The Standells by Greg Shaw
 It goes without joying that the Standells are one of the most important groups of all time. No pre-'66 group from LA could even compare to them except the Seeds, and there were fev. anywhere who could approach their faultless distillation of all that mode up the “punk" style — Stones riffs, taunting vocals, vicious lyrics, burning fuzz tone, everything right down to the black turtlenecks was absolutely arch typo I. They were one of the first punk groups, along with the Klngsmen and Raiders, and one of the longest-lived os well.
Although they recorded extensively before really making it, it was the entrance of producer/songwrlter Ed Cobb that was their turning point. Cobb, a former member of the Four Preps, was о punk pioneer , single-handedly exploiting the rich Son Jose scene (Chocolate Watchband, E-Types, etc.) and being closely involved in the great Tower/SIdewalk group of labels. It was Cobb who wrote and produced what was to become the Standells' anthem, "Dirty Water.”
"Dirty Water" was one of those perfect records, almost in о class with "Louie Louie." Built an a simple yet unforgettable six-note riff, it featured a rasping, sneered vocal and an early Stones harp solo. It was a huge national hit, far bigger than most other classic punkers. The album that followed, their first with Cobb, was о masterpiece. There they stood on the cover, looking like Terry Knight & the Pack, dressed in mod clothes from Macy's "Tiger Shop," looking cool and curling their lips slightly. Inside was one of the best albums of rock's best year. It opened with "Medication," an absolute classic of droning fuzz tone/reverberation spiff. And the lyrics I "She does to me whot other girls don't do; she blows my mind when she starts to shake." This paean to the fabled Girl Who Does It is followed by an equally classic mockery of the equally fabled Girl Who Holds Out, a contemptuous number called "Little Sally Tease" (also cut by the Klngsmen, Don & the Goodtimes, and others).
Still on side one, we go through a slow filler colled "There's a Storm Cornin'," and Into "19th Nervous Breakdown." Sneers and contempt are again the order of the day, as the Standells pay tribute to the acknowledged masters of scorn. They put on a good show, matching the taut electric fullness of the Stones' sound almost exactly, from a simpler, more earthy angle. And this is followed by "Dirty Water," closing out one of the finest LP sides in all rock & roll.
The other side is weaker, but still adheres to the rock-bottonr essence of punk structure. The chords change from E to A and gc through all the other time-hallowed progressions with the assur- o nee of Guy Lombardo ploying "Auld Lang Syne." It includes "Hey Joe," the unfailing clue that you hold a 1966 album in your hands. Side two also contains "Rari," the haunting flip of "Dirty Water," with great echo-chamber harmony, a driving, yearning plea for a girl to dance, and the best four-bar freokout Instrumental break this side of the Yardbirds. But the honors for side two must go to Ed Cobb, who delivered another immortal statement in "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White." In those days we were all eager to be impressed by this kind of high school philosophy (witness the earnest attention given songs like "Universal Soldier" and "Mister You're a Better Mon Than I"). But the Standells, while delving into the genre, lay waste to these ivroy tower musings with smug ass-kicking righteousness as they taunt: "If you think those guys in the white collars are better than I am baby, flake off! You don't dig this long holr, get yourself a crewcut IT
The Standoils were well established two or three years before Cobb met them and produced "Dirty Wafer," Lorry Tamblyn (whod recorded and produced records on Faro, an East LA label) teamed up with Tony Valentino rn 1962, and in *63 picked up Gary Lane and Dick Dodd; a former Mouseketeer. in 1964 they appeared in Get Yourself a College Girl, a strange movie featuring the DC5, the Animals, Stan Getz and Jimmy Smith. In it, they performed two songs: "The Swim'1 and "Bony Moronie." The cover photo shows them In high-styled pompadours, matching tuxedos and ties. In those days they were the classic proto- punk band, their repertoire consisting of work-em-up standards like "Shake," "Ooh Poo Poh Doo," "Money " and the inevitable "Louie Louie." This period Is well-documented in their Liberty album, In Person of P.j.'s, recorded live.
It features the above songs in addition to "I'll Go Crazy," "Linda Lou," "So Fine," "Help Yourself" and "Peppermint Beetle." The seeds of later greatness are clearly present, the major differences being the dominance of the organ, the relatively passive role of the guitar, and the reliance on established, over worked material. But their nascent ability is as obvious as it must've been to Ed Cobb.
Other early credits for the Standells include music for the films, Zebra in the Kitchen and When the Boys Meet the Girls, appearances on ‘'Shindig/ "Ben Casey" "The Bing Crosby Show," "The Munsters," "American Bandstand," "The Lloyd Thaxton Show," "Shebang," "Shlvaree," "Hollywood A Go Go" and "Hollywood Discotheque." Also under their belts were tours of Japan and Central America. In short, they had paid their dues by the time success found them.
