HIT RECORDS

I am a big fan of pop music from the 'sixties. Something that fascinates me from that era is a now-defunct genre of budget knock-off records.

You see, people used to buy music back then. The way it was bought was on things called "phonograph records." They generally came in two types:

1. The seven inch 45 rpm "single" (pictured, above)

2. The twelve inch 33-1/3 rpm "album" or LP.

When, say, Dee Dee Sharpe would have a big hit with a song called "The Mashed Potato" many, many copies of the 45 rpm single would be sold. A lot of people (though probably not Dee Dee) would get rich from the mega-sales of these sort of things.

One group who would make money is the group of record producers who would record their own versions of "The Mashed Potato" and then market them cheaply, in as confusing a manner as possible, so that folks would either buy them by mistake or because they were thirty cents cheaper than the original, hit version.

One such company was the HIT RECORDS label out of Nashville. Quite often many of the same session musicians that played on the original hit version would re-records their parts with session vocalists filling in for the original "stars."

The HIT RECORDS from the early sixties are really good! The producers were very apt at recreating the girl group sounds of the day. Their knock-off of the twist records were also top-notch! As might be expected the C & W hits were rendered very faithfully.

Then something happened. That something was The Beatles. (And to a lesser extent The Beach Boys.)

While these Nashville session players were able to nail just about every musical style under the sun, including frat classics like "Louie Louie', they couldn't reverse-engineer The Beatles' records. Or they didn't want to. I theorize that they were so grossed out by the long-haired lads that the top session guys didn't want anything to do with 'em. I can't prove my theory, but quite a few of their Beatles knock-offs sound like the B squad!

This is not to say I don't like them, or that all of them are bad. For instance, while their version of "Can't Buy Me Love" sounds like it was sung by four Dudley Doo-Right impersonators, their take on "Twist And Shout" is very good!

Another great bonus is that some of the B-sides were original compositions that really caught the "vibe of the day!" Songs like "Bless You Little Girl" and "Right Or Wrong" are gems! In fact, I put together a CD-R of such songs and it is one of my favorite compilations.

I managed to get up with a fellow who had done extensive research into the HIT RECORDS story and is working towards writing a book on the subject. I sure hope this comes to pass, as there are quite a few interesting facets to their story. For instance, one of their staff writers was Bobby Russell, who wrote the Bobby Goldsboro hit "Honey." He later married Vicky Lawrence and wrote her one hit, "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia." That's just one tid-bit about one guy.

I could probably do a whole blog based on my love of budget knock-off records. Heck, maybe even a podcast series! (I wish someone would!)