Ron Howard Pops the Clutch and Tells the World...

EAT MY DUST!

Look out world!  Opie Taylor's breaking badass in Eat My Dust...

winner of 50 Academy Awards including Best Picture and

Best Performance in a Supporting Role, an accolade

given to the suspension springs on Ron's muscle car.

SURPRISE!!!

You'll be surprised  shocked  upset  happy to know that this post has

nothing to do with Opie's 1976 action film produced by Roger Corman,

King of Low Budget Filmmakers. The bold headline and poster are merely

"click bait" - a gimmick I used to attract attention and lure hundreds,

perhaps thousands of new readers to Shady's Place. As you will

see at the end of the post, comments are already pouring in

from the four corners of the world. Hooray!

My clever ploy actually worked!

Although this post isn't about Ron Howard or that el cheapo

bicentennial cult classic car chase flick, it is loosely related.

That's because it's time to go...

SCROLL DOWN

Cruisin' through the year 1963

with "Your Leader" - BMR!

That's right. It's time to hop

in the old jalop and go

C R U I S I N '

through the history of Top 40 Radio.

Today we're visiting The Big Apple, New York City.

The year is 1963 and the voice on the radio

belongs to the DJ known as "BMR" -

 B. MITCHELL REED 

one of the

  Good Guys  

on station

 WMCA. 

PIGGYBACK COLD OPEN:

CLICK TO PLAY FIRST VIDEO.

AT 21 SEC MARK, CLICK TO

START SECOND VIDEO!

 "Easier Said Than Done" - The Essex 

 (June/July 1963, highest chart pos. 

 #1 Hot 100/#1 Cash Box/#1 R&B) 

 THE ESSEX 

I just had to do that - test out the Piggyback Cold Open on that first song.

If you timed it just right, BMR's intro to that Essex song syncs up with the

full length song video that followed. WOW! If you aren't familiar with that

soulful group, The Essex consisted of four guys and a girl (Anita Humes).

Strange as it seems, their signature song, "Easier Said Than Done," is

categorized as a Girl Group sound. Solo female artist Diane Renay

also falls into the Girl Group category, as does Lesley Gore. The

confusion doesn't end there. In the wacky world of pop music

classification, certain recordings by all male groups or solo

male artists are also designated by some music historians

as Girl Group sounds! "Easier Said Than Done" was a

smash hit for The Essex. The record spent two weeks

at the top of the pop charts in the summer of that

great Cruisin' year 1963.

 THE JAYNETTES 

Another cool sound on the Cruisin' 1963 album belongs to The Jaynettes,

an all-girl vocal quartet from The Bronx. These one hit wonders charted

their biggie a couple months after "Easier Said Than Done." Inspired by

the nursery rhyme "Ring around the Rosie," the song "Sally, Go Round

The Roses" spent two weeks at #2 on the Hot 100, held back from
the top position by Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet." Here now are

The Jaynettes with "Sally, Go Round The Roses!"

 "Sally, Go Round The Roses" - The Jaynettes 

 (Sept./Oct. 1963, highest chart pos. #2 Hot 100/#3 Cash Box, 

 #4 R&B, dancers on Sept. 28, 1963, ep. of American Bandstand) 

 JAN BRADLEY 

Born in Mississippi and raised near Chicago, R&B thrush Jan Bradley

is another one hit wonder, but her waxing of a Curtis Mayfield song

became a northern soul classic and my favorite song on the Cruisin'

1963 album. Released on Chicago's legendary Chess label at the

start of that year, "Mama Didn't Lie" became a top 10 hit on

the black chart and finished at #14 on the pop charts.

Here's Jan Bradley with Chitown soul at its best!

 "Mama Didn't Lie" - Jan Bradley 

 (Feb./Mar. 1963, highest chart pos. 

 #8 R&B/#14 Hot 100 & Cash Box) 

 THE ROOFTOP SINGERS 

Baltimorean folk singer/songwriter Erik Darling was a key figure
in the American folk music scene of the late 50s and early 60s.

