Podcasts about shondells

Because the world is round it turns me onBecause the world is round...aaaaaahhhhhhBecause the wind is high it blows my mindBecause the wind is high...aaaaaaaahhhh"Because it's Sunday we can spend 2 hours together sharing some terrific music and memories. Joining us are H.P. Lovecraft, Queen, The Moody Blues, Bee Gees, Steve Miller Band, Three Dog Night, Buzzy Linhart, Supertramp, Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown, Badfinger, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steely Dan, The Faces, Tommy James & The Shondells, The Who, Paul & Linda McCartney, The Beach Boys, Grand Funk Railroad, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and The Beatles,

Send us a textOn this Episode Tom and Bert continue "The Spotlight Series" on entertainment influencers thru the decades!There are Stories to tell and the Guys will cover and discuss the beginnings and the careers of some of the greatest influencers throughout ALL of the entertainment industry.Today's Podcast will cover 2 Legendary Bands from the 1960's!We introduce to you Tommy James and The Shondells and The Turtles!Listen in as we discuss the beginning of their careers and the rise to stardom in the challenging 1960's music scene.CHAPTERS:(1:16) Tommy James and the Shondells(28:09) The TurtlesEnjoy the Show!You can email us at reeldealzmoviesandmusic@gmail.com or visit our Facebook page, Reel Dealz Podcast: Movies & Music Thru The Decades to leave comments and/or TEXT us at 843-855-1704 as well.

"We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels 'cross the floorI was feeling kind of seasick, but the crowd called out for moreThe room was humming harder, as the ceiling flew awayWhen we called out for another drinkThe waiter brought a tray"Join me on this Holiday weekend as we skip the light fandango accompanied by 2 hours of great tuneage. Joining us are The Blue Dolphins, Love, Urge Overkill, Miles Davis, Yes, Patti Smith, Pat Metheny, Crosby Stills & Nash, Carole King, Leon Russell, John Coltrane, Van Morrison, The Blues Project, Art Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, The Smiths, XTC, Blind Faith, Tears For Fears, Joni Mitchell, Kenny Rankin, The Shangri-Las, Beatles, Tommy James & The Shondells, The Doors, Moody Blues and Procol Harum.

Jamie James, guitarist, singer, and songwriter, joins Charles on Seeing Them Live to discuss his musical journey and new album Straight Up, released on Oglio Records.Jamie reflects on his early musical influences, growing up in Woodstock, Ontario, and his transition from aspiring hockey player to musician after a knee injury. He shares how he taught himself guitar on a damaged acoustic and recalls receiving his first real guitar as a Christmas gift in 1966. The conversation turns to Jamie's formative concert experiences, including seeing Tommy James and the Shondells, Deep Purple, Sly and the Family Stone, The Who, and an early performance by Queen in a small London club. Jamie describes how these shows influenced his approach to live performance. He recounts his time in the 1970s rock scene, playing with various bands before joining the New Steppenwolf in 1977. After leaving the New Steppenwolf, Jamie formed The Kingbees, an ‘80s rockabilly trio that gained a cult following.A favorable review in LA Weekly helped them gain popularity, attracting large crowds to their shows. He discusses their unique rockabilly-inspired style, which predated the Stray Cats and MTV, and his personal shift toward a Buddy Holly-influenced guitar approach. Jamie also shares anecdotes about the LA music scene, recalling interactions with The Blasters and Blackie Dammett, father of Anthony Kiedis, who became an informal emcee for The Kingbees. Additionally, he recounts signing with RSO Records in 1980, initially seeing little success until their song My Mistake gained radio traction in Detroit. This newfound exposure led to major performance opportunities, including a replacement slot at the Toledo Speedway Jam alongside ZZ Top, AC/DC, and Sammy Hagar; a wild gig that took an unexpected turn involving a whiskey bottle that injured an audience member.After the Kingbees disbanded in 1981, Jamie pursued a solo career, but his EP failed to resonate with him. A chance encounter with actor Harry Dean Stanton at a July 4th gathering led to a close friendship and musical collaboration that lasted for years. Jamie formed a band with Stanton, regularly performing at The Lighthouse and The Mint. Later, he connected with actor Dennis Quaid, leading to the formation of The Sharks, a band that endured for nearly 20 years.A severe health scare in 2020 prompted Jamie to recommit to songwriting, leading to the creation of new music during the Covid pandemic. Despite financial challenges, his bandmates were eventually drawn in by the strength of his songs, paving the way for his latest album, Ain't No Big Thing (https://oglio.com/).Jamie's story is one of resilience, reinvention, and an enduring love for making music. PATREON:https://www.patreon.com/SeeingThemLivePlease help us defer the cost of producing this podcast by making a donation on Patreon.WEBSITE:https://seeingthemlive.com/Visit the Seeing Them Live website for bonus materials including the show blog, resource links for concert buffs, photos, materials related to our episodes, and our Ticket Stub Museum.INSTAGRAM:https://www.instagram.com/seeingthemlive/FACEBOOK:https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550090670708

"Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a starAnd everybody's in show biz, it doesn't matter who you areAnd those who are successful, be always on your guardSuccess walks hand in hand with failure along Hollywood Boulevard"Please join me and some of our Vinyl Heroes as we get ready for the Academy Awards and our "Celluloid Heroes" this evening with 2 hours of great tunes on this week's Super Sounds Of The 70's. Stopping by are Peter Green, America, Cream, Little Feat, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Crabby Appleton, Detroit, Free,  Foghat, Tommy James & The Shondells, The Eagles, Supertramp, George Harrison, Pablo Cruise, Crosby Stills, Nash & Young, Grand Funk Railroad, Savoy Brown, The Hollies, Steve Stills, The J. Geils Band, Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Kinks...

After an intensive holiday season, we're taking a week off, so from the TCBCast Patreon archives we bring an episode from December 2023 when Bec and Justin convened to explore the Top 20 hits during the week in early 1969 that "If I Can Dream" peaked at #12, the highest it would reach on the Hot 100. What kept Elvis out of the Top 10? Turns out a lot of really iconic music! Unlike our usual Billboard charts episodes, the duo decide to go for broke and cover all of the Top 20, not just to include Elvis, but numerous other iconic songs of 1969 from acts as far reaching as Dusty Springfield, Jay and the Americans, The Turtles, Marvin Gaye, Sly & the Family Stone, BJ Thomas, Tommy James & the Shondells and many more. Then, we jump in our time machine back to November 2021's bonus episode and hear Gurdip and Justin's "Songs of the Month," as Gurdip spotlights a very Elvis-and-Buddy-Holly-influenced rockabilly cut from Buddy Knox, "Party Doll," while Justin picks "Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray" a beautiful but an otherwise largely overlooked Patsy Cline tune occasionally encountered in a famous video game, and which manages to have a TON of Elvis connections.  If you enjoy this kind of discussion and what we do on TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. This month, patrons are getting an album review of Chuck Berry's "Berry Is On Top" and a discussion on the 3rd episode of the CMT TV Series "Sun Records." We'll be back next week!

Two American bands managed to have success during The British Invasion led by The Beatles. Tommy James & The Shondells and The Lovin' Spoonful had several Top 10 hits in America, while transforming te idea of pop radio. These are select tracks by both bands.Please help in the relief effort to help the people of Los Angeles who have been affected by those horrific fires.  Please consider making a donation to The Red Cross to find shelter, clean drinking water and other necessities that are desperately needed. got to http://www.redcross.org to make a donation.Donate Now - Online Donations | American Red CrossMake an impact on the lives of St. Jude kids - St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (stjude.org)Also:Kathy Bushnell Website for Emily Muff bandHome | Kathy Bushnell | Em & MooListen to previous shows at the main webpage at:https://www.buzzsprout.com/1329053Pamela Des Barres Home page for books, autographs, clothing and online writing classes.Pamela Des Barres | The Official Website of the Legendary Groupie and Author (pameladesbarresofficial.com)Listen to more music by Laurie Larson at:Home | Shashké Music and Art (laurielarson.net)View the most amazing paintings by Marijke Koger-Dunham (Formally of the 1960's artists collective, "The Fool").Psychedelic, Visionary and Fantasy Art by Marijke Koger (marijkekogerart.com)For unique Candles have a look at Stardust Lady's Etsy shopWhere art and armor become one where gods are by TwistedByStardust (etsy.com)For your astrological chart reading, contact Astrologer Tisch Aitken at:https://www.facebook.com/AstrologerTisch/Tarot card readings by Kalinda available atThe Mythical Muse | FacebookFor booking Children's parties and character parties in the Los Angeles area contact Kalinda Gray at:https://www.facebook.com/wishingwellparties/I'm listed in Feedspot's "Top 10 Psychedelic Podcasts You Must Follow". https://blog.feedspot.com/psychedelic_podcasts/Please feel free to donate or Tip Jar the show at my Venmo account@jessie-DelgadoII

