Song:96 Tears
Album:Cameo Parkway: The Greatest Hits
This garage band classic topped the charts in 1966 and is one of the all time great fluke hits. ? & The Mysterians had one other chart hit and no one remembers it. And it's not like 96 Tears was a new song. It was first performed in 1964. The group were Texans of Mexican descent who grew up in Bay City, MI. The lead singer only identified himself as ? and legally changed his name to Question Mark later. His real name is Rudy Martinez. In 1962, bassist Larry Borjas, his cousin guitarist Bobby Balderrama and drummer Robert Martinez formed a band. They added Robert's brother Rudy Martinez and organist Frank Rodriguez. Borjas and Robert Martinez were drafted into the military and were replaced by Frank Lugo and Eddie Serrato. They named themselves after a Japanese science fiction movie. ? wrote a poem called Too Many Teardrops and showed it to the band. The title was changed to 69 Tears and then the less suggestive 96 Tears. The song became a hit locally in Michigan at their live shows. And then their manager released it on her own small label. It became a big enough hit that several record companies came calling. They signed with Cameo-Parkway. Once 96 Tears had national distribution, it went crazy and topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966. The song is considered as one of the all time great garage band songs. They released an album and the second single charted but their second album flopped. Also, Cameo-Parkway was having financial problems and would soon close. ? & The Mysterians recorded a few more singles that went nowhere. The band continues to perform today with mostly original members. Allen Klein's ABKCO owns the Cameo-Parkway recordings and refused to license 96 Tears for various artists comps. That's why it isn't on Nuggets. But ABKCO has released the Cameo-Parkway catalog on CD in recent years and you can get the original recording of 96 tears on this comp. Beware of rerecorded versions. Here's ? & The Mysterians performing 96 Tears on Where The Action Is 1966.
No comments:
Post a Comment