THE KINGSMEN
The Kingsmen are a 1960’s beat/garage rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of Richard Berry’s “Louie Louie”, which held the No. 2 spot on the Billboard charts for six weeks. The single has become an enduring classic. (More from Wikipedia)
(April 2010)
* * *
Now, of all of the songs that Greg Shaw could have used to name and then subtitle his magazine Who Put the Bomp, two of them came out in 1963, and the other in 1964, though that one could just as easily have been made in 1963. Why 1963? Greg Shaw was 14 in 1963; and, according to neuroscientist and author Daniel Levitin in his book, This Is Your Brain on Music, this is when the brain is most susceptible to the influence of music. As quoted in Bomp 2, Levitin writes: “Part of the reason we remember songs from our teenage years is because those years were times of self discovery, and as a consequence, they were emotionally charged.”
Many years later, Greg Shaw wrote in 2001: “One of my favorite phases of 60’s garage was 1963, when nobody had ever heard of England, and songs like ‘Louie Louie’ [by the Kingsmen] and ‘Surfin’ Bird’ [by the Trashmen] were drawing on 50’s R&B to create something new.”
(May 2013)
* * *
Writing for the Rolling Stone Record Guide, David McGee states: “To get an idea of his indelible contribution to rock & roll, consider the critic Lester Bangs’ citation of [Ritchie] Valens as the prototypical punk guitarist whose signature ‘La Bamba’ riff links Valens to a hard-edged, no-frills style of rock & roll later advanced by the Kingsmen, the Kinks, the Stooges, and the Ramones.” The thrilling Ramones call “Hey Ho, Let’s Go” – from the opening song “Blitzkrieg Bop” on their first album, Ramones – might have been lifted directly from Ritchie Valens’ “Come On, Let’s Go”.
(June 2013/1)
* * *
The most famous case of supposedly offensive lyrics in popular music is “Louie Louie”, specifically the version by the Kingsmen. The original version of “Louie Louie” was released in 1957 by Richard Berry (who is also the songwriter); it has a Latin American beat, and the lyrics are clearly about a sailor pining away for his woman back home.
* * *
The Kingsmen released “Louie Louie” in 1963, and that is the one that became such a hit. I remember hearing “Louie Louie” on the radio just about every summer when I was growing up after that. The beat meter was accidentally changed, as was the style of the song; lead singer Jack Ely is the one who mumbled the lyrics.
From Wikipedia: “The Kingsmen transformed [Richard] Berry’s easy-going ballad into a raucous romp, complete with a twangy guitar, occasional background chatter, and nearly unintelligible lyrics by [Jack] Ely. A guitar break is triggered by the shout, ‘Okay, let’s give it to ’em right now!’, which first appeared in the Wailers’ version, as did the entire guitar break (although, in the Wailers’ version, a few notes differ, and the entire band played the break).
“Critic Dave Marsh suggests it is this moment that gives the recording greatness: ‘[Jack Ely] went for it so avidly you’d have thought he’d spotted the jugular of a lifelong enemy, so crudely that, at that instant, Ely sounds like Donald Duck on helium. And it’s that faintly ridiculous air that makes the Kingsmen’s record the classic that it is, especially since it’s followed by a guitar solo that’s just as wacky.’”
(June 2016)
* * *
During the summer of 1965, the Iguanas became the house band at the Club Ponytail; it was in a resort area called Harbor Springs, located well to the north of Ann Arbor, almost to the Upper Peninsula. While there, they opened for the Four Tops, the Shangri-Las, and the Kingsmen, often backing the headliner acts.
(December 2016)