WELCOME TO ‘60s JAMBOREE II - featuring the following stars:TOMMY JAMES - of Tommy James and the Shondells. Their string of hits included “Hanky Panky”, “Crimson And Clover” and “I Think We're Alone Now”.GARY PUCKETT - of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. Their hits included “Woman Woman” and “Young Girl”. RICHIE FURAY - an original member of Buffalo Springfield, Poco and the Souther Hillman Furay Band. His hits included “Kind Woman” and “Pickin' Up The Pieces”.JEREMY CLYDE - of the iconic duo Chad & Jeremy. Their hits included “A Summer Song” and “Yesterday's Gone”.NOEL PAUL STOOKEY - who was Paul of Peter Paul and Mary, the extraordinary trio whose hits included “Blowin' In The Wind” and “Puff The Magic Dragon”. These five superstars engage in a fun, rollicking, sentimental journey as they discuss their hits, their careers, the Ed Sullivan Show, their record labels, their current activities, and much more!---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------ROBERT'S SINGLES:“SOSTICE” is Robert's newest single, with a rockin' Old School vibe. Called “Stunning!”, “A Gem!”, “Magnificent!” and “5 Stars!”.Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------“THE GIFT” is Robert's ballad arranged by Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene and turned into a horn-driven Samba. Praised by David Amram, John Helliwell, Joe La Barbera, Tony Carey, Fay Claassen, Antonio Farao, Danny Gottlieb and Leslie Mandoki.Click HERE for all links.—-------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES”. Robert's Jazz Fusion “Tone Poem”. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's sublime, atmospheric Jazz Fusion tune. Featuring guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com

John Williams, London Symphony Orchstra [00:23] "The Desert and The Robot Auction" Star Wars 20th Century Records 2T-541 1977 Pretty much every aspect of this soundtrack is seared into my Gen X nerd mind. Silver Jews [03:15] "Advice to the Graduate" Starlite Walker Drag City DC55 1994 The debut outing from David Berman and friends, here including partners in crime Steve Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich, and even Steve West. There is also a lovely cover of this song by The Pastels (https://youtu.be/tQ1vuKAGmUo?si=y7G-DZUy094zyJUf) (recorded for a Peel session). Lena Lovich [06:30] "I Think We're Alone Now" Stateless Stiff Records SEEZ 7 1978 (1979 reissue) From the original UK Stiff Records release of Stateless, a very first-wave New Wave version of "I Think We're Alone Now", originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells. Also available in Japanese! (https://youtu.be/URPtOAs_eMc?si=zX0h-wST3jcLzadK) Lena Lovich [09:18] "Lucky Number" Stateless Stiff-Epic JE 36102 1979 The US version changes up the track order, and has a number of songs remixed by Roger Bichirian. David Bowie [13:47] "Golden Years" Station to Station RCA Victor AQL1-1327 1976 (1986 reissue) Carlos Alomar and Earl Slick laying down the funky guitars. The cover features a photograph of Bowie by Steve Shapiro from Nicholas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) (https://youtu.be/KarWCgIw3Wk?si=52k2oqnxkEJ2HNah). Sinéad O'Connor [17:46] "Some Day My Prince Will Come" Stay Awake (Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films) A&M Records B0029005-01 1988 (2018 reissue) The late great Sinéad O'Connor interpreting Snow White's ballad accompanied by the late great Andy Rourke from the late great Hal Willner. Willner was one of the most imaginative music producers, responsible for so many excellent tribute albums, and one of the most innovative music shows on network television: Night Music (https://youtu.be/ChPPW6NbsFk?si=AusrNnmpxTl4mWUI). Graham Parker and the Shot [18:55] "Wake Up (Next to You)" Steady Nerves Elektra 9 60388-1 1985 Graham gets all romantic in a Motown sorta way. This single made it as high as 39 on the Hot 100. Graham Parker and the Rumour [24:00] "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" Stick to Me Mercury SRM-1-3706 1977 Graham and company do a fine rendition of this song that was initally a hit for Ann Peebles (https://youtu.be/cyMsvE8UcbI?si=VqkTZdDF9ubuspVT). The Rolling Stones [29:35] "Dead Flowers" Sticky Fingers Rolling Stones Records COC 59100 1972 The first album the Stones recorded after being freed from their Decca Records obligation. This copy has one of the actual working zippers, as designed by Andy Warhol. Many listeners will also be familiar with Townes van Zandt's acoustic version that appears on his live album Roadsongs, and was subsequently used in The Big Lebowski (Coen, 1998). The Aquadolls [33:40] "Tweaker Kidz" Stoked on You Burger Records BRGR390 2014 Fun track from the debut Aquadolls album. Talking Heads [36:06] "Once in a Lifetime" Stop Making Sense Sire 1-25186 1984 There was a very cute promo (https://youtu.be/R2gVgpHIDz0?si=UfreL9mJCNr_K3iC) for the A24 re-release of the film recently. Nadja [42:03] "The Stone" The Stone Is Not Hit by the Sun, Nor Carved with a Knife Gizeh Records GZH70 2016 As usual, more heavy dreamy goodness from one of my favorite duos. Music behind the DJ: "Gomez" by Vic Mizzy

Today's program features tunes from Jean Luc Ponty, Jeff Beck, The Wallflowers, Van Morrison, Eagles, Graham Parker, Counting Crows, America, Doobie Brothers, Batdorf & Rodney, Chicago Transit Authority, John McLaughlin, Bob Dylan, The Doors, Outsiders, Tommy James & The Shondells, Steppenwolf, Ten Years After, Spirit, The Troggs, Shadows Of Knight, Electric Flag and Savoy Brown.

Regresamos a las compilaciones “Born bad”, recos piratas de bandas y artistas de los años 50 y 60 com singles de sonido o actitud macarra, lasciva, viciosa. Canciones que no eran bien vistas por la sociedad más puritana y que años después se convirtieron en el alimento de bandas como los Cramps.(Foto del podcast; The Standells)Playlist;(sintonía) THE RUMBLERS “Boss”JIM LOWE “Green door”THE GROUPIES “Primitive”THE SPARKLES “No friend of mine”THE STANDELLS “Barracuda”KASENETZ KATZ SUPER CIRCUS “Quick Joey Small (Run, Joey, Run)”THE SONICS “He’s waitin’”THE WAILERS “Dirty robber”THE THIRD BARDO “I’m five years ahead of my time”PAUL REVERE and THE RAIDERS “Hungry”THE NOVAS “The Crusher”TOMMY JAMES and THE SHONDELLS “Hanky Panky”THE BOSTWEEDS “Faster Pussycat kill”R LEWIS BAND “Get off the road”THE RIVINGTONS “The bird is the word”THE RIVINGTONS “Papa-oom-mow-mow”THE TRASHMEN “Surfin’ bird”THE FLOWER CHILDREN “Mini skirt blues”RED KRAYOLA “Hurricane fighter blues”Escuchar audio

One FM presenter Josh Revens and Steve Dowers present 'Whatever Happened To?' This week's topic is Tommy James & the Shondells. This program originally aired on Monday the 19th of August, 2024. Contact the station on admin@fm985.com.au or (+613) 58313131 The ONE FM 98.5 Community Radio podcast page operates under the license of Goulburn Valley Community Radio Inc. (ONE FM) Number 1385226/1. PRA AMCOS (Australasian Performing Right Association Limited and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society) that covers Simulcasting and Online content including podcasts with musical content, that we pay every year. This licence number is 1385226/1.

