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Rock and Roll in the Seventies


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In defense of the Groovies, I seriously doubt that they themselves would say that they were in Badfinger's or the Raspberries' class (Big Star, I don't know...never discussed Alex & co. with any of them).

What they were able to do, however, unlike the rest of the bands cited, is keep playing and putting out records for about 25 years, from around '67 - '91 or so...and the original five members would have reunited and played Cave Stomp 2001, if not for what happened on 9/11/01.

While none of their albums, except "Shake Some Action" are of the caliber, power-pop-wise, of the best LPs of Badfinger, Big Star, or the Raspberries, their early incarnation, from '67-'70, rocked a Hell of a lot harder than any of these bands ("Teenage