18. The Swinging Blue Jeans: You're No Good
![Swinging Blue Jeans: You're No Good [U.K. EP] (1964)](http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/1748/swingingbluejeansyourenogood9c.jpg)
The Swinging Blue Jeans only had one hit in America, "The Hippy Hippy Shake", a #24 hit from 1964, originally adapted from a 1959 Chan Romero version that was a good deal more rockabilly than the Swinging Blue Jeans' version. Good enough for the Beatles to include in their live performances (available on the BBC CD), the Swinging Blue Jeans' also did a good job with it, revving it up a bit, overplaying the exhuberance. In England, the band scored again with "You're No Good", which was also a 1964 hit for soul singer Betty Everett, and later a #1 smash for Linda Ronstadt. The Swinging Blue Jeans took it into the top-5 in England, but in America the highest it got was #97. The band never left an impression again, although original members Ray Ennis and Les Braid still lead a version of the group to this day.
19. Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders: The Game Of Love
Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders have one of the stranger biographies of the British Invasion groups. Wayne Fontana was Glyn Geoffrey Ellis, a telephone engineer who renamed himself after Elvis Presley's drummer, DJ Fontana, and formed his first band, The Jets, in Manchester in 1961-1962. When half of his band didn't show up for an important gig, Fontana drafted members from the bar, drummer Ric Rothwell and guitarist Eric Stewart, to augment himself and bassist Bob Lang; the new combo was renamed The Mindbenders, and released their debut single, a cover of Fats Domino's "My Girl Josephine", in 1963. Their big American hit was "The Game Of Love" written by Clint Ballard, and featuring a break that recalls a cross between Bo Diddley and Buddy Holly in the middle, showcasing Stewart's guitar, which reached #1 in the States. An American tour followed, after difficulties with immigration, but the band was unable to follow up their hit; by 1965 Fontana had decided to pursue a solo career and left the band suddenly at the end of a gig. The Mindbenders soldiered on without him, scoring a #1 hit on their own in 1966 with "A Groovy Kind of Love", their first single without Fontana. After that, they struggled again, barely making the charts, despite releasing a pretty good and somewhat audacious concept album With Woman in Mind in 1967. Eric Stewart would later form 10cc, and also appeared on some Paul McCartney albums in the 1980's.
Article comments
1 - uao
I also salute: Dusty Springfield, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, The Creation, The Honeycombs, The Walker Brothers, Manfred Mann, Cilla Black, The Tremeloes, et. al.
I thought the article was already waaay too long. I'll add 'em on my blog's entry when I get time.
2 - The Proprietor
The opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night" still inspires much discussion and contention amongst guitarists and Beatles fans. One researcher actually put the chord through a Fourier transform to discover the actual components of the chord (which as any 12-string Rickenbacker owner will tell you, is not played with just that guitar). In all likelihood the chord was played simultaneously by Harrison and Lennon on guitar simultaneously (Lennon is generally considered to have used his Gibson J-160E on this track, not his Rickenbacker 325), McCartney playing a bass note on the Hofner, and George Martin playing a dissonant piano chord.
3 - uao
Your knowledge of musical equipment and guitar lore continues to astound me, Proprietor.
Fascinating analysis; it's always an education.
4 - Matt
Both the post and the Proprietor's add-on are good stuff. Thanks guys!
5 - ac/dc#1
i know that zepplin came about five years after the invasion, but they are the best rock band in the world besides the beatles and the stones. give them the credit that they deserve!!!
6 - ac/dc#1
even though led zeppelin came after the invision hey are still a good band. please include them in the blog!