I'm working on a follow up song to this called "California Moon." This joke will make sense in a week, I swear. Covers by: The Rivieras, Tommy James & The Shondells, Ramones, Eddie Meduza, Los Straitjackets and Dave Alvin, King Usniewicz and His Usniewicztones, Mike Love, Smitty and the JumpStarters Tidal playlist here

BILLBOARD, Platinum Selling Artist, Rolling Stone, SIRIUS/XM RADIO & 60s GOLDME, THE MOB AND THE MUSIC, listed on Rolling Stone's TOP 25 MUSIC MEMOIRS is now in pre-production for a film with producer Barbara DeFina whose credits include GOODFELLAS, CASINO.......... CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION, CRIMSON&CLOVER, MONY MONY, I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW, HANKY PANKY, DRAGGIN' THE LINE, SWEET CHERRY WINE, MIRAGE and  THREE TIMES IN LOVE are just a few of the many hits....23 GOLD SINGLES, 9 PLATINUM ALBUMS and over 100 million records sold worldwide...FIVE-MILLION-AIR AWARD HITS....BMI lauded Tommy for his success with the presentation of a FIVE-MILLION-AIR AWARD for his songs being played more than 21 million times on air. Numerous artists around the world have covered and continue to cover Tommy's hits......BILLY IDOL, JOAN JETT, PRINCE, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, CARLOS SANTANA, BILLY JOE ARMSTRONG, KELLY CLARKSON, CHER, DOLLY PARTON, TOM JONES and even THE BOSTON POPS. Tommy's music is featured in over 75 films, 55 tv shows and numerous commercials..The prestigious NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME inducted Tommy with the award presented to him by his friend Stevie Van Zandt.  Tommy's life-size hologram can be viewed at the New Jersey Hall of Fame exhibit at Newark Airport Terminal C in New Jersey.  Tommy's image is also displayed along with other celebrities at the many rest areas off the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey....he has been a resident of New Jersey for over 35 years. Tommy also received THE PITTSBURGH LEGEND AWARD, THE JUKEBOX ARTISTS OF THE YEAR AWARD and was recently inducted into THE LAS VEGAS ENTERTAINERS HALL OF FAME. Tommy's critically acclaimed autobiography ME, THE MOB AND THE MUSIC, listed on Rolling Stone's TOP 25 MUSIC MEMOIRS is now in pre-production for a film with producer Barbara DeFina whose credits include GOODFELLAS, CASINO, CAPE FEAR, AGE OF INNOCENCE, SILENCE and THE GRIFTERS....she also produced Michael Jackson's BAD video.....the screenplay by Matthew Stone whose credits include INTOLERABLE CRUELTY and BIG TROUBLE. Tommy is now enjoying more success with his own show on SIRIUS/XM RADIO -GETTIN' TOGETHER WITH TOMMY JAMES - channel 73 - 60s GOLD - Sundays 5-8pm est. AftFollow him on facebook, instagram and twitter © 2024 Building Abundant Success!!2024 All Rights ReservedJoin Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy:  https://tinyurl.com/BASAud

Want to know what '60s megastar Tommy James is doing today? Can you name Tommy James and the Shondells biggest hit? Would you like to know Tommy's life story? Tune in here because few stars had a better run on the pop charts in the '60s than Tommy James. As the leader of his group the Shondells, Tommy had a way with upbeat pop tunes that packied a solid rock & roll punch. The creator of songs like "Hanky Panky," "I Think We're Alone Now," "It's Only Love," and "Mony Mony" - the soundtrack to a generation. As the decade changed so did Tommy writing and recording hits like "Crimson and Clover" and "Crystal Blue Persuasion." As a solo artist in the early '70s, Tommy adopted a more mature and soulful (but still radio-friendly) style with "Draggin' the Line" and "I'm Comin' Home." and he's still doing it today - embracing contemporary pop styles, with electronic instruments and elements of dance-pop and hip-hop. Tommy's journey began in Niles, Michigan, where he formed his first band, The Echoes, at the age of 12. His early passion for music set the stage for his future success. The Shondells, initially formed as The Tornadoes, evolved with his vision, and their innovative fusion of rock, pop, and psychedelia set them apart. Following the success of "Hanky Panky," Tommy James and the Shondells produced a series of chart-toppers. Then, as a solo artist he did it again. Tommy's autobiography, "Me, the Mob, and the Music," revealed his tumultuous relationship with Morris Levy of Roulette Records, adding depth to his legacy and offering a glimpse into the darker side of the music industry. Tommy James was a pioneer in studio experimentation, using cutting-edge effects to create unique sounds that influenced future generations of musicians. His music captured the spirit of the '60s. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, Tommy James' enduring legacy is a testament to his impact on rock and pop music history. His ongoing contributions to music and his influence on artists like Billy Idol, who famously covered "Mony Mony," underscore his lasting impact. From his early days in Michigan to his rise as a music icon, Tommy James' story is one of resilience, creativity, and enduring appeal. I know you're going to love hearing Tommy tell his story. To learn more about him head for his website https://www.tommyjames.com/

"Did you hear the cops finally busted Madame MarieFor tellin' fortunes better than they doFor me this boardwalk life's through, babeYou ought to quit this scene, tooSandy, the aurora is rising behind usThis pier lights our carnival life foreverOh, love me tonight and I promise I'll love you foreverOh, I mean it, Sandy, girl"With Summer now in full swing, please join me and Sandy live from Laguna Beach on the Saturday Edition of Whole 'Nuther Thing. Joining us are Al Stewart, Pat Metheny, Robert Plant, Roxy Music, The Beatles, Doobie Brothers, Yes, Rod Stewart, Gerry Rafferty, Marc Cohn, Phil Collins, Lonnie Mack, Genesis, Meat Loaf, Mott The Hoople, Dire Straits, Tommy James & The Shondells, Elvis Presley and Bruce Springsteen. And don't forget your Sunscreen.

Send us a Text Message.#tommyjames #60smusic #mobsters Legendary Tommy James Talks ‘Me, the Mob, and the Music' | ARTISTS ON RECORD Podcast** Today, we're thrilled to host the legendary musician Tommy James. Join us as we delve into his fascinating book, **'Me, the Mob, and the Music'** — a true rock ‘n' roll story that meets the world of The Sopranos. Get ready for some incredible stories from a career unlike any other. Don't miss this exclusive episode!Make sure to leave your comments below — we love hearing from you.****************************************************"Support your favorite show and channel! Click the link below to donate. Don't forget to include your name for a special shoutout. Thank you!"*MEMBERS ONLY➜https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpDurwXKpDiXuGBdsklxigg/join*MERCH STORE➜https://adika-live.creator-spring.comSupport the Show.

Singles Going Around- Humidity BoogieCount Five- "Psychotic Reaction"Ronnie Hawkins- "Forty Days"The Mustangs- "Shot In The Dark"Joe Louis Hill- "We All Gotta Go Sometime"Link Wray- "Fatback"Little Richard- "The Girl Can't Help It"Johnny Otis & Johnny "Guitar" Watson- "Let's Rock"The Vettes- "Devil Driver's Theme"Tommy James & The Shondells- "Hanky Panky"Howlin Wolf- "Mr Highway Man"The Kasenetz-Katz Super Circus- "Quick Joey Small"The Trashmen- "Bird Gasp '65"Freddy King- "Hideaway"Dick Dale- "Jessie Pearl"Little Junior's Blue Flames-"Feelin' Good"The Blonde Bomber- "Strollie Bun"Roy Orbison- "Domino"James Burton- "Polk Salad Annie"

Welcome to a SPECIAL EPISODE - ‘60s JAMBOREE II - featuring the following 60s Superstars:TOMMY JAMES - of Tommy James and the Shondells. Their string of hits included “Hanky Panky”, “Crimson And Clover” and “I Think We're Alone Now”.GARY PUCKETT - of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. Their hits included “Woman Woman” and “Young Girl”. RICHIE FURAY - an original member of Buffalo Springfield, Poco and the Souther Hillman Furay Band. His hits included “Kind Woman” and “Pickin' Up The Pieces”.JEREMY CLYDE - of the iconic duo Chad & Jeremy. Their hits included “A Summer Song” and “Yesterday's Gone”.NOEL PAUL STOOKEY - who was Paul of Peter Paul and Mary, the extraordinary trio whose hits included “Puff The Magic Dragon” and “Leaving On A Jet Plane”. These five superstars engage in a fun, rollicking, sentimental journey as they discuss their hits, their careers, the Ed Sullivan Show, their record labels, their current activities, and much more!---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES” is Robert's new single. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's recent single. With guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Crossover instrumental.Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's first album, was recorded in 1994 but was “lost” for the last 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com

Bruce Sudano had co-written the Tommy James & the Shondells 1969 hit “Ball of Fire” and played keyboards in the bands Alive ‘N Kickin' and Brooklyn Dreams by the time he met Donna Summer. The two of them clicked professionally and personally and soon were co-writing the smash title track and other songs for Summer's blockbuster 1979 album, Bad Girls. They also co-wrote Dolly Parton's #1 country hit “Starting Over Again,” based on his parents, and continued collaborating throughout a marriage that lasted until her 2012 death from lung cancer. Since then, he has rebooted his own career, recording several albums, including the new Talkin' Ugly Truth, Tellin' Pretty Lies. Sudano takes us from his mentorship with Tommy James through his life with arguably the disco era's greatest artist, for whom he and his daughters recently accepted a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award. Toot-toot! Beep-beep! (Photo by Amy Waters)

"Are you going to Scarborough Fair:Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.Remember me to one who lives there.She once was a true love of mine."Spring always reminds of the beauty of this song, please join me on our 1st Spring show of 2024 at Midnight on the Red Eye Edition of Whole 'Nuther Thing. Joining us this Morning are Bruce Cockburn,  XTC, Dire Straits, Spirit, The Grass Roots, Yes, Tears For Fears, Beatles, Al Kooper w Michael Bloomfield, The Association, Van Morrison, William Ackerman, ELO, Steve Miller Band, Bee Gees, Tommy James & The Shondells, Love, Rolling Stones, The Guess Who, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Ben Sidran, Colwell Winfield Blues Band, Steely Dan and Simon & Garfunkel.

