The Strangeloves
Encyclopedia
The Strangeloves were the creation of an American
songwriting
/production
team in the 1960s who were from New York
, but pretended to be from Australia
. Their biggest hits
were "I Want Candy
," "Cara-Lin" and "Night Time".
The writer/producer team of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein
and Richard Gottehrer
(a.k.a. FGG Productions) had already scored hits for other artists
, including "My Boyfriend's Back
" by The Angels, when they decided to invent The Strangeloves in 1964.
According to the press releases, The Strangeloves were three brothers
named Giles, Miles and Niles Strange who had grown up on an Australian sheep farm. The brothers' faked backstory involved getting rich with the invention of a new form of sheep crossbreeding (the long-haired "Gottehrer" sheep, allegedly registered with the Feldman-Goldstein Company of Australia), allowing them the time and financial freedom to form a band. The story did not exactly capture the public's imagination, but the music still performed respectably on the charts, at least in North America.
Their first single
, "Love, Love", was credited to Strange Loves, and 'bubbled under' the US Billboard Hot 100
, stalling at #122. The group name was thereafter named The Strangeloves.
When their second single "I Want Candy
" became a hit in mid-1965, The Strangeloves, who had made their reputations as producers, found themselves in the unfamiliar and uncomfortable position of performing as live artists. This short-lived experience was followed by a road group, composed of four of the session musician
s who had actually helped to record the Strangloves' songs. The musicians in the initial road group were bass player / vocalist John Shine, guitarist Jack Raczka, drummer Tom Kobus and sax player / vocalist Richie Lauro. This group was replaced in early 1966 by a trio of FGG studio musicians that more closely adhered to the founding concept of the Brothers Strange: guitarist Jack Raczka (Giles Strange), drummer / vocalist Joe Piazza (Miles Strange), and keyboardist / vocalist Ken Jones (Niles Strange).
While on the road in Ohio in 1965 as The Strangeloves, Feldman, Goldstein and Gottehrer came upon a local band known as Ricky Z and the Raiders, led by Rick Derringer
(who was Rick Zehringer at the time). Recognizing their raw talent, the producers immediately brought Derringer and his band to New York, recorded Derringer's voice over an existing music track from The Strangeloves' album I Want Candy and released "Hang on Sloopy
" as a single under the name The McCoys
.
The Strangeloves' only LP, I Want Candy, was released in 1965 on Bert Berns
' Bang Records
, with several of the album songs having been released as singles. Other singles by The Strangeloves appeared on Swan Records
and Sire Records
.
The Strangeloves continued recording singles, with moderate American success, through 1968. In their "home" country of Australia, they only scraped the very bottom of the singles charts, but interestingly, a real Australian group "Johnny Young & Kompany" had a hit in their country in 1966 with a cover of the Strangeloves' "Cara-Lin" (re-titled "Cara-Lyn").
The FGG trio also collaborated on a charting 1965 single credited to The Beach-Nuts. As well, Feldman and Goldstein (without Gottehrer) recorded charting hits as Rome & Paris in 1966, and as The Rock & Roll Dubble Bubble Trading Card Co. of Philadelphia 19141 in 1969. (Prior to the creation of the Strangeloves, Feldman and Goldstein had also recorded a couple of non-charting singles as the duo 'Bob & Jerry in 1961-62.) As well, on his own Goldstein wrote, produced and arranged a 1966 solo single "Watch The People Dance" under the name Giles Strange, which failed to chart.
The following credit appeared on every Strangeloves record (as well as other records produced by FGG): "arranged and conducted by Bassett Hand." In fact, there is no such person as Bassett Hand; it was a tongue-in-cheek pseudonym for the Strangeloves themselves. Two instrumental singles credited to Bassett Hand were released around the time The Strangeloves were getting started: "In Detroit" (1964) and "The Happy Organ Shake" (1965). Neither single charted.
s have been covered
by David Bowie
, Bauhaus
, The J. Geils Band, The Fleshtones
, and by Bow Wow Wow
.
Gottehrer went on to later fame as a record producer
of early CBGB's luminaries such as Richard Hell
& The Voidoids
, The Fleshtones
, and Blondie
, as well as being the co-founder of Sire Records
along with Seymour Stein
. He also worked with Robert Gordon, who was one of many who revitalized rockabilly
in the late 1970s, and produced the critically acclaimed first album by Marshall Crenshaw
.
In his role as a producer and manager
, Goldstein also continued to have an effect on the music world. He suggested to the band Nightshift that they team up with Eric Burdon
, which became War
, and had the Circle Jerks on his Far Out Productions management company and LAX record label
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
songwriting
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...
/production
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...
team in the 1960s who were from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, but pretended to be from Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Their biggest hits
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...
were "I Want Candy
I Want Candy
"I Want Candy" is a song written and originally recorded by The Strangeloves in 1965 that went to number 11 in the United States. It is a famous example of a song that uses the Bo Diddley beat.-Original version:...
