Memories That Never Were

[admin]

This thread stemmed from comments made by Rob McLean in another thread.

I would like to hear your examples of how 1950s and 1960s artists have rewritten history over the years. This could be an artist who got the facts incorrect or two or more artists in a group, each of whom has his or her own version of what really happened.

An interesting and indeed classic example for me, not to belabour the issue, is the different accounts of the Beatles and their management of why Pete Best was asked to leave the group.

[royclough]

Well speaking of this Peter one has to say that Wayne Fontana has for many years performed Groovy Kind Of Love in his act and has also recorded it, tends to turn up on cheap budget cd's, where there are over-riders stating "to obtain best quality possible tracks have been re-recorded".

Of course Wayne had nothing to do with the song.

The Searchers were not immune to the distortion of facts to achieve an end, in the 60's it was widely reported that Tony Jackson had left to pursue a solo career, TJ some years later confirmed that he had in reality been forced out.

[charlyg]

How about who played bass on what Motown hit? That is a controversy that will NEVER end. The nearest I can figure, some say Motown did mutliple takes of a hit in multiple locations, and mixed it all together, so no one REALLY knows which take they "took"!

[admin]

Right you are Charlie. James Jamerson would seem to have played in his fair share.

[dedicated_follower]

The one that really annoys me is the false story which crops up now and then that Jimmy Page played lead guitar on You Really Got Me. The Kinks have pointed this out several times. It must annoy them as well. NO he didn't, Dave Davies DID. In fact Jimmy Page seems to crop up falsely and frequently as a guitarist on 60s records.

[jimk]

Did Carol Kaye play on some Motown hits?

JimK

[rob_mac]

Bill Wyman has always claimed that he wrote the main guitar riff for jumpin jack flash, one of the Rolling Stones most recognisable songs. The song is of course only credited to Jagger / Richards.

From Rob

[admin]

Jim: If you forgive me borrowing on your Kinks' theme, there is another aspect of You Really Got Me that has intrigued me for years.

You Really Got Me was ahead of its day in many respects. Certainly the lead break, to which you refer, took the guitar solo to a new level of intensity and creativity.

It is the introduction to the song, however, that really got my attention. The distortion of the guitar using those now famous two chords, was like a magnetic for all teens of the day. I have heard some accounts that refer to the use of a razor blade to cut the speaker cones and others that have said a screwdriver was driven into the speaker.

I would be interested in your findings with regard to this song, which to me has always sounded like a low wattage amplifier with a bad speaker switched on 11, as they say.

[kenposurf]

That's a popular story re: the speaker "mod" via a sharp object. Link Wray stuck a pencil through his amp's speaker several times...this is the most likely case though have also heard the razor blade story in this regard...more likely to have a pencil with ya that a razor but hey, who knows Link was a rebel. That great overdriven raspy, echo feedback tone is hard to beat..Dave Davies knew that...

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

There are many important turning points in the history of rock and roll: Bob Dylan goes electric. The Beatles release "Sgt. Pepper." Jimi Hendrix plays the Monterey Pop Festival.

But before any of that happened, a 16-year-old English boy named Dave Davies was sitting in the front room of his parents' house in Muswell Hill in 1963, frustrated at the tinny sound coming from his small, 10-watt green amplifier.

Desperate for a new sound, he slashed the speaker cone with a razor blade, shredding the material. After that crude motivation, the little amp sounded fuzzy, distorted, nasty. It sounded like what it was; an amp was falling apart. That little sonic experiment might have gone unnoticed by the rest of the world, but Davies' older brother, Ray, had written a catchy little song called "You Really Got Me" on the family piano. Dave played the riff through his little green amp. The brothers formed a band called The Kinks and recorded their song.

And the world was never the same.

--from http://kinks.it.rit.edu/misc/articles/ddsdiego.html

[charlyg]

Carol Kaye lists these, among others:

Love Child, Baby Love, Stop In The Name Of Love, Back In My Arms Again, You Can't Hurry Love, My World Is Empty Without You, Reflections, Love Is Here And Now You're Gone, You're All I Need To Get By etc. - Supremes
GIT On Broadway TV Show - Diana Ross/Temptations cut 1969
I Can't Help Myself, Bernadette etc. - 4 Tops
Get Ready, I Second That Emotion - Temptations

Here's her page of recordings, YMMV

http://www.carolkaye.com/www/library/basshits.htm

[shamustwin]

Yep, I was talking to the owner of a somewhat well know vintage guitar store out here, and he was adamant that Page had played all of Dave Davies solos.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

I've never run into that one, but Jimmy Page played on so many session gigs that I'm not surprised there are some bunk stories out there. Too bad for Dave, who never receives much credit for his own contributions to rock guitar style, while any attention to what he has done is usually overshadowed by the broader creative and writing talents of his brother.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Here are a couple of telling excerpts from a Guitar World interview with Shel Talmy, who produced "You Really Got Me" and other Kinks songs:

The Kinks' first huge hit Later covered by Van Halen) was cut in the summer of 1963 in Studio 2 at IBC, a converted 18th century London townhouse. Talmy's close-miking captured the barre chord belligerence emanating from Dave Davies' little green 5-watt (some accounts say 8-watt) El Pedo amp with brutal efficiency. The producer, incidentally, confirms the oft-told story of how Davies slashed the amp's speaker cone (with either a razor blade or knitting needs, depending on whose account you read) in frustration at the amp's tinny sound. 'Dave would do anything to get a dirtier sound. He'd kick the amp every now and then-so would others-as they walked by.

As long as he was after that sound' it was dead easy to record. Dave Davies is probably not given enough credit for being one of the first people to get a really solid fuzz, sound out of an amp by mistreating it."

And also this:

Talmy also refutes the persistent myth that it was Page who played the guitar solo on the Kinks' "You Really Got Me." "It was definitely Dave Davies," Talmy asserts. "Although Page did play rhythm on the first Kinks album, because Ray Davies didn't want to." The Kinks' leader, just 20 at the time, opted to concentrate on his singing on the group's first album, which was hastily recorded after "You Really Got Me" became a huge hit.

-from http://www.thewho.net/articles/townshen/talmy.htm

[randyz]

Jimmy Page is also often credited with the solo on The Who's 'Can't Explain'. Although he was brought in for the session and played rhythm, Pete Townshend reportedly refused to allow Page to borrow his distortion pedal. Pete ended up recording the solo himself.