The unique legacy of Tommy James and the Shondells adds another chapter today, as Weird Al contends with Tiffany's smash cover of "I Think We're Alone Now." We're discussing Jersey-girl aspirational fashion, budge sound that's a feature and not a bug, and that person you could know becoming that person everyone does know. Take a break from sewing patches on your jean jacket and have a listen! Our intro is by David Gregory Byrne, and our outro is by the Ramones. For more information/to become a patron of the show and hear all episodes of this season, visit patreon.com/mastas. SHOW NOTES "What...is this thing?" Start at the beginning! The "I Think We're Alone Now" video "I Think I'm A Clone Now" fan vid with lyrics Episode 100: Surprise Party March MASTAS's Teen Idol Bracket "'A very sinister and dark story': How the mob helped Tommy James become a hit machine"

"One is the loneliest number that you'll ever doTwo can be as bad as oneIt's the loneliest number since the number oneNo is the saddest experience you'll ever knowYes, it's the saddest experience you'll ever know'Cause one is the loneliest number that you'll ever doOne is the loneliest number, whoa-oh, worse than two"Don't be alone this afternoon,, join us on the Saturday Edition of Whole 'Nuther Thing. Coming along are Lee Michaels, Spirit, The Byrds, Turtles, Wilson Pickett, Eric Burdon & The Animals, The Electric Flag, Rhinoceros, The Chambers Brothers, Miles Davis, The Buckinghams, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Blood Sweat & Tears, The Doors, Arthur Lee & Love, Quincy Jones, Tommy James & The Shondells, Sugarloaf, The Illusion, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Three Dog Night.

Episode 009: Flip the Script: It's Backwards Day! Join Geoff, Russ, and Dave as they flip the calendar and spin tracks from two iconic, mirrored years: 1969 and 1996. Groove with the timeless tunes of Neil Young, The Who, and Tommy James and the Shondells. Feel the nostalgia wash over you as these musical legends take you back to a time of peace signs, bell-bottoms, and rock 'n' roll revolutions. Buckle up for a genre-bending jump to 1996! Neil Young resurfaces alongside the soulful vibes of Sublime, and the quirky beats of Cake. Prepare for a shift as we explore the alternative landscape of the decade that brought us flannel shirts, dial-up internet, and Tamagotchis. We'll also take a hilarious detour to the law enforcement equivalent of Claire's retail store and learn a little about the troubles facing Canadians. Watch the full animated episode! Spotify Playlist *Neil Young Songs are not available on Spotify, please see YouTube Playlist for his music  YouTube Playlist FAH Queue (Spotify) FAH Queue (YouTube) Official Site

Crimson & Clover, Crystal Blue Persuasion, Mony Mony, I Think We're Alone Now, Hanky Panky & Sweet Cherry Wine - these are just a few of the hits written by legendary artist Tommy James, who is this week's guest on the podcast!! Tommy is a renowned musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, widely known as frontman of the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondells - who is now entering his 51st year in the music industry, actively touring, hosting his radio program GETTIN' TOGETHER WITH TOMMY JAMES, & licensing his music which is featured in over 65 films, 53 tv shows and numerous commercials. Jay Jay gets into why he loves Tommy's critically acclaimed autobiography 'ME, THE MOB AND THE MUSIC,' which is listed on Rolling Stone's Top 25 Memoirs, and is now in pre-production to be turned into a film. Tommy shares some amazing stories of his relationship with Roulette Records & Morris Levy (who he found to be the most interesting person he's ever met), & how he learned the business of radio and music in New York during the 60's. "It's a small world, so treat people well because you meet the same people on the way up as you will on the way down." This is the advice that Jay Jay will never forget Tommy giving him, as they were sharing a bill at a club in Baldwin, Long Island back in the 80s - tune in to hear the full story, and don't miss their conversation, only on The Jay Jay French Connection: Beyond the Music! Edited & Produced by Matthew Mallinger

BILLBOARD, Rolling Stone, SIRIUS/XM RADIO & 60s GOLDME, THE MOB AND THE MUSIC, listed on Rolling Stone's TOP 25 MUSIC MEMOIRS is now in pre-production for a film with producer Barbara DeFina whose credits include GOODFELLAS, CASINO.......... CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION, CRIMSON&CLOVER, MONY MONY, I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW, HANKY PANKY, DRAGGIN' THE LINE, SWEET CHERRY WINE, MIRAGE and  THREE TIMES IN LOVE are just a few of the many hits....23 GOLD SINGLES, 9 PLATINUM ALBUMS and over 100 million records sold worldwide...FIVE-MILLION-AIR AWARD HITS....BMI lauded Tommy for his success with the presentation of a FIVE-MILLION-AIR AWARD for his songs being played more than 21 million times on air. Numerous artists around the world have covered and continue to cover Tommy's hits......BILLY IDOL, JOAN JETT, PRINCE, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, CARLOS SANTANA, BILLY JOE ARMSTRONG, KELLY CLARKSON, CHER, DOLLY PARTON, TOM JONES and even THE BOSTON POPS. Tommy's music is featured in over 75 films, 55 tv shows and numerous commercials..The prestigious NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME inducted Tommy with the award presented to him by his friend Stevie Van Zandt.  Tommy's life-size hologram can be viewed at the New Jersey Hall of Fame exhibit at Newark Airport Terminal C in New Jersey.  Tommy's image is also displayed along with other celebrities at the many rest areas off the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey....he has been a resident of New Jersey for over 35 years. Tommy also received THE PITTSBURGH LEGEND AWARD, THE JUKEBOX ARTISTS OF THE YEAR AWARD and was recently inducted into THE LAS VEGAS ENTERTAINERS HALL OF FAME. Tommy's critically acclaimed autobiography ME, THE MOB AND THE MUSIC, listed on Rolling Stone's TOP 25 MUSIC MEMOIRS is now in pre-production for a film with producer Barbara DeFina whose credits include GOODFELLAS, CASINO, CAPE FEAR, AGE OF INNOCENCE, SILENCE and THE GRIFTERS....she also produced Michael Jackson's BAD video.....the screenplay by Matthew Stone whose credits include INTOLERABLE CRUELTY and BIG TROUBLE. Tommy is now enjoying more success with his own show on SIRIUS/XM RADIO -GETTIN' TOGETHER WITH TOMMY JAMES - channel 73 - 60s GOLD - Sundays 5-8pm est. AftFollow him on facebook, instagram and twitter © 2024 Building Abundant Success!!2024 All Rights ReservedJoin Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy:  https://tinyurl.com/BASAud

"When I come home feeling tired and beatI go up where the air is fresh and sweet (Up on the roof)I get away from the hustling crowdsAnd all that rat race noise down in the street (Up on the roof)On the roof's the only place I knowWhere you just have to wish to make it soLet's go up on the roof (Up on the roof)"Please join me on this first morning of Winter to escape all the noise on the Red Eye Edition of Whole 'Nuther Thing.Joining us are Gary Calamar, The BoDeans, Leonard Cohen, Bob James, The Rolling Stones, Hollies, Kinks, Doors, Beatles, Johnny Rivers, Mamas & Papas, George Winston, Frank Sinatra, Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66, The Who, Dave Clark Five, Nat King Cole, Simon & Garfunkel, Don McLean, Led Zeppelin, Nilsson, Joni Mitchell, John Klemmer, John Prine, Glen Campbell, Bill Pursell, Tommy James & The Shondells, Barbara Higbie, Randy Newman and Carole King...