Getting back to 1966, "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White" was put out as a single from the first Tower album, become a minor hit, and was featured on their next LP os well. That album let off with "Why Pick On Me," notable for its near- Eastern ragarock overtones. Its- message was the usual one of outraged pride. The source of the Eastern influences become clear with the next song, 'Taint it Black." Yes, it's back to the Stones, whose own version of the song was one of the most powerful things on the air at the time. This Is less successful than "19th Nervous Breakdown", as the crucial drum part Is beyond tho abilities of Disk Dodd. Much better Is "Black Hearted Woman", о cry of rage underscored with mysterioso organ and pinging guitar notes. The album also includes a version of "My Little Red Book" that's better than Manfred Mann's but not as good as Love's, a kindo right-on song colled "Mr. Nobody", and a great Cobb number, "Have You Ever Spent The Night In Jail”. They knew their audience, these guys did, and they weren't talking about any dumb drug bust either. When they sing "have you ever spent the night In fall? Well I have..." you know they were there for something basic and teenage, like swiping hubcaps, or cruising around with open bottles of Colt 45 in the car, or crushing a frat party, or maybe even trying to run some old codger off the road. The kind of stuff any kid could identify with.
Though they had replaced bassist Gary Lone with Dave Burke, probably because of Lane's adamant refusal to comb his hair down over his forehead, this second album was a marked comedown from the first. But the third was worse yet, being little more than a shameless sellout. The Hot Ones presents their versions of eight current hits, plus reruns of "19th Nervous Breakdown" and "Dirty Water." Their limp arrangements of “Sunny Afternoon" and "Sunshine Superman" are somewhat mitigated by "Last Train to Clarksville," and they almost pull off "Lil' Red Riding Hood" and "Black Is Black," but "Eleanor Rigby is a reel stinkeroo ond they should've known better than to pit their talents against "Wild Thing."
Of course, we must appreciate their position. It was now the early part of 1967, and nobody wanted to hear about dirty water; if you were hip, the place to be was San Francisco, blowing your mind with the Grateful Dead. The Standells were lucky enough to oven be allowed to record at this point... it's a wonder they were able to make one last album — and that it turned out so well.
Between The Hot Ones and Try It, the Standells were involved in an extraordinary film colled Riot on Sunset Strip, based on the Strip riots of summer '66, and released In 1967. I don't know how much publicity those riots got outside of California, but here they were big stuff. The Sunset Strip—actually a mile or so stretch of it just west ofCrescent Hb., was THE hangout for kids during the period equivalent to the beginning of the Haight/Ashbury In Son Francisco. The teenagers felt the same desire to gather and make the scene communally, but in the absence of a bohemian community to do it in they were left to mill on the sidewalks that connected the various teen clubs and hotdog stands that passed for meeting places. The Whiskey, Pandora's Box, The Trip, It's Boss, Ciro's...the legendary names, now mostly gone, were the focal points of a scene dominated by Sonny & Cher, Love, the Mamas and Popas, the Turtles, P.F. Sloan, Rodney Bingenhetmer, Kim Fcwley and the Byrds — stars who, in those days, still walked among the people and made the Strip scene themselves, much as the Dead and the Jefferson Airplane were part of the street scene up north.
It was о scene of teenybeppers in bellbottoms with go-go boots, polka dot shirts and Jim McGuinn granny glosses, desperate to escape their drab impersonal surroundings, ond finding their only hoven in these small clubs that dotted the cold, wide expanse of Sunset Blvd. Rock music drew them there, but those who couldn't afford to get into the clubs, or had just left, or simply liked the street scene better, gathered until the sidewalks were jammed for blocks ond the big hotels and restaurants in the area began complaining that business was being scared away. The cops moved in, made mass arrests, busted heads, and provoked the riots. And that was the end of the Strip scene.
But not without a lot protests, on the street and on record. The Riot on Sunset Strip film, pure exploitation though It was, ("...the mod, mod world of the Hippies, Teenyboppen and Pot- Partygoers., .out for a new thrill or a new kick I The most shocking film of our generation I") was Hie source of a great collection of songs that came out as the soundtrack. Along with a few losers, there was "Sunset Sally," a rare Mugwumps track, "Like My Baby" by Drew, which was Dylan's "Spanish Harlem Incident" via the Byrds with the lyrics changed to: "See the girl, she wears dark glasses...","Sunset Theme" by the Sidewalk Sounds, and ’Children of the Night" by Mom's Boys, a teenybop protest song in the same mold as Sonny's "Laugh at Me." But moving past even these, we come to four real monsters.