," "Cara-Lin" and "Night Time".
The writer/producer team of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein
Jerry Goldstein (record producer, musician)
Jerry Goldstein is an American producer, singer songwriter and musician. He was one of the members of The Strangeloves, the co-writer of "My Boyfriend's Back" , the producer and dubiously credited songwriter of War, and the former manager of Sly and the Family Stone...
and Richard Gottehrer
Richard Gottehrer
Richard Gottehrer is an American songwriter, record producer and record label executive.-Career:Gottehrer came to prominence as a songwriter in the 1960s with his most notable songs being "My Boyfriend's Back" and "I Want Candy". As Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer , he wrote various songs including...
(a.k.a. FGG Productions) had already scored hits for other artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, including "My Boyfriend's Back
My Boyfriend's Back (song)
"My Boyfriend's Back" was a hit song in 1963 for The Angels, an American girl group. It was written by the songwriting team of Feldman, Goldstein and Gottehrer . The recording was originally intended as a demo for The Shirelles, but ended up being released as recorded...
" by The Angels, when they decided to invent The Strangeloves in 1964.
According to the press releases, The Strangeloves were three brothers
Sibling
Siblings are people who share at least one parent. A male sibling is called a brother; and a female sibling is called a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings usually grow up together and spend a good deal of their childhood socializing with one another...
named Giles, Miles and Niles Strange who had grown up on an Australian sheep farm. The brothers' faked backstory involved getting rich with the invention of a new form of sheep crossbreeding (the long-haired "Gottehrer" sheep, allegedly registered with the Feldman-Goldstein Company of Australia), allowing them the time and financial freedom to form a band. The story did not exactly capture the public's imagination, but the music still performed respectably on the charts, at least in North America.
Their first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Love, Love", was credited to Strange Loves, and 'bubbled under' the US 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...
, stalling at #122. The group name was thereafter named The Strangeloves.
When their second single "I Want Candy
I Want Candy
"I Want Candy" is a song written and originally recorded by The Strangeloves in 1965 that went to number 11 in the United States. It is a famous example of a song that uses the Bo Diddley beat.-Original version:...
" became a hit in mid-1965, The Strangeloves, who had made their reputations as producers, found themselves in the unfamiliar and uncomfortable position of performing as live artists. This short-lived experience was followed by a road group, composed of four of the session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s who had actually helped to record the Strangloves' songs. The musicians in the initial road group were bass player / vocalist John Shine, guitarist Jack Raczka, drummer Tom Kobus and sax player / vocalist Richie Lauro. This group was replaced in early 1966 by a trio of FGG studio musicians that more closely adhered to the founding concept of the Brothers Strange: guitarist Jack Raczka (Giles Strange), drummer / vocalist Joe Piazza (Miles Strange), and keyboardist / vocalist Ken Jones (Niles Strange).
While on the road in Ohio in 1965 as The Strangeloves, Feldman, Goldstein and Gottehrer came upon a local band known as Ricky Z and the Raiders, led by Rick Derringer
Rick Derringer
Rick Derringer is an American guitarist, vocalist, and entertainer.-1960s:When he was seventeen years old, his band The McCoys recorded "Hang on Sloopy" in the summer of 1965, which became the number one song in America before "Yesterday" by The Beatles knocked it out of the top spot. The song was...
(who was Rick Zehringer at the time). Recognizing their raw talent, the producers immediately brought Derringer and his band to New York, recorded Derringer's voice over an existing music track from The Strangeloves' album I Want Candy and released "Hang on Sloopy
Hang on Sloopy
"Hang on Sloopy" is a song by the pop group The McCoys which was #1 in America in October 1965 and is the official rock song of the state of Ohio and The Ohio State University...
" as a single under the name The McCoys
The McCoys
The McCoys were a rock group that started in Union City, Indiana, in 1962.-Career:The original members, all from Union City, were guitarist Richard Zehringer , his brother Randy on drums, and bassist Dennis Kelly. This first line-up was known as The Rick Z Combo, and later known as Rick and the...
.
The Strangeloves' only LP, I Want Candy, was released in 1965 on Bert Berns
Bert Berns
Bertrand Russell Berns , most commonly known as Bert Berns as well as Bert Russell and Russell Byrd, was an American songwriter and record producer of the 1960s...
' Bang Records
Bang Records
Bang Records was created by Bert Berns in 1965 together with his partners from Atlantic Records: Ahmet Ertegün, Nesuhi Ertegün and Jerry Wexler...
, with several of the album songs having been released as singles. Other singles by The Strangeloves appeared on Swan Records
Swan Records
Swan Records was a mid-20th century United States based record label, founded in 1957, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It had a subsidiary label called Lawn Records....
and Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
.