Today we interview Fabulous Gabriel who has recently dropped a festive Songcard called ‘The Christmas Card'.About the artistFabulous Gabriel was born in 1948, he is a graduate with a masters degree in music and history from Rhode Island College.He has many music credits among his years of song writing and entertainment career, he has written songs for the world famous FOUR TOPS, Gloria Gaynor, The Bud girls band for Budweiser and many more.Gabriel's main instrument is the saxophone, in his earlier years he played the Sax with such famous groups as Tommy James and the Shondells, Wilson Pickett, Gary US Bonds, Bobby Comstock and the Counts, Joey Welz of Bill Haley's Comets, Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars Tour.He then went on to become an accomplished piano player and songwriter in 1990 he received a gold and platinum album, along with having honors in Cashbox magazine as having the single of the week and one of the most entertaining albums of the year with his controversial Elvis album, "Somewhere Elvis is smiling".Throughout the years Fabulous Gabriel has written and recorded many original songs which are sold worldwide !Today Fabulous Gabriel is still writing and performing his mega hit songs. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unlockyoursound.substack.com

EPIZEUXUS!Want to join the amazing Axe on the show? have a playlist/topic/band in mind? Let us know! Reach out via @AXEPLAYLIST or @SJPWORLDMEDIA now!"Rebel Rebel," - David Bowie"Mony Mony," - Tommy James and The Shondells"C'mon C'mon," - The Von Bondies"Kiss, Kiss," - Yeah Yeah Yeahs"My My," - Seven Mary Three"Boom Boom," - The Animals"Iko Iko," - The Dixie Cups"Shimmy Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop," - Little Anthony & The Imperials"Louie Louie," - Otis Redding"Honey, Honey," - Ben Harper"Wah-Wah," - George Harrison"Radio, Radio," - Elvis Costello & The Attractions"Money Money," - Grateful Dead"Chewy Chewy," - Ohio Express"Sugar, Sugar," - The Archies*Disclaimer*Despite Chuck Winchester's total confidence, David Bowie is Jareth, the Goblin King, not the Baby King. He only steals that baby because Sarah wishes him to, so he's not really the bad guy, right?

On this episode Tom and Bert discuss and opine on  the "Greatest Opening Lines to Songs" Part 1.The boys try to sing some of the lyrics and you can judge how well that turned out. Musical Artists' Songs from Elvis, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Eagles, Bee Gees, AC/DC, Journey, Guns n Roses, LL Cool J and Adele and may others are represented.To close the podcast Bert reads off his 20 favorite opening lines while Tom tries to guess them! This is pure gold and the guys had a lot of laughs as they go through those classics. From the Temptations to Joe Cocker from Rod Stewart to The Beach Boys and from Bob Seger to Tommy James and the Shondells and many more the boys had a blast. Enjoy the show and Thanks for listening.You can email us at reeldealzmoviesandmusic@gmail.com or visit our Facebook page, Reel Dealz Podcast: Movies & Music Thru The Decades to leave comments and/or TEXT us at 843-855-1704 as well.

GGACP continues its salute to November's American Music Month by revisiting producer/engineer's John Murray's compilation of the podcast's best musical moments from 2014-2020. In this episode: live performances by Neil Sedaka, Dennis DeYoung, Kenny Loggins, Tommy James, Mark Hudson and Tony Orlando (among others). Also: Anne Murray covers “Danny's Song,” Uncle Junior interprets Yip Harburg, Rupert Holmes (almost) pays tribute to Humphrey Bogart, and Charles Fox composes the soundtrack of 1970s television. PLUS: John Davidson looks ahead! The Shondells go psychedelic! The legend of Morris Levy! Goldie Hawn falls for a Hudson Brother! And the Brill Building sound inspires the British Invasion! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Metal Hammer of Doom featuring Mark Radulich and Robert Cooper is back to review the latest from Finnland's finest folk metal, Korpiklaani - Noita!Noita is the ninth studio album by Finnish folk metal band Korpiklaani. The title is the Finnish word for "witch", but is closer in meaning to "shaman," "witch-doctor," or "medicine man."The track "Jouni Jouni" is a cover version of the song "Mony Mony" by Tommy James and the Shondells.Original Airdate 5/14/2015Disclaimer: The following may contain offensive language, adult humor, and/or content that some viewers may find offensive – The views and opinions expressed by any one speaker does not explicitly or necessarily reflect or represent those of Mark Radulich or W2M Network.Mark Radulich and his wacky podcast on all the things:https://linktr.ee/markkind76alsoFB Messenger: Mark Radulich LCSWTiktok: @markradulichtwitter: @MarkRadulich

"After midnight, we're going to let it all hang downAfter midnight, we're going to chug-a-lug and shoutWe're going to stimulate some action,We're going to get some satisfactionWe're going to find out what it is all aboutAfter midnight, we're going to let it all hang down"Please join me "After Midnight" for some stimulation of a Musicalkind on the "Red Eye Edition" of Whole 'Nuther Thing.Joining us are The Soft Machine, Radiohead, Dire Straits, Weather Report, Moody Blues, Jon Anderson w Jean Luc Ponty, Blood Sweat & Tears, The Blues Project, James Taylor, PiTommy James & The Shondells, nk Floyd, Jackson Browne, The Tradewinds, 10CC, Tears For Fears, Glitterhouse, Simon & Garfunkel,Jeff Beck, Spirit, Tim Story, Led Zeppelin, Phil Coulter, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Steve Miller Band and J.J. Cale...

Following the tragic passing of actor Mark Margolis (Tio Salamanca), Vic & Manny discuss the 2 shows that might be most instrumental to the creation of Vibe Talkin: Better Call Saul & Breaking Bad. Will they share any secrets left previously unheard? You'll have to listen to this mini episode to find out!Follow Vibe TalkinIG: instagram.com/vibetalkinThreads: https://www.threads.net/@vibetalkinTwitter: twitter.com/vibetalkinTikTok: @goodvibecinemaYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJIrLJPap8jyywZShlvGa5AHosts: Vic Terry, Manny Velazquezcontact: vibetalkin@gmail.comMusic: "Better Call Saul Theme" by Little Barrie; "Smoking Jesse's Pot" by Dave Porter; "The Peanut Vendor" by Alvin 'Red' Tyler; "Mango Walk" by The In Crowd; "Zungguzungguzungguzeng (Instrumental)" by Yellowman; "Crystal Blue Persuasion" by Tommy James & The Shondells; "Breaking Bad - Main Credits Theme (Extended)" by Dave PorterPhotos: Michael D. Simpson2023 A Good Vibe Cinema Production

BILLBOARD, Rolling Stone, SIRIUS/XM RADIO & 60s GOLDME, THE MOB AND THE MUSIC, listed on Rolling Stone's TOP 25 MUSIC MEMOIRS is now in pre-production for a film with producer Barbara DeFina whose credits include GOODFELLAS, CASINO.......... CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION, CRIMSON&CLOVER, MONY MONY, I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW, HANKY PANKY, DRAGGIN' THE LINE, SWEET CHERRY WINE, MIRAGE and  THREE TIMES IN LOVE are just a few of the many hits....23 GOLD SINGLES, 9 PLATINUM ALBUMS and over 100 million records sold worldwide...FIVE-MILLION-AIR AWARD HITS....BMI lauded Tommy for his success with the presentation of a FIVE-MILLION-AIR AWARD for his songs being played more than 21 million times on air. Numerous artists around the world have covered and continue to cover Tommy's hits......BILLY IDOL, JOAN JETT, PRINCE, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, CARLOS SANTANA, BILLY JOE ARMSTRONG, KELLY CLARKSON, CHER, DOLLY PARTON, TOM JONES and even THE BOSTON POPS. Tommy's music is featured in over 75 films, 55 tv shows and numerous commercials..The prestigious NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME inducted Tommy with the award presented to him by his friend Stevie Van Zandt.  Tommy's life-size hologram can be viewed at the New Jersey Hall of Fame exhibit at Newark Airport Terminal C in New Jersey.  Tommy's image is also displayed along with other celebrities at the many rest areas off the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey....he has been a resident of New Jersey for over 35 years. Tommy also received THE PITTSBURGH LEGEND AWARD, THE JUKEBOX ARTISTS OF THE YEAR AWARD and was recently inducted into THE LAS VEGAS ENTERTAINERS HALL OF FAME. Tommy's critically acclaimed autobiography ME, THE MOB AND THE MUSIC, listed on Rolling Stone's TOP 25 MUSIC MEMOIRS is now in pre-production for a film with producer Barbara DeFina whose credits include GOODFELLAS, CASINO, CAPE FEAR, AGE OF INNOCENCE, SILENCE and THE GRIFTERS....she also produced Michael Jackson's BAD video.....the screenplay by Matthew Stone whose credits include INTOLERABLE CRUELTY and BIG TROUBLE. Tommy is now enjoying more success with his own show on SIRIUS/XM RADIO -GETTIN' TOGETHER WITH TOMMY JAMES - channel 73 - 60s GOLD - Sundays 5-8pm est. AftFollow him on facebook, instagram and twitter © 2023 Building Abundant Success!!2023 All Rights ReservedJoin Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy:  https://tinyurl.com/BASAud

