Good-Time Rock n’ Roll (1964 to 1967)
On February 9th, 1964 about a third of the television sets in America
were tuned to the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, as my generation
of kids in the States got their first experience of the Beatles.
This became the beginning of a period of fun rock music for us. On
June 1st, 1967 the Beatles released the “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band” album. This became the beginning of a very
introspective, deep thinking, period of rock music for many of us.
The fun stuff rock music lost its focus for us.
What happened? Almost overnight, an entire type of rock music
diminished and went out of favor with a large segment of discerning
young music lovers. Good-time rock n’ roll eclipsed in the summer of
1967. What replaced it were serious rock bands, like those invited to
the Monterey Pop Festival in the middle of June, 1967. The Summer of
Love, as it was called in California.
The groups at Monterey were The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, the
Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin with Big Brother
and the Holding Company. Also, representing the British invasion bands
of three years before were the tough-edged Eric Burdon and the
Animals. The Mammas and the Papas represented the intellectual side of
the California sound. Otis Redding backed up with Booker T. and the
M.G.’s brought rhythm and blues to a white audience at the festival.
Even Ravi Shankar with his sitar was at the Monterey Pop Festival.
But there weren’t the Good-Time Rock bands that we had loved for the
three previous years. Who were these bands? One thing, is that they
played music that you wanted to dance to at your high school
sock-hops. They had a good beat, as kids used to say on Dick Clark’s
American Bandstand on Saturday afternoons.
On a national scale over years, the Good-Time Rock bands included
folks like the Dave Clark Five, Paul Revere and the Raiders, the
Beach Boys, even the Association.
Then there were all the one-hit wonder bands, sometimes called garage
bands. Thing is—you could dance to the music. Your foot naturally
started tapping when you heard their stuff. They were fun bands.
These included the Kingsmen, the Surfaris, the McCoys, the Gentrys,
the Castaways, the Outsiders, the Bobby Fuller Four, the Shadows of
Night, the Syndicate of Sound, the Standells, the Troggs, Count Five,
Richard and the Young Lions, the Blues Magoos, the Music Explosion,
the Easy Beats, the Five Americans, Every Mother’s Son, and there were
plenty more of these.
Many would ask why the Four Seasons , Gary Lewis and the Playboys,
the Young Rascals, and the Buckinghams weren’t on the longstanding
groups list here. Or why Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, the
Beau Brummels, the Happenings, and the Shades of Blue aren’t on the
one or two hit wonders list? Well they should be on the lists. And
other Good-Time Rock bands too. Let’s try not to forget them.
Some of the songs of these groups are listed below with their Youtube links.
Transistor radios were our means of hearing the Good Time Rock music,
on AM stations. FM stations at this time played adult mood music and
musak. In Detroit, we had a choice between WXYZ-AM and WKNR-AM, both
had all-day rock formats then. Some kids listened to the rock music
at CKLW-AM from Windsor, Canada. WXYZ had popular deejays Lee Allen
and Joel Sebastian. WKNR had Gary Owens and Swinging Sweeney. I
chose WKNR-AM, because they had weekly cards with the top 30 songs and
the top four albums. I was at Grinnell’s Music store at the Mall just
about every week picking up these song cards, and checking out the new
albums coming out. I was becoming a “music guy.”
Our first looks at the Good Time Rock bands were the weekly variety
shows, like The Ed Sullivan Show and the Hollywood Palace. The Ed
Sullivan show was on prime time Sunday nights on CBS. The Hollywood
Palace was on prime time Saturday nights on ABC. On Saturday
afternoons we could see the bands on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand
on ABC.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s there was a folk music revival in
the USA. It even reached prime time American television in a weekly
show on called Hootenanny. It began on Saturday nights on ABC
starting in April 1963. You could see many of the prominent folk
singers on the show. One of the sad things about the Good Time Rock
movement is that it drowned out the folk music revival. Hootenanny
was cancelled in September 1964.
Shindig! is the weekly show on ABC that replaced it in September 1964.
It was almost all Good Time Rock—on prime time. In January 1965, NBC
began the weekly prime time rock show Hullabaloo. Both Shindig! and
Hullabaloo were quite popular among teens. Shindig! had a tougher
edge to it, and Hullabaloo was designed something like an adult
variety show.
Well, Shindig! went off the air in Fall 1965, and Hullabaloo went off
the air in April 1966. What replaced them was a daily show on ABC
called Where the Action Is, beginning in June 1965. It was hosted by
Dick Clark in voice-overs. All the Good Time Rock bands were on this
show. It was broadcast in the late afternoon, so we music guys would
come home after school every day and watch it. This also meant that
there was rock music on television every day of the week now.
Mention should be made that the Monkees television series began in
September 1966. It was based on the Beatlemania movies “Hard Day’s
Night” and “Help!” I liked the Monkees’ music—it was Good Time Rock.
But, my high school pals and I ended up spending many of our lunch
hours debating who was better, the Beatles or the Monkees. I
contended that the Beatles were better. But at the time, “I’m a
Believer” was the top hit on the countdown week after week, until the
Buckinghams knocked them off with “Kind of a Drag” in spring 1967.
In summer 1967, the AM stations played two-thirds of the songs on
“Sergeant Peppers.” And we heard new sounds on AM radio, like the
Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” and Procol Harem’s “Whiter
Shade of Pale.” In the Fall of 1967, “Purple Haze” reached our AM
radio station. We got deeply interested in the Airplane’s
“Surrealistic Pillow” album and Hendrix’s “Are You Experienced” album.
