The Rattles
Encyclopedia
The Rattles are a rock
band
(initially beat group
) from Germany
. Their biggest selling record
was their 1968 recorded
song
, "The Witch", which sold over one million copies globally.
scene where many Liverpool
based UK
beat groups got their start. They met The Beatles
in 1962 and played alongside them on three occasions in Germany; at Munich
, Essen
and Hamburg. In 1964 the group recorded an up beat version of "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" which was a minor hit in the UK. In 1968 they recorded "The Witch", written
by Hildebrandt, which was a hit
in Germany. The group was forced to split up owing to army service and other reasons and a new line-up formed, although Hildebrandt remained as songwriter and record producer
. They enjoyed sustained success in their own country through the 1960s, and recorded a new version of "The Witch" in 1970 which became their only international hit.
"The Witch" went Top 10 on the UK Singles Chart
, in addition to hitting the Top 20 in Austria
and on the Billboard Hot 100
in the U.S.
By April 1971, it had sold over one million copies, with the Rattles becoming the first German group to ever appear in the U.S. charts
.
(This was the basic mid 1960s line-up. By the time of "The Witch" they had all left and successively been replaced by other musicians, with Edna Béjarano
now being the lead singer.)
Past and present members:
Achim Reichel (vocals, guitar, 1960–66, 1988–91)
Bernd Schulz (keyboards, 1967–68)
Dieter Sadlowsky (drums, 1960–63)
Edna B. Jerano (vocals, 1970–73)
Eggert Johannsen [Martin Storm] (vocals, rhythm guitar, 1994–present)
Frank "Piggy" Jarnach (keyboards, vocals, 1991–95)
Frank Dostal (vocals, 1966–67)
Frank Mille (guitar, vocals, 1970–77)
Frank Seidel (keyboards, 1996–present)
Georg "George" Meier (guitar, vocals, 1969–70, 1974–77)
George Miller (drums, 1975–77)
Hans Joachim "Hajo" Kreutzfeld (guitar, 1961–65)
Henner Hoier (keyboards, vocals, 1969–70, 1988–93)
Herbert Bornhold (drums, 1973)
Herbert Hildebrandt (bass, vocals, 1960–68, 1988–present)
Hermann "Rugy" Rugenstein (guitar, vocals, 1965–68)
Jochen "Lu Lafayette" Peters (keyboards, 1973–77)
Kurt "Zappo" Lüngen (bass, 1968–73, 1974)
Linda Fields (vocals, 1974–77)
Manne Kraski (guitar, vocals, 1991–present)
Peter "Peet" Becker (drums, 1968–70)
Rainer Degner (guitar, vocals, 1967-69
Reinhard "Dicky" Tarrach (drums, 1963–67, 1988–present)
Volker Reinhold (guitar, vocals, 1960–61)
Wolfgang "Al" Brock (drums, 1974)
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
(initially beat group
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
) from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Their biggest selling record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
was their 1968 recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
, "The Witch", which sold over one million copies globally.
Career
The Rattles began their career in the same HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
scene where many Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
based UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
beat groups got their start. They met The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
in 1962 and played alongside them on three occasions in Germany; at Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
and Hamburg. In 1964 the group recorded an up beat version of "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" which was a minor hit in the UK. In 1968 they recorded "The Witch", written
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
by Hildebrandt, which was a hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
in Germany. The group was forced to split up owing to army service and other reasons and a new line-up formed, although Hildebrandt remained as songwriter and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. They enjoyed sustained success in their own country through the 1960s, and recorded a new version of "The Witch" in 1970 which became their only international hit.
"The Witch" went Top 10 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, in addition to hitting the Top 20 in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
By April 1971, it had sold over one million copies, with the Rattles becoming the first German group to ever appear in the U.S. charts
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
.
Influence
- Rosetta StoneRosetta Stone (band)Rosetta Stone were a British goth band formed in the mid 1980s by Porl King and Karl North , plus their drum machine and synthesizer rack nicknamed "Madame Razor"....
released a gothic rockGothic rockGothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
cover of "The Witch" in the 90s.
Members
- Achim ReichelAchim ReichelAchim Reichel is a musician, producer and songwriter from Hamburg, Germany. He is known for his 1991 single "Aloha Heja He", and serving as the frontman for the 1960s beat group The Rattles, who, among other achievements, were selected to open for The Beatles on the Fabs' last-ever tour of Europe...
- vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Herbert Hildebrandt - bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Hajo (Hans Joachim) Kreutzfeld - guitar
- Reinhard "Dicky" Tarrach - drumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s
(This was the basic mid 1960s line-up. By the time of "The Witch" they had all left and successively been replaced by other musicians, with Edna Béjarano
Edna Béjarano
Edna Béjarano is a German singer. She was the lead singer for the German rock band The Rattles. She sang on their biggest selling record, the 1968 recorded song, "The Witch", which sold over one million copies globally....
now being the lead singer.)
Past and present members:
Achim Reichel (vocals, guitar, 1960–66, 1988–91)
Bernd Schulz (keyboards, 1967–68)
Dieter Sadlowsky (drums, 1960–63)
Edna B. Jerano (vocals, 1970–73)
Eggert Johannsen [Martin Storm] (vocals, rhythm guitar, 1994–present)
Frank "Piggy" Jarnach (keyboards, vocals, 1991–95)
Frank Dostal (vocals, 1966–67)
Frank Mille (guitar, vocals, 1970–77)
Frank Seidel (keyboards, 1996–present)
Georg "George" Meier (guitar, vocals, 1969–70, 1974–77)
George Miller (drums, 1975–77)
Hans Joachim "Hajo" Kreutzfeld (guitar, 1961–65)
Henner Hoier (keyboards, vocals, 1969–70, 1988–93)
Herbert Bornhold (drums, 1973)
Herbert Hildebrandt (bass, vocals, 1960–68, 1988–present)
Hermann "Rugy" Rugenstein (guitar, vocals, 1965–68)
Jochen "Lu Lafayette" Peters (keyboards, 1973–77)
Kurt "Zappo" Lüngen (bass, 1968–73, 1974)
Linda Fields (vocals, 1974–77)
Manne Kraski (guitar, vocals, 1991–present)
Peter "Peet" Becker (drums, 1968–70)
Rainer Degner (guitar, vocals, 1967-69
Reinhard "Dicky" Tarrach (drums, 1963–67, 1988–present)
Volker Reinhold (guitar, vocals, 1960–61)
Wolfgang "Al" Brock (drums, 1974)
Singles
| Year | Singles | A Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... |
GER Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | "La La La" | >- | >19 | >- | >- |
| 1965 | "(Stoppin') In Las Vegas" | >- | >20 | >- | >- |
| 1966 | "Come on and Sing" | >- | >11 | >- | >- |
| 1966 | "Love of My Life" | >- | >16 | >- | >- |
| 1966 | "It Is Love" | >- | >26 | >- | >- |
| 1967 | "Cauliflower" | >- | >25 | >- | >- |
| 1968 | "After Tea" | >- | >26 | >- | >- |
| 1969 | "Geraldine" | >- | >- | >- | >- |
| 1970 | "The Witch" | >20 | >4 | >8 | >79 |
| 1971 | "You Can't Have Sunshine Every Day" | >- | >45 | >- | >- |
| 1971 | "Devil's on the Loose" | >- | >38 | >- | >- |
| 1972 | "Money Making Machine" | >- | >- | >- | >- |
| 1988 | "Hot Wheels" | >- | >47 | >- | >- |
Albums
- Twist im Star-Club (1963)
- Twist im Star-Club Hamburg (1964)
- Live im Star-Club Hamburg (1964)
- The Searchers meet the Rattles (1964)
- Rattles (1965)
- Star Club Show 1 (1966)
- Liverpool Beat (1966)
- Hurra, die Rattles kommen (Soundtrack to the film of the same name) (1966)
- Remember Finale Ligure (1967)
- The Witch (1971)
- Tonight Starring Edna (1972)
- Gin Mill (1974)
- Attention (1975)
- Hot Wheels (1988)
- Painted Warrior (1990)
- New Wonderland (1993)
- Live (1997)
- Say Yeah! (2007)
Compilations
- Die deutschen Singles A&B (1963–1965), Vol. 1 (????)
- Die deutschen Singles A&B (1965–1969), Vol. 2 (????)
- Come On And Sing - Best (2004)
- Goldene für die Rattles (1970)
- Greatest Hits (1997)
External links
- Richie UnterbergerRichie UnterbergerRichie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
, [ The Rattles] at Allmusic