Along with with a friend, Bill Svanoe, and jazz singer Lynne Taylor,
Darling formed a folk trio called The Rooftop Singers. In their
trademark progressive folk style, the group recorded the 1929
country blues song "Walk Right In." To everyone's surprise,
the single shot to #1 on the chart. Return with me now
to the simple, uncluttered, unplugged, pre-Beatles
Hootenanny era, the pop-folk boom of the mid
20th century. Walk right in, sit right down,

Daddy, let your mind roll on!

 "Walk Right In" - The Rooftop Singers 

 (Jan./Feb. 1963, highest chart pos. #1 Hot 100 & Cash Box) 

 "A TALE OF TWO DITTIES" 
 (MAKE THAT FOUR) 

The last song on B. Mitchell Reed's 1963 Cruisin' show is "Louie Louie,"

and there are four versions of the song that are important to know.

 RICHARD BERRY 
 AND THE PHARAOHS 

The Kingsmen are best known for their version of "Louie Louie," the infamous
late 1963 record that prompted an FBI investigation into allegedly obscene lyrics.
The Kingsmen's recording is a rockin' cover of an innocent Jamaican love ballad
written and first recorded in 1957 by R&B doo-wop singer Richard Berry
along with his backing group The Pharaohs.

 "Louie Louie" - Richard Berry And The Pharaohs 
 (Mar. 1957, B side of "You Are My Sunshine") 

 ROCKIN ROBIN ROBERTS 

The first cover of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie" was released in March 1961
by Tacoma Washington's Rockin Robin Roberts backed by the noteworthy
Pacific Northwest instrumental band The Wailers.

 "Louie Louie" - Rockin Robin Boberts 

 (Mar. 1961, uncharted) 

 PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS 

Paul Revere And The Raiders recorded a version of "Louie, Louie" the same week

and at the same studio in Portland, Oregon, where The Kingsmen waxed their

history making record. For a short time after their release, the two singles

were running neck and neck, but events conspired to make one version

an iconic hit of the 20th century and the other a flop. Columbia A&R

man Mitch Miller, famous for his TV show Sing Along With Mitch,

hated rock 'n' roll and "pulled the plug" on the Raiders' single,

leaving it stranded on the Bubbling Under chart. Here are

The Raiders performing the song nearly three years

later on Dick Clark's Where The Action Is.

 "Louie, Louie" - Paul Revere And The Raiders 

 (Nov. 1963, highest chart pos. #103 Bubbling Under/#118 Cash Box, 

  perf. on Sept. 16, 1966, ep. of Where The Action Is) 

 THE KINGSMEN 

The Kingsmen, like The Raiders, were a rowdy Pacific Northwest garage band,

and as such gave "Louie Louie" the full frat party treatment. Lead zinger

Jack Ely mumbled and slurred the words and his vocal track is buried

beneath dense layers of crashing cymbals, drums, guitars and organ,

rendering most of the lyrics unintelligible and fueling speculation

that they were dirty. They weren't. The actual words to

"Louie Louie" are as safe as mama’s milk. (Shucks!)

The FBI probe went nowhere and "Louie Louie"

went on to become a rock standard, but it

didn't happen overnight.

The single waxed by The Kingsmen was going nowhere fast until
Boston deejay Arnie Ginsburg (now a member of The Shady Bunch
on SPMM Retrosonic Radio), started promoting the platter on his
Night Train Show as "The Worst Record of the Week." Arnie's
listeners went wild for the Kingsmen platter and it soon broke

nationally. "Louie Louie" spent two weeks at #1 on Cash Box
and six weeks at #2 on the Hot 100, denied the #1 spot
by The Singing Nun's "Dominique" and Bobby Vinton's
latest hit "There! I've Said it Again." Determined to
stamp out bland ballads in your lifetime, here are
The Kingsmen appearing in a Dallas, Texas,

TV studio on the local Bandstand style

show Sump'n Else, performing one

of the greatest and best known

 rock 'n' roll records ever

made-- "Louie Louie!"

 "Louie Louie" - The Kingsmen 

 (Dec. 1963/Jan. 1964, highest chart position 

 #1 Cash Box/#2 Hot 100, perf. on TV show Sump’n Else 

 on WFAA-TV, Channel 8 (ABC), Dallas/Ft.Worth) 

 Don't miss the next thrill packed 

 episode of Cruisin' coming soon! 

Have a Shady day!