And that became more of the topic—not so much a single hit, but
whether the whole album was quality.
Where the Action Is was dropped from TV in March 1967. But the
following year, in April, something brand new came to the Detroit
area. Some called it underground radio—WABX—on FM. It didn’t play
the top hits very much. It went deep into albums. All the music guys
in my class switched from AM radio to FM radio, to WABX.
All of the groups listed below were heard regularly on WKNR-AM. They
never got airplay on WABX. A year or so later, WKNR-FM came on the
air, with deejay Uncle Russ Gibb. This station was formatted like
WABX, but was less intellectual in its presentation. Both played what
was considered serious rock music. WKNR-FM also did not play the
bands listed below.
What I regret is that I joined a whole lot of music-minded young
people then in somehow thinking that these Good Time Rock bands were
uncool. You wouldn’t admit anymore in 1970 that you liked Herman’s
Hermits or Paul Revere & the Raiders. The thing is that there was
room for both—the serious rock music and the fun rock music.
You really saw the difference when it came to high school dances then.
In the 1966-67 school year we had regular sock hops, where we danced
to the Good Time Rock music. Kids couldn’t wait for the Kingsmen’s
“Louie Louie” or the Surfaris “Wipeout” to come over the speakers.
It meant dancing. In the 1967-68 school year there were no sock hops.
We would go to dances and analyze the live music bands.
Well, decades have passed and we have the opportunity to correct our
miscues. We can become familiar again with the music of the Good Time
Rock bands. We recognize the value of groups like the Yardbirds and
the Who from that period. Why not give some attention now to the
groups that were eclipsed by the serious rock music movement. You
will see some of them below with their song titles and Youtube links.
Why not listen and enjoy. My bet is that you’ll tap your toe to the
beats. And you might smile!
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Dave Clark Five songs:
"Glad All Over"--March 1964
"Bits and Pieces"--April 1964
"Over and Over"--Nov. 1965
"Catch Us If You Can"--August 1965
"Do You Love Me"--May 1964
"Any Way You Want It"--Nov. 1964
"Can't You See That She's Mine"--June 1964
"I Like it Like That"--June 1965
Slow dance sings:
"Because"--August 1964
"Everybody Knows"--Dec. 1967
=====================
Paul Revere and the Raiders songs
"Kicks"--Spring 1966
"Just Like Me"--Feb. 1966
"Stepin Out"--Nov. 1965
"Hungry"--July 1966
"Good Thing"--Jan. 1967
"Him or Me"--June 1967
"Louie Louie"--1963
(Mark Lindsey, the lead singer, played the saxophone.)
"Ups and Downs"--March 1967
"Don’t You Just Know It"
===========================
Herman's Hermits songs:
"Can't You Hear My Heartbeat"--Feb. 1965
"Silhouettes"--March 1965
"Wonderful World"--May 1965
"Into Something Good"--Summer 1965
=============================
Beach Boys songs:
"Fun, Fun, Fun"--Feb. 1964
"I Get Around"--May 1964
"Little Deuce Coup"--Summer 1963
"Help Me Rhonda"--Spring 1965
"Barbara Ann"--Jan. 1966
==============================
Association songs:
"Along Comes Mary"--May 1966
"Windy"--Spring 1967
"Time for Living"--1968
==============================
Johnny Kidd and the Pirates--"Shakin' All Over" British 1959
I've included this track because it sort of paved the way for Good Time Rock.
The Surfaris--"Wipe Out" Summer 1963 and Summer 1966 reissue
Kingsmen "Louie Louie" Fall 1963 and Winter 1964 (re-released
in 1966), and "Jolly Green Giant" (Fall 1965)
The McCoys--"Hang on Sloopy" Fall 1965
Gentrys--"Keep on Danicin'"- Fall 1965
Castaways- "Liar Liar" Fall 1965
The Bobby Fuller Four--"I Fought the Law" Spring 1966
The Outsiders--"Time Won't Let Me" Spring 1966
The Shadows of Night--"Gloria" Spring 1966
Leaves--"Hey Joe" May 1966
(Not much airplay in Detroit. Original version, before Hendrix)
Syndicate of Sound--:"Little Girl" Summer 1966
The Troggs--"Wild Thing" Summer 1966 and "Love is All Around" Spring
1968; English band
The Standells--"Dirty Water" Summer 1966
Count Five--"Psychotic Reaction" Fall 1966
Richard and the Young Lions "Open Up Your Door" Fall 1966
Blues Magoos--"We Ain't Got Nothing Yet" January 1967
Music Explosion--"Little Bit of Soul" Spring 1967
Easy Beats--"Friday on My Mind" Spring 1967
Five Americans--"Western Union" Spring 1967
Every Mother's Son --"Come on Down to my Boat" May 1967
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The Four Seasons--"Ronnie"--Spring 1964
Gary Lewis and the Playboys--"Just My Style"--Dec. 1965
The Young Rascals "Good Lovin'"--Spring 1966
The Buckinghams--"Kind of a Drag"--Feb. 1967
Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders--"Game of Love"--Spring 1965
The Beau Brummels--"Laugh Laugh"--March 1965
The Happenings--"I've Got Rhythm" 1967--Spring Feb. 1967
The Shades of Blue--"Oh How Happy" --Spring 1966
