksPhantom Cadillac, The HeptanesBrand new Cadillac, phantom rockersKRLA Top Eliminator, Bobby Fuller FourHot Rod High, The KnightsCheater Slicks, The Four SpeeedsBoss Barracuda, The SurfarisBucket T, Jan and DeanThis Little Woodie, The Rip ChordsDraggin' Wagon, The Surfer GirlsG.T.O., Ronny and The DaytonasMove Out Little Mustang, The Rally PacksBurning Rubber, Gene "The Draggin' King" MolesRam Charger, The Del-VettsMag Wheels, Gary UsherLittle Deuce Coupe, De-FendersDragster, Johnny FortuneDrag Race, Link Wray & the Ray MenFender Bender, The Original StarfiresLittle Street Machine, Hot Rod Rogsteering wheel stuck, The BlastersHot Rod Racer, Dick DaleHot Rod Mercury, Don WalserHot Rod Lincoln, Pat TraversHot Rod Ford, Swingin' DemonsThe Fastest Shift Alive, Mr. Gasser & The WeirdosCruisin', Gene VincentOne Piece At A Time, Nuke And The Living DeadJimmy's Hot Rod, The Coffin NailsDodge Veg-O-Matic, Jonathan Richman And The Modern LoversSquad Car, P.J. & ArtieNitrous Burn Out, Man or Astro-ManGasoline, Mr. BadwrenchLet's Go To The Dragstrip, NomadsJesus Built My Hotrod, MinistryHill Country Hot Rod Man, Junior Brown

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Fezz Vol.1 No.5