Two belong to the Chocolate Watchbond, and If the stuff In their albums was like this, they might not have been forgotten so fast. Perched atop the absolute plmacle of starry-eyed British Invasion vainglory, they scream out a killer song called "Sitting There Standing," a Ydrdblreli "Nezz are Blue" ripoff fust bursting w i th Jeff Beck power chords; and Chicago blues runs, the bass surging along past the point of distortion, and the vocalist ranging from hoarse snarls to high-pitched walls. It's fantastic, surpassed only by their other number, "Don't Need Your Lovin'," which gives the same treatment to the Kinks' "Milk Cow Blues," bringing In tambourines and maraccas to carry the whole production to the ultimate level of greasepunk thunder.
Impressive, indeed, but nonetheless totally outclassed by ' the oppearance of the Standells, with a song so supernally magnificent on a grungy California punk level that it puts those two shining Watchband monuments and all their own previous work In the proverbial shade. I refer to Hie title song, "Riot on Sunset Strip," which is the quintessence of LA punk and one of those rare songs whose lyrics bear quoting in full:
I'm goin' down to the Strip tonight
I'm not gonna stay home and trip tonight
Long hair seems to be the main attraction
But the heat Is causing all the action
Bright lights everywhere
Pretty girls with long blond hair
Whatso matter people?
They don't care I
(chorus)
Just doesn't seem fair
To bug you cause ya got long hair
Even the parents are beginning to stare
Because of the sirens, on our street
It used to be neat, now
It's fust a place
For black and white cos to race.
It's cousin a riot. It's causin' a riot, yeah!
The music is matched perfectly to the spirit of the lyrics, featuring an unforgettable guitar riff, every bit as inevitable as Keith Richards' on "Satisfaction" end actually more effective In the context of the song. Frustration and defiance color each word and note, it's also among the most powerful calls to violence rock has produced, capturing the potent thrill of rebellion tn a way no one else has surpssed. The only record to approach this glorification of Insurrection is the Beach Boys' overwhelmina "Student Demonstration Time." Like the latter song, "Riot" features the sound of police sirens spliced in at the proper moments and succeeds totally In evoking the excitement of self- righteous confrontation. If It had come out during the riots, instead of a year later, who knows what might have happened?
Perhaps it was this film appearance that persuaded the moguls at Tower to give the boys one more chance, but they were hedging their bets just the same. Net only was "Riot on Sunset Strip" included, but both sides of Hie cover were taken up by the most outrageously crude hype since those old "party rcords" that promised naughty delights untold and delivered only a disappointing collection of tired dirty fokes. "BannedI" It screamed. "The most talked-abcut record of the year — Hie most controversial record of the year — the most exciting record of the year!" The record referred to was "Try It." Never heard of It? Not surprising; the wholecontroversy was the product of Tower Records' merchandising division, with perhaps a puny core of truth where some local radio station refused to play it because the group hadn't hod a hit In two years.
Certainly there was nothing about the song that lent itself to controversy or censure—as the Ohio Express proved shortly after when they released It as their second single. Whereas a group like the Troggs, whose "Gonna Make You," "Give it to MB" and several others actually were banned, could justly have made such claims, "Try It” was surprisingly tame. "Baby, I can tell you want some action; well action Is my middle name. C'mon and try it..." What's the big deal? But if you can forget your outrage at not being titillated, "Try It" is a fine song, in a class with the material on their first album. Another which deserves equal acclaim Is "Barracuda," though it suffers from the excessive echo that ruins "Ninety-Nire and a Half," as If a return to Wilson Pickett didn't in Itself herald the imminent demise of the group. Worse yet, they were penning Imitation Pickett songs like "Can't Help But Love Yau" and padding things out with aid standards like '"St. Jarres Infirmary.”
But on the plus side, besides the throe sorgs mentioned, we have "All Fall Down," which Is truly remarkable for Its resemblance to Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun" — the same basic riff, same organ sound and all, which leads to Interesting speculations. Were Pink Floyd members of the Standells Fan Club? Not as outlandish a notion as you might think; the song ends tn a welter of electronically-produced psychedelia and must've been released about the same tine they were locking for a fcllowup to their first album, also on the Tower label. Who knows, If the Standells hod taken a hint from their pals the Chocolate Watchband and set their controls for outer space, we might hove today a space-rock group that could put Hawkwind, Aman Duul and yes, even Pink Floyd thenselves to shame. Con you imagine, "Riot on Deneb XII?" The world will never know what Is missed…
But the Standells, alos, were too deeply steeped in punk tradition to venture, far from those first ten chords, and they were getting along well enough as a nightclub act to have some vested interest in maintaining their Image. So, like a thousand other groups that future generation will surely vilify us for not recognizing In their time, the Standells put out a few hope fol singles and petered off through the land of Las Afegas dares and declining bookings right Into the inevitable oblivion which has claimed some of the greatest talents of our time. There they stand, arm in arm with the Trashmen, the Wallers and the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, hustled by an insensitive public Into a tragic obscurity. I mean, when even a single like "Animal Girl" doesn't make It, you know Fate has tamed its back on a group. So the Standells, when you come rijht down to it, never had a chance.
