October 23, 2020 —– Chart #62
Hello Musical Friends,
Happy Friday music friends. Have a rare one for you today from 1967. This is a band from the Los Angeles area that has only one big hit on their bio. Strawberry Alarm Clock is a psychedelic rock band formed in 1967 with origins in Glendale, California, a city near Los Angeles. They are best known for their 1967 hit single and today’s Chart of the Day “Incense and Peppermints“. Strawberry Alarm Clock, who have been also categorized as acid rock, psychedelic pop, and sunshine pop, charted five songs, including two Top 40 hits. Only one made it to the top ten on US charts.
The song is officially credited as having been written by John S. Carter and Tim Gilbert, although it was based on an instrumental idea by band members Mark Weitz and Ed King. It was released as the A-side of a single in May 1967 by Uni Records and reached the #1 position on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for one week before beginning its fall down the charts. Although the single was released in the United Kingdom it failed to break into the UK Singles Chart.
Prior to the release of “Incense and Peppermints,” Strawberry Alarm Clock had already issued four singles (“Long Day’s Care” b/w “Can’t Explain,” “My Flash on You” b/w “Fortune Teller,” “In the Building” b/w “Hey Joe,” and “Heart Full of Rain” b/w “First Plane Home”) on All-American Records under the name Thee Sixpence. During recording sessions for “Incense and Peppermints,” the Thee Sixpence members expressed a dislike for the song lyrics (which John S. Carter wrote, relying on a rhyming dictionary for the purpose), so the lead vocals were sung by a friend of the band, Greg Munford, who was attending the recording session as a visitor. The regular vocalists in the band were relegated to providing background and harmony vocals on the record. Band members Mark Weitz and Ed King were both denied songwriting credits by producer Frank Slay, despite the fact that the song was, at least partially, built on an instrumental idea by Weitz and King. King would go on to greater fame as a member of the 1970s Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.
“Incense and Peppermints” initially appeared on the B-side of Thee Sixpence’s fourth single, “The Birdman of Alkatrash,” released on All-American Records in April 1967. However, local radio stations began playing “Incense and Peppermints” instead of the A-side, and the song began to gain in popularity in and around Los Angeles. Sensing the possibility of a national hit, the Uni Records subsidiary of MCA (now called Universal Music Group) picked up the record for national distribution and the single was re-released in May 1967: this time with “Incense and Peppermints” on the A-side and “The Birdman of Alkatrash” as the B-side. By the time of this second pressing, the band had changed its name to “The Strawberry Alarm Clock” due to the existence of a local group with a name somewhat similar to Thee Sixpence.
“Incense and Peppermints” spent 16 weeks on the Billboard chart, finally reaching the #1 spot for the week ending November 25, 1967. The single earned a gold disc from the RIAA on December 7, 1967 for sales of one million copies.
There have been lots of members in and out of this band over time. Of particular interest is Ed King who left Strawberry Alarm Clock to become a regular member of Lynyrd Skynyrd (the band that opened for Strawberry Alarm Clock on tour in 1970-71). Drummer Gene Gunnels later joined the backup band for the Everly Brothers, alongside Waddy Wachtel and Warren Zevon.
Live Television performance from 1967: https://youtu.be/4rw1_FNdy-Y
And again with a groovy dancing chick (reminds me of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In) :
If you are really interested, here is the song “The Birdman of Alkatrash”: https://youtu.be/rWNBFX7KPp8
Keep rockin’,
Stan