Post by erik on Dec 18, 2022 0:14:47 GMT -5
One of the earliest instrumental hits of the rock and roll era is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight, presaging as it does practically every band that specialized in instrumentals, including The Ventures.
CROSFIRE (Johnny and the Hurricanes; Warwick; 1959)—A product of the burgeoning teen-rock scene in Toledo, Ohio in the late 1950’s, Johnny and the Hurricanes, led by Johnny Paris, were one of the first major bands to have sizeable instrumental hits. The usual procedure for this band involved taking very old tunes, usually of the American folk variety, and giving them an electric guitar-driven rock and roll sound. On other occasions, like other instrumental bands to come, including the Ventures, they would also take tunes that were currently popular and give them an instrumental spin. But their first big hit on the charts came with an entirely original instrumental gem entitled “Crossfire”. The group recorded this instrumental record at the Carmen Theater, a vacant movie theater in Dearborn, Michigan, just outside of Detroit, early in 1959; and a few months later, it saw release on the independent Warwick label. While it was not necessarily a big hit per se, reaching #23 on the Hot 100 in June 1959, it was one of rock’s most important early instrumental hits, and would help set a pattern that many a rock band would follow in years to come. Later in 1959, Johnny and the Hurricanes would garner their biggest singles success with “Red River Rock”, arocked-up version of the Old West folk ballad “Red River Valley”, and have further success with “Reveille Rock” and “Beatnik Fly”/ The majority of their success after 1961, however, was overseas. Indeed, in 1962, they performed at the Star Club in Hamburg, West Germany, where they opened for a then-unknown group from Liverpool called The Beatles. Johnny Paris was the only consistent member of the Hurricanes, as, like most bands, they had their success stunted by a whole host of personnel turnovers. Paris passed away on May, 1, 2006 at the age of 65 in Ann Arbor, Michigan due to hospital-borne infections suffered after an operation.
CROSFIRE (Johnny and the Hurricanes; Warwick; 1959)—A product of the burgeoning teen-rock scene in Toledo, Ohio in the late 1950’s, Johnny and the Hurricanes, led by Johnny Paris, were one of the first major bands to have sizeable instrumental hits. The usual procedure for this band involved taking very old tunes, usually of the American folk variety, and giving them an electric guitar-driven rock and roll sound. On other occasions, like other instrumental bands to come, including the Ventures, they would also take tunes that were currently popular and give them an instrumental spin. But their first big hit on the charts came with an entirely original instrumental gem entitled “Crossfire”. The group recorded this instrumental record at the Carmen Theater, a vacant movie theater in Dearborn, Michigan, just outside of Detroit, early in 1959; and a few months later, it saw release on the independent Warwick label. While it was not necessarily a big hit per se, reaching #23 on the Hot 100 in June 1959, it was one of rock’s most important early instrumental hits, and would help set a pattern that many a rock band would follow in years to come. Later in 1959, Johnny and the Hurricanes would garner their biggest singles success with “Red River Rock”, arocked-up version of the Old West folk ballad “Red River Valley”, and have further success with “Reveille Rock” and “Beatnik Fly”/ The majority of their success after 1961, however, was overseas. Indeed, in 1962, they performed at the Star Club in Hamburg, West Germany, where they opened for a then-unknown group from Liverpool called The Beatles. Johnny Paris was the only consistent member of the Hurricanes, as, like most bands, they had their success stunted by a whole host of personnel turnovers. Paris passed away on May, 1, 2006 at the age of 65 in Ann Arbor, Michigan due to hospital-borne infections suffered after an operation.