The Strangeloves continued recording singles, with moderate American success, through 1968. In their "home" country of Australia, they only scraped the very bottom of the singles charts, but interestingly, a real Australian group "Johnny Young & Kompany" had a hit in their country in 1966 with a cover of the Strangeloves' "Cara-Lin" (re-titled "Cara-Lyn").
The FGG trio also collaborated on a charting 1965 single credited to The Beach-Nuts. As well, Feldman and Goldstein (without Gottehrer) recorded charting hits as Rome & Paris in 1966, and as The Rock & Roll Dubble Bubble Trading Card Co. of Philadelphia 19141 in 1969. (Prior to the creation of the Strangeloves, Feldman and Goldstein had also recorded a couple of non-charting singles as the duo 'Bob & Jerry in 1961-62.) As well, on his own Goldstein wrote, produced and arranged a 1966 solo single "Watch The People Dance" under the name Giles Strange, which failed to chart.
The following credit appeared on every Strangeloves record (as well as other records produced by FGG): "arranged and conducted by Bassett Hand." In fact, there is no such person as Bassett Hand; it was a tongue-in-cheek pseudonym for the Strangeloves themselves. Two instrumental singles credited to Bassett Hand were released around the time The Strangeloves were getting started: "In Detroit" (1964) and "The Happy Organ Shake" (1965). Neither single charted.
Post-Strangeloves careers
Their songSong
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...
s have been covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by David Bowie
Pin Ups
- Personnel :* David Bowie – vocals, guitar, tenor and alto saxophone, harmonica, arrangements, backing vocals, Moog synthesizer* Mick Ronson – guitar, piano, vocals, arrangements* Trevor Bolder – bass* Aynsley Dunbar – drums- Additional personnel :...
, Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
, The J. Geils Band, The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York formed in 1976.- 1976-1979 :The Fleshtones were formed in 1976 in Whitestone, New York by Keith Streng and Marek Pakulski The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York formed in 1976.- 1976-1979 :The...
, and by Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow were an English 1980s New Wave band created by Malcolm McLaren to promote his and business partner Vivienne Westwood's New Romantic fashion lines.The group's music is described as having an "African-derived drum sound".-History:...
.
Gottehrer went on to later fame as a 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...
of early CBGB's luminaries such as Richard Hell
Richard Hell
Richard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins...
& The Voidoids
The Voidoids
The Voidoids, also known as Richard Hell & The Voidoids, were an American rock band from the first wave of punk rock, fronted by Richard Hell, a former member of the Neon Boys, Television and the Heartbreakers...
, The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York formed in 1976.- 1976-1979 :The Fleshtones were formed in 1976 in Whitestone, New York by Keith Streng and Marek Pakulski The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York formed in 1976.- 1976-1979 :The...
, and Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
, as well as being the co-founder of Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
along with Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein is an entrepreneur in the music industry who has been a part of the business since getting his first job as a clerk for Billboard magazine in 1958. Stein is a vice president of Warner Bros...
. He also worked with Robert Gordon, who was one of many who revitalized rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
in the late 1970s, and produced the critically acclaimed first album by Marshall Crenshaw
Marshall Crenshaw
Marshall Crenshaw is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist best known for his song "Someday, Someway".-Biography:...
.
In his role as a producer and manager
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
, Goldstein also continued to have an effect on the music world. He suggested to the band Nightshift that they team up with Eric Burdon
Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...
, which became War
War (band)
War is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs "Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae...
, and had the Circle Jerks on his Far Out Productions management company and LAX record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
.
Charted singles
| Release Date | Title | Chart positions | Notes | ||
| US Hot 100 |
Australia | Canada RPM 100 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | "Love, Love" | #122 | Credited to Strange Loves | ||
| 1965 | "I Want Candy I Want Candy "I Want Candy" is a song written and originally recorded by The Strangeloves in 1965 that went to number 11 in the United States. It is a famous example of a song that uses the Bo Diddley beat.-Original version:... " |
#11 | #7 | ||
| 1965 | "Out In The Sun" | #106 | Credited to The Beach-Nuts. The Beach-Nuts were The Strangeloves and The Angels. |
||
| 1965 | "Cara-Lin" | #39 | #100 | ||
| 1965 | "Night Time" | #30 | #98 | ||
| 1966 | "Because of You" | #104 | Credited to Rome & Paris. Rome and Paris were Bob Feldman and Jerry Goldstein. |
||
| 1966 | "Hand Jive" | #100 | |||
| 1968 | "Honey Do" | #120 | |||
| 1969 | "Bubble Gum Music" | #74 | Credited to The Rock & Roll Dubble Bubble Trading Card Co. Of Philadelphia 19141. The Rock & Roll Dubble Bubble Trading Card Co. of Philadelphia 19141 were Bob Feldman and Jerry Goldstein. |