A&M Records Spotlight: Boyce and Hart - Out and About

Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were a songwriting duo best known for writing many of the songs that shot The Monkees to stardom. The Monkees Theme, Last Train To Clarksville, Words and the timeless, Stepping Stone. But they also recorded a number of records under their own name. They also wrote the theme song for soap operas and for commercial jingles such as Things Go Better With Coke. Their work has been covered by groups ranging from Paul Revere and The Raiders to The Leaves to punk bands like The Sex Pistols and hardcore purveyors, Minor Threat.

Out and About was Boyce and Hart's first release under their own name. The song hails from June of 1967 and is a perfect piece of pop music. Boyce and Hart lip-synced this song on I Dream Of Jeannie with Jeannie playing drums and Cello on the song as they audition for Phil Spector. Yep, they met Barbara Eden. That makes this song cool regardless of anythg else. They also had their song, Blow You A Kiss In The Wind (covered by punk band, Red Kross) performed on Bewitched! Yep, they met Elizabeth Montgomery. That makes this song cool regardless of anything else.

We'll see you next time On The Flip-Side.

Song of the Week: "New Rose", The Damned

For reasons of ignorance only, the Sex Pistols are regularly assumed to have been the first UK punk band. But they were not. That honor (?) goes to the Damned who pierced the airwaves with their song, New Rose, in October of 1976. While it is certainly true that the excellent Sex Pistols were kicking up some dust at the same time as The Damned -- and even receiving top billing over The Damned at shows around London -- the Sex Pistols couldn't seem to make it into a studio to record. So while the Sex Pistols were blowing through record deals faster than a baby goes through diapers, the Damned got signed and actually made it into a studio. What a freakin' novel idea Mr. McClaren!

On September 20, 1976, guitarist Brian James, bassist Captain Sensible, singer David Vanian and drummer Rat Scabies (not his real name me thinks), walked into Pathway Studios in London to work with the brilliant producer and always hip to new music, Nick Lowe. (for those of you who are into connections, that is the brilliant producer and always hip to new music Dave Edmunds playing guitar in that video). The product of that day's labor is our SoTW, New Rose, an original composition by the band's young guitarist, Brian James. New Rose is not just historically significant, it is also great. New Rose is relentlessly driven by the propulsive drums of Rat Scabies (drummers haven't gotten nearly enough kudos here at Flip-Side) and marked by the damn catchy barre chord riff laid down by James and his highly compressed, distorted 1961 Gibson SG through what we will assume is a Marshall amp. Those of us at the Flip-Side's Rocky Mountain offices can't get enough of that killer drum and guitar break at 1:41 and that little yelp Vanian gives out at the end of it. Nothing before (but many things after) sounded like this on the UK radio. The Damned had taken that first giant step for punk-kind in the UK, influencing bands like the Buzzcocks and the Undertones.

So on this September morning, 33 years and 8 days after this was recorded, we celebrate The Damned's New Rose as our SoTW. Click here to enjoy.

Video Diary: Sex Pistols, "Holiday in the Sun"