Singles Going Around- Rag And BoneThe Beatles- "Getting Better" (SMAS 2653)The Yardbirds- "Smokestack Lightning" (LN 24246)Tommy James & The Shondells- "Gotta Get Back To You" (R 7071)The Raconteurs- "Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness)" (TMR 600)Donovan- "Hurdy Gurdy Man" (BXN 26439)The Beach Boys- "Your So Good To Me" (T 2354)The Rolling Stones- "Mona" (LK 4605)Howlin Wolf- "You'll Be Mine" (DOL 929HG)AC/DC- "Dog Eat Dog" (E 80203)The Monkees- "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day" (COM 101)The Detroit Cobras- "Stupidity" (TMR 372)Van Morrison- "Call Me Up In Dreamland" (RDV1 1884)Sonny & Cher- "The Letter" (ATCO 33-177)Neil Young & Crazy Horse- "Prisoners Of Rock & Roll" (GHS 24154)The Beatles- "What Goes On" (T 2553)Flat Duo Jets- "You Belong To Me" (TMR 059)Led Zepplin- "The Lemon Song" (ATL 8122796640)The White Stripes- "Catch Hell Blues" (TMR 500)The Rolling Stones- "I'm Free" (LON 9792)*All songs from records listed.

Damos acceso a nuestra playa secreta y cavamos hondo en los años dorados del surf instrumental. Rescatamos delicatessens que en su momento pasaron desapercibidas para años después convertirse en el mejor retrato de una de las primeras escenas juveniles y amateurs que dio el rocknroll, la antesala en la que se curtieron muchos grupos del garaje. Playlist; (sintonía) THE CHEVELLS “Let there be surf” THE PHANTOMS “XL 3” THE VISTAS “Moon relay” THE HUSTLERS “Inertia” JIM MESSINA and HIS JESTERS “Strange man” THE BEL-AIRS “Baggies” NATION ROCKIN SHADOWS “Anesthesia” NEWPORT NOMADS “Blue mallard” THE WOODCHUCKS “Bangkok cock fight” ROEMANS “Misirlou” GESTICS “Rockin’ fury” THE RUNABOUTS “Surfer’s fright” TOADS “Morpheous” THE SHONDELLS “Thunderbolt” THE KAN DELLS “Cloudburst THE DECADES “Strange worlds” THE MOTIVATIONS “The birds” DAVIEL ALLAN and THE ARROWS “The unknown rider” THE FUGITIVES “A fugitive” THE VELVETONES “Mister X” THE AVENGERS VI “Time bomb” THE TORQUETTS “Side-swiped”          Escuchar audio

BILLBOARD, Rolling Stone, SIRIUS/XM RADIO & 60s GOLDME, THE MOB AND THE MUSIC, listed on Rolling Stone's TOP 25 MUSIC MEMOIRS is now in pre-production for a film with producer Barbara DeFina whose credits include GOODFELLAS, CASINO.......... CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION, CRIMSON&CLOVER, MONY MONY, I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW, HANKY PANKY, DRAGGIN' THE LINE, SWEET CHERRY WINE, MIRAGE and  THREE TIMES IN LOVE are just a few of the many hits....23 GOLD SINGLES, 9 PLATINUM ALBUMS and over 100 million records sold worldwide...FIVE-MILLION-AIR AWARD HITS....BMI lauded Tommy for his success with the presentation of a FIVE-MILLION-AIR AWARD for his songs being played more than 21 million times on air. Numerous artists around the world have covered and continue to cover Tommy's hits......BILLY IDOL, JOAN JETT, PRINCE, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, CARLOS SANTANA, BILLY JOE ARMSTRONG, KELLY CLARKSON, CHER, DOLLY PARTON, TOM JONES and even THE BOSTON POPS. Tommy's music is featured in over 75 films, 55 tv shows and numerous commercials..The prestigious NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME inducted Tommy with the award presented to him by his friend Stevie Van Zandt.  Tommy's life-size hologram can be viewed at the New Jersey Hall of Fame exhibit at Newark Airport Terminal C in New Jersey.  Tommy's image is also displayed along with other celebrities at the many rest areas off the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey....he has been a resident of New Jersey for over 35 years. Tommy also received THE PITTSBURGH LEGEND AWARD, THE JUKEBOX ARTISTS OF THE YEAR AWARD and was recently inducted into THE LAS VEGAS ENTERTAINERS HALL OF FAME. Tommy's critically acclaimed autobiography ME, THE MOB AND THE MUSIC, listed on Rolling Stone's TOP 25 MUSIC MEMOIRS is now in pre-production for a film with producer Barbara DeFina whose credits include GOODFELLAS, CASINO, CAPE FEAR, AGE OF INNOCENCE, SILENCE and THE GRIFTERS....she also produced Michael Jackson's BAD video.....the screenplay by Matthew Stone whose credits include INTOLERABLE CRUELTY and BIG TROUBLE. Tommy is now enjoying more success with his own show on SIRIUS/XM RADIO -GETTIN' TOGETHER WITH TOMMY JAMES - channel 73 - 60s GOLD - Sundays 5-8pm est. After 10 years a new album was released entitled ALIVE with two tracks hitting the BILLBOARD AC CHART - and now, a new compilation album ROCK PARTY recently released. Now entering his 51st year in the music business, Tommy continues to tour the USA . Follow him on facebook, instagram and twitter © 2023 Building Abundant Success!!2023 All Rights ReservedJoin Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy:  https://tinyurl.com/BASAud  

A brilliant classic of rock and R&B, which flirted with bubblegum, and a cover that goes full-Wonka. I Think We're Alone Now, originally by Tommy James and the Shondells, covered by Tiffany.  Outro music is Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows, by Leslie Gore.

We talk with local CT musician Alan Marcus from a new band called The British Legends of Rock Show. Alan had a long run in other bands in Fairfield County but wanted to step it up and form a new kind of tribute band...instead of catering to just one popular rock band like Led Zeppelin or The Who and their songs he decided to change it up by paying tribute to multiple bands. But he had to draw the line somewhere and make a decision on which bands to cover and perform stellar versions of their songs  at the same time. That is when he came up with The British Legends of Rock Show!  For more info on The British Legends of Rock Show log onto their website:     https://britishlegendsrock.com/ABOUT THE BAND/BIO It takes quite a band to play it ALL which is why The British Legends of Rock Show is such a standout and unique musical performance. Collectively, these pro-players have shared the stage with musical greats The Monkee's, The Crystals, The Coasters, The Bangles, The Waitresses, Marshall Crenshaw, Ronnie Spector, Tommy James & The Shondells. Together as a band, They faithfully and meticulously recreate  the golden age of British Rock note for note just like the original recordings.https://britishlegendsrock.com/media-video

Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth interview with Tommy James, Legendary Rock and Roll Musician About Harvey's guest: Today's special guest, Tommy James, a legendary musician, singer-songwriter and producer who's brought us one of the longest string of non-stop hits in the history of pop and rock music, first as the lead singer and guitarist in the superstar group, Tommy James and the Shondells – and then, as a highly successful solo artist.   He's had 9 platinum albums, 32 Billboard Hot 100 Hits and 23 gold singles, including “Crystal Blue Persuasion”, “Crimson & Clover”, “Mony Mony”, “I Think We're Alone Now”, “Sweet Cherry Wine”, “Hanky Panky”, “Mirage”, “Three Times in Love” and “Draggin' the Line”.  His songs have been covered by everyone from Billy Idol, Tom Jones, Prince, and Bruce Springsteen to Dolly Parton, Kelly Clarkson and Cher.   His music has been featured in 65 feature films including “Moneyball”, “Austin Powers” and “Forest Gump”, as well as 53 television shows including “Boston Legal”, “Criminal Minds” – and who can ever forget the haunting sound of “Crystal Blue Persuasion” in the season 5 finale of “Breaking Bad”.    In 2010 he published his turbulent and eye-opening memoir entitled, “Me, The Mob and the Music: One Hell of a Ride with Tommy James and the Shondells”, which is listed as #12 in Rolling Stone Magazine's 25 greatest rock ‘n' roll memoirs of all time.   In 2019, he celebrated his 50th year in the music business by releasing his highly anticipated album entitled, “Alive”, with 2 tracks hitting the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.  And last year, he released a new compilation album entitled, “Rock Party”.  He's sold well over 100 million records worldwide, and he's received 5 BMI “Million-Air” awards, in recognition of his songs being played more than 22 million times on the air.  He's received the Pittsburgh Legend Award and The Jukebox Artist of the Year Award, and he's been inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame AND the Las Vegas Entertainers Hall of Fame.   And he's attracted a whole new generation of music lovers with his own show every Sunday night on the Sirius XM Radio 60s Gold channel. For more interviews and podcasts go to: https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com/ https://www.tommyjames.com/https://www.facebook.com/TJandtheShondellshttps://www.instagram.com/tommyjamesandtheshondells/https://www.twitter.com/TJSHONDELLShttps://www.youtube.com/user/TJShondellshttps://open.spotify.com/artist/01hRNr3yF5bYnPq4wZ88iI #tommyjames   #harveybrownstoneinterviews

