Song #145 - "Hang On Sloopy" - The McCoys

Recorded - circa June 1965

Released - July 1965

#1 for week of October 2, 1965. 

     The McCoys hold the honor for being the first garage rock band to achieve a #1 hit. There already had been many bands and singles, representative of the genre, released to much commercial success. This included The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie", Sam The Sham And The Pharos' "Wooly Bully", and The Strangeloves' "I Want Candy". The last of those is especially important as they were the group who were behind The McCoys' first and most successful #1. 

     Based out of Indiana, the best known member of The McCoys is Rick Derringer, who would go on to work with the Edgar Winter Group and have a successful solo career of his own. The group were discovered by The Strangeloves, a group who were, in actuality, songwriting trio Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer, the composers of "My Boyfriend's Back". The Strangeloves wanted to record the composition, "Hang On Sloopy", written by Wes Farrell and Bert Russell. Instead, they gave it to The McCoys, as a way of competing against an upcoming version by The Dave Clark Five. 

     The first thing that you'll recognize in "Hang On Sloopy" is the uncanny "Twist And Shout" chord progression, which was copied on countless garage rock records, most notably in "Louie Louie". Lyrically, the song is a pure love song, with no powerful message or themes like the previous #1. "Hang On Sloopy" could even be considered proto-bubblegum due to its very simple music and the singalong vocal arrangement. Also, the "C'mon, C'mon's" in the chorus heavily emphasize The Beatles' version of "Twist And Shout". 

     However, the song also contains a nice guitar solo, courtesy of Rick Derringer. Without this solo, the song is good, but nothing special. With the solo, the song has some interesting character to it. While the next McCoy's single, "Fever" manage to reach #7, the rest of their singles steadily peaked lower and lower on the charts. Some of these such as, "Don't Worry Mother, Your Son's Heart Is Pure" are actually neat garage nuggets that are worth digging up, so leave no stone unturned!

Final Verdict - A simplistic, but nonetheless enjoyable piece of lighter garage rock. It may not be the most complex garage rock song out there, but if you're looking for a gateway song to the genre, this could be what you're looking for. 

                 Coming Up Next - "Yesterday" by The Beatles. 

            Until Next Time - Hang on, for more Dr. Rock reviews -