WE ALL KNOW
The Hollywood Argyles
were an American
musical ensemble,
assembled for
studio recordings
by the producer and songwriter
Kim Fowley
and his friend
and fellow musician
Gary S. Paxton.
They had a US
number one hit record,
"Alley Oop"
in 1960.
"Alley Oop"
According to Paxton
who, at the time,
was half of
Skip & Flip
"Alley Oop"
was written by
Dallas Frazier as
a country tune:
"As for the name,Kim Fowley and I were living in a $15-a-week room in Hollywood. ... Since I was still under contract (to Brent Records) as 'Flip,' I couldn't put my name on 'Alley Oop.' Seeing that the studio was on the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Argyle Street, I decided on Hollywood Argyles. Other than myself, there were no actual Hollywood Argyles. Everyone else on the track was either a friend or a studio musician who I paid $25 apiece for the session. When 'Alley Oop' suddenly took off and people wanted to book us for concerts, there was no such group."
The
"Alley Oop"
session was produced by
Fowley,
who recalled that
"all the participants were
hopelessly drunk on cider
by the time they
recorded the song."
According to some reports,
the lead vocalist on
the track
"Alley Oop"
is Norm Davis,
although the voice
on the record has been
identified as a match
with other recordings sung
by Paxton
from the same era,
such as
"Spookie Movies".
According to Paxton,
the group consisted of
Ronnie Silico
on drums,
Gaynel Hodge
on piano,
Harper Cosby
on bass,
and
Sandy Nelson
(of "Teen Beat" fame)
playing percussion
on tambourine
and a garbage can.
Nelson also provided
background screams
in the song.
he background singers
included
Dallas Frazier,
Buddy Mize,
Scott Turner,
and a woman named
Diane.
"Alley Oop"
was the first song
played on
WLS-AM Radio
in Chicago on
May 2, 1960,
when it
changed format from
farm programming to
rock and roll.
"Alley Oop"
charted for 15 weeks
on the
Billboard Hot 100,
peaking at number one
for the week of
July 11, 1960.
The song sold over
one million copies
and was awarded a
gold disc by the RIAA.
No comments:
Post a Comment