De NANCY RAMOS ("LANZA PERFUME"), FRANCO DE VITA ("TE AMO") y BEE GEES ("TOO MUCH HEAVEN") a BILLO'S ("POR UN DEDO") y CELIA CRUZ ("BURUNDANGA"),... Y MUCHO MAS! MADONNA, CARLOS SANTANA, JULIO IGLESIAS, SUIPER COMBO LOS TROPICALES, OSCAR DE LEON, LOS PLATTERS, LOS CINCO LATINOS, MODUGNO, E. PRESLEY, ROD STEWART, CHIC,... "CHIPS", MARISOL ALFONZO, BLUES BROTHERS, PRINCE, TOMMY JAMES & THE SHONDELLS,... DE COLECCION! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/genteenambiente/support

Tommy James came up during a time when the music industry was in part controlled by New York's Italian mafia. And for a period in the 1960s, that power was centralized at Roulette Records. The record label was run by convicted extortionist Morris Levy and operated in partnership with the Genovese crime family. Tommy James' hits were sanctioned by the mob, the same mob that would threaten not only his career, but his life. To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aaron looks at a Massachusetts-born singer who immersed himself in blues-inspired soul while living in both Clarksdale, MS & Chicago and Brent spotlights a band from Niles, Michigan that rose to fame after a Pittsburg DJ played one of their songs he found in a used record shop.Getting his nickname by donning a newsboy hat that once belonged to his grandfather, Aaron featurings three tracks from Eli "Paperboy" Reed.With a catalogue of songs that have been covered by everyone from Joan Jett & Billy Idol to Tiffany & Prince, Brent picks out three songs from Tommy James & the Shondells.

On this episode of The It's Only Rock And Roll Podcast, we feature 1960's hit-maker TOMMY JAMES, who along with his band The Shondells, released a string of classics including “Crimson and Clover”, “Mony Mony”, “Hanky Panky”, “I Think We're Alone Now”, and others. Tommy discusses how he went from a middle-America upbringing, to working and recording for Roulette Records, which in reality was a front for the Genovese crime family. Topics also include which of his biggest hits initially featured heavy breathing (inevitably deemed too risqué for radio); why one of his most famous singles is actually the rough mix; his worst live on-stage experience; his "introduction" to The Beatles; and many captivating anecdotes from his bestselling autobiography “Me, The Mob, and The Music”. ------------------------------------------------ ֎ To order: “Me, The Mob, and The Music” via Amazon - https://a.co/d/eJd9ez7 ֎ To order: “40 Years: The Complete Singles Collection 1966-2006” via Amazon - https://amzn.to/3Fb0k8X Visit the 'It's Only Rock And Roll PODCAST' online at: ● Homepage – www.ItsOnlyRockAndRollPodcast.com ● Facebook – facebook.com/ItsOnlyRockAndRollPodcast/ ● YouTube - https://youtu.be/imhlAeM3jrY ● Audea.io - https://audea.io/ ● Instagram - @itsonlyrockandrollpodcast Be sure to check out our all-new OFFICIAL IORR PODCAST STORE! https://www.cafepress.com/iorrpodcast © 2022 Howlaround Productions. All rights reserved.

As broadcast November 21, 2022 with plenty of Shondells magic and mania in tow!  Tonight we mark this date in 1987 when Billy Idol bumped Tiffany off the top of the proverbial tree at #1, which is one of those things that just goes on & on.  What is remarkable is that both artists had #1 hits with covers of previous hits by Tommy James & The Shondells (who you cannot escape & live forever).  Great new tunes to cover in the first hour with a stellar album from Weyes Blood out Friday called And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, then we had lots of new singles and album announcements from Tennis, Andy Shauf, Cigs After Sex, and that also goes on & on.  To finish the first hour, we highlighted FKJ's upcoming performance in Seoul at KBS Music Hall, which all goes down Monday Nov 28.  Part 3 as per usual we are once again Poppin Off, with a highlight on the World Cup anthem collab between Nicki Minaj & MALUMA to start, then we had big new joints from Chance The Rapper, JP Saxe, and Dermot Kennedy to highlight as well.  Part 4 of course we're taste testing our Fresh K Cuts, or new indie & bubbling under K-pop from right here on the peninsula, with SURL, Gwak Tae Poong, and ilbum being highlights there to wrap it up tight.#feelthegravityTracklist (st:rt)Part I (00:00)Tiffany – I Think We're Alone NowPhantom Youth – Stay & RunChristine & The Queens – Tu sais ce q'uil me fautHoney Dijon – La Femme FantastiqueTennis – One Night with the ValetBenny Sings – The World Part II (30:03)Cigarettes After Sex – PistolJoesef – Just Come Home with Me TonightPhoebe Bridgers – So Much WineAndy Shauf – Wasted On YouWeyes Blood – Children of the EmpireFKJ – Us (A Color Show)FKJ & Masego – Tadow Part III (64:00)Nicki Minaj with MALUMA & Myriam Fares – Tukoh TakaChance The Rapper feat King Promise – YAH KnowDermot Kennedy – One LifeFana Hues – floatCautious Clay – Lip ServiceJP Saxe – The Good PartsKelela – On The Run Part IV (93:35)ilbum – GoodbyeLim Haeum feat Wildberry – See you my friendHEEO – Destiny of ChallengeDIFF feat Nam Ji In – MASIJASURL – Aroundsweetch feat sooon – a u r o r aGwak Tae Poong – 후일담 Memory 

I Love Rock 'n Roll is the first album by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, and the second solo album by Joan Jett.  Born as Joan Marie Larkin, Joan Jett got her start in the music industry as a teenager when her family moved to the Los Angeles area and divorced shortly thereafter.  She was a founding member of the all-girl band The Runaways at the age of 16.Jett began her solo career in England in 1979, where she recorded songs with some of the members of the Sex Pistols.  Later that year she returned to Los Angeles where she connected with a songwriter and producer named Kenny Laguna.  Laguna would relocate Jett to Long Beach, New York, and assist her with both her first solo album and the formation of the Blackhearts.The group spent a year touring and building up a following in the New York Area before releasing I Love Rock 'n Roll.  This album would be a mixture of original songs and covers, and the title track would spend 7 weeks at the top of the U.S. charts.  The album was a commercial success, selling 10 million copies, and is Jett's most successful album to date. (I'm Gonna) Run AwayRob starts us off with the second track on the album, a deeper cut, and an original song written by Jett and Laguna.  It has a punk feel, as does much of the album, and the lyrics reflect a break-up.Crimson and CloverThis cover of a song originally performed by Tommy James and the Shondells alternates between a slow and fast tempo, but maintains a hard rock edge throughout, unlike the more psychedelic aspects of the original.  Jett was questioned about her choice not to change the pronouns in the lyrics from female to male, and she commented simply that the change in lyrics would make the song not rhyme.Summertime Blues Eddie Cochran co wrote and performed this song in 1958.  Joan Jett & the Blackhearts speed this one up and give it a punk edge.  It was not originally on the album, but appeared as the B-side to a single from Jett's prior solo album “Do You Wanna Touch Me  (Oh Yeah).”  It would appear on the album as a bonus track when released on CD.  I Love Rock 'n RollThis title track is the big hit, and is also a cover originally performed by The Arrows in 1975.  Jett first heard the song while touring with The Runaways, and she recorded an early version of the song with members of the Sex Pistols in 1979.  It was the number 3 song on the U.S. charts for the year of 1982. ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Street Life by Randy Crawford (from the motion picture “Sharkey's Machine”)This action film featured a stunt involving a plunge out of the Peachtree Plaza hotel, the tallest building in Atlanta at the time. STAFF PICKS:Jealous Lover by Rainbow Bruce starts off the staff picks with the lead-off track from a 4-song EP of the same name.  Frontman Joe Lynn Turner and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore wrote this song.  Turner wrote the lyrics in about 5 minutes, inspired by an argument he had with Blackmore, which made him think about a fight he'd recently had with his girlfriend.  “And it's hard to discover you're like any other jealous lover.”Young Turks by Rod Stewart  Brian features the first US single from Stewart's eleventh album, Tonight I'm Yours. The song tells the story of two young lovers who run away from their parents to make their own way.  Interestingly the phrase “young turks” never appears in the lyrics.  The video included an early example of break dancing.Marie Marie  by The BlastersWayne brings us a rockabilly song, or as The Blasters would describe it, “R&B in cowboy boots.”  The song tells the story of a guy who is told to leave a family's daughter alone, and so he sings to her as he is leaving.  I Love You by Climax Blues BandRob's staff pick is a soft rock hit.  It tells the story of a guy who is rescued by the love of his wife.  It is the second biggest hit by the Climax Blues Band after  Couldn't Get It Right.  It hit number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:September Fifteenth by Pat Metheny & Lyle MaysThis jazz instrumental was a feature of "Jazz Flavors" on radio station 94Q in Atlanta in December of 1981.