All the same, they're still around. After Dick Dodd left and put out a solo album with Ed Cobb, the others famd a replace - ment and kept playing whenever they could, holding down day jobs on the side. I last saw them In late 1972, in a small Van Nuys dub, playing the hits f'Honky Tonk Women," "Maggie May") and an occasional oldie for the faithful. They sounded great, although the eight other people in the club seemed more interested In their drinks and their dates. But that's the kind of place the Standells started from, so you could say they're back where they belong.
STANDELLS DISCOGRAPHY
LARRY TAMBLYN
Patty Ann/? - Faro 601
The Lle/My Bride To Be - Faro 603
Destiny/ihis Is the Night - Faro 612
LARRY TAMBLYN & THE STANDELS (sic)
You'll Be Mine Someday/The Girl in My Heart - Linda 112
THE STANDELLS
Zebra In the Kitchen/Someday You'll Cry - MGM 13350
Peppermint Beatle/The Shake - Liberty 55680
Help Yourself/I’ll Go Crazy -Liberty 55722
Linda Lu/So Fine - Liberty 55743
The Boy Next Door/B. J. Quetzal - Vee Jay 643
Don't Scy Gbodbye/Big Boss Man - Vee Jay 679
Dirty Water/Rari - Tower 185
Sometimes Good Buys Don't Wear Whlte/Wiy Did You Hurt Me - Why Pick On Me/Mr. Nobody - Tower 282
Try It/Poor Shell of a Mm - Tower 310
Riot on Sunset Strip/Block Hearted Woman - Tower 314
Ninety-Nine and a Half/Can't Help But Love Yau - Tower 348
Animal Girl/Soul Drippin' - Tower 398/
DICK DODD
Little Sister/ -Tower 447
GuiltyAeq ulem: 820 Lathom - Attarack 102
ALBUMS
Get Yourself a College Girl - MGM E/SE-4273
Bony MoronFe; The Swim
The Standells In Person At P.J.'s - Liberty LST-7384
Help Yourself; So Fine; You Can't 0b That; What Have 1 Got of My Own; Money; I'll Go Crazy; Bony Moronic; Ooh Poo Pah Doo; Llnda-Lu; Louie Louie
Live And out of Sight - Sunset S UM-1136
Louie Louie; Ooh Poo Pah Doo; Bony Msronie; I'll Go Crazy;
Linda Lu; Shake; Peppermint Beatle; Sc Fine; Help Yourself: Money
Dirty Water - Tower ST 5027
Medication; Little Sally Tease; There Is a Storm Cornin'; 19th Nervous Breakdown; Dirty Water; Pride & Devotion; Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White; Hey Joe; Why Did You Hurt Me; Rarl
Why Pick On Me - Tower ST 5044.
Why Pick On Me; Paint It Black; Mi Hai Fatto Innamorare;
Black Hearted Woman; Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White; The Girl and the Moon; Mr. Nobody; My Little Red Book; Mainline; Have You Ever Spent the Night in Jail
The Hot Ones I - Tower ST 5049
Last Train to Clarksville; Wild Thing; Sunshine Superman;
Sunny Afternoon; Lil' Red Riding Hood; Eleanor Rigby; Black
Is Black; Summer in the City; 19th Nervous Breakdown; Dirty Water
Riot On Sunset Strip (Soundtrack) - Tower ST 5065
Riot On fenset Strip; Get Away From Here
Try It - Tower ST 5098
Can't Help But Love You; Ninety-Nine and a Half; Trip to Paradise; St. James Infirmary; Try It; Barracuda; Did You Ever Have That Feeling; All Fall Down; Poor Shell of a Man; Riot On Sunset Strip
First Evolution of Dick Dodd - Tower ST 5142
Lonely Weekends; Tell the Truth; Stone Blues Man; You Lied to Your Daddy; Under Construction; Twenty-Four Hours of Loneliness; Little Sister; Mary, Mary, Row Your Boat; Here We Go Again
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