Join Disney's Ike Eisenmann, and author, Jonathan Rosen, as they chat with Rock Legend, Tommy James from Tommy James and the Shondells!Tommy discusses his hits such as Mony Mony,  and Crimson and Clover, having the mob meddle in his career, his show on Sirius/XM, & much more!

This episode is part of Pledge Week 2022. Every day this week, I'll be posting old Patreon bonus episodes of the podcast which will have this short intro. These are short, ten- to twenty-minute bonus podcasts which get posted to Patreon for my paying backers every time I post a new main episode -- there are well over a hundred of these in the archive now. If you like the sound of these episodes, then go to patreon.com/andrewhickey and subscribe for as little as a dollar a month or ten dollars a year to get access to all those bonus episodes, plus new ones as they appear. Click below for the transcript Transcript In today's main episode we look at the career of Bobby Fuller, who many have speculated died because of in some way upsetting the Mafia. So in this bonus episode we're going to look at someone who had a much longer, more successful, career, and did so because he managed *not* to upset the Mafia. We're going to look at the involvement of Morris Levy in the birth of bubblegum, and at "Hanky Panky" by Tommy James and the Shondells: [Excerpt: Tommy James and the Shondells, "Hanky Panky"] The original lineup of the Shondells started out when Tommy James was only twelve years old, and still going by his birth name Tommy Jackson. They performed for three years under various names before, in 1962, recording their first single, "Long Pony Tail", under the name Tom and the Tornadoes: [Excerpt: Tom and the Tornadoes, "Long Pony Tail"] That was actually a cover version of a song originally recorded by the Fireballs, a group that Norman Petty had produced a couple of minor hits for at that point, and who would go on to have a number one with "Sugar Shack", but who are now best known for being the group that Petty got to overdub new instrumental backing on Buddy Holly's acoustic demos so he could keep releasing posthumous hits. "Long Pony Tail" was not a hit, and soon the group had changed their name to the Shondells, inspired by the local one-hit wonder Troy Shondell, who had had a hit with "This Time": [Excerpt: Troy Shondell, "This Time"] The group continued making records on tiny labels with no promotional budget for several years, until they recorded a song called "Hanky Panky". That song had been written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, and released as a B-side by Barry and Greenwich's studio group The Raindrops: [Excerpt: The Raindrops, "Hanky Panky"] That record had never been a hit, supposedly because the song to which it was a B-side, “That Boy John”, made people think of John F Kennedy, who was killed shortly after the record's release. But a copy had been picked up by a musician in Michigan, who had added the song to his group's live set, and it had become popular. Another local group, the Spinners -- not the vocal group from Detroit, or the British folk group, but another group of the same name -- saw the reaction that band had from the song, and added it to their own sets. They hadn't got a copy of the record themselves, so they didn't know all the words, so they just made new ones up, other than "My baby does the hanky-panky". When Tommy James saw the reaction the Spinners had, he felt he had to grasp an opportunity. Back in 1960, Joe Jones had recorded "California Sun", a song written by Henry Glover, on Roulette Records: [Excerpt: Joe Jones, "California Sun"] Another group on the same local scene as the Shondells, the Princeton Five, had been playing that song in their sets -- and then a third local group, the Playmates, renamed themselves the Rivieras, ripped off the Princeton Five's arrangement of the song before the Princeton Five could record it, and made the national top ten with it: [Excerpt: The Rivieras, "California Sun"] The lesson was clear -- if a local band starts doing well with a song, it's winner-takes-all and whoever gets into the studio first gets the hit. So the Shondells went into the studio and quickly cut their version, based on what they could remember of what the Spinners could remember of someone else's live versions of “Hanky Panky”, making up new words where they didn't know the real ones. It was released on a tiny local label called Snap: [Excerpt: Tommy James and the Shondells, "Hanky Panky"] The record was a very minor local hit, but didn't get any airplay in major markets, and the Shondells split up, and James joined a new group, the Koachmen. The Koachmen toured for a while, playing dead-end gigs and scraping a living for many months, with constant lineup changes, until eventually also calling it quits. It was then that James got the shocking news that "Hanky Panky" was now number one in Pittsburgh. Somehow a local dance promoter had found the record and started playing it at club nights. It had gone down shockingly well, so a Pittsburgh company just started pressing up more copies from the single, and it sold eighty thousand copies in ten days. The company pressing the record got in touch with the owner of Snap Records, who told Tommy that he needed to put together a new Shondells quickly. As it turned out, there was another band in the area who were called the Shandells (according to James' autobiography -- other sources say they were called the Raconteurs). James became their lead singer and changed the group's name to the Shondells, James went to New York to try to get the newly-successful record national distribution, and to get his new Shondells signed. There was the start of a bidding war, with Red Bird, Atlantic, RCA and others all interested... until Morris Levy of Roulette Records phoned the owners of all the other labels and told them "This is my record". James was quickly persuaded that it wasn't a good idea to refuse offers made by someone with Levy's mob connections, and Tommy James and the Shondells signed to Roulette Records. "Hanky Panky" was reissued and went to number one. The group had a series of hits from 1966 through 1967, including "I Think We're Alone Now", written for the group by their producer Ritchie Cordell: [Excerpt: Tommy James and the Shondells, "I Think We're Alone Now"] And "Mony Mony", a group effort written by several people including Cordell and James, inspired by a large flashing neon sign advertising Mutual of New York: [Excerpt: Tommy James and the Shondells, "Mony Mony"] These early hits helped define bubblegum music, and were massively successful. Levy took a fatherly interest in James, and while he refused ever to pay the royalty rates in James' contract -- James estimates he is owed thirty to forty million dollars in unpaid royalties -- he did make sure that James got what Levy thought was a fair amount, and the two had a good relationship, though James resented much of Levy's attitude towards his music, and had very real qualms about working for a mobster. James particularly disliked the pressure he was under to produce hit singles rather than grow as an artist. James was, though, allowed to change styles as the times changed, and moved into psychedelic rock, co-writing and recording the number one hit "Crimson and Clover" with the group's drummer: [Excerpt: Tommy James and the Shondells, "Crimson and Clover"] And "Crystal Blue Persuasion", inspired by the Book of Revelation, with two other band members, which went to number two: [Excerpt: Tommy James and the Shondells, "Crystal Blue Persuasion"] In 1970, James went solo, having another major hit with "Draggin' the Line": [Excerpt: Tommy James, "Draggin' the Line"] He also co-wrote and produced the big hit "Tighter Tighter" for Alive N Kickin': [Excerpt: Alive N Kickin', "Tighter Tighter"] But two changes in the early seventies saw James lose his commercial momentum. The first was that he started more explicitly writing about his Christian faith, including titling a solo album "Christian of the World". The other, more serious, problem was that a mob war started in New York, with one of the families opposed to Levy's targeting Levy's friends. Levy made James get out of New York and move to Nashville to keep safe, and James moved into country music while he was there, but was unsuccessful in his new genre. James eventually escaped from Levy, as Levy's control over his music industry holdings slipped with his loss of dominance in the mob, but James never returned to commercial success, though his old hits continued to have influence on the next generation of bubblegum pop -- in 1987, Tiffany's cover version of "I Think We're Alone Now" was knocked off number one by Billy Idol's version of "Mony Mony". He currently tours as a nostalgia act, and finally receives royalties from his hits. He's often somewhat dismissed as a minor act, but James, with and without the Shondells, had a hugely impressive run of hit singles, and his catalogue is probably due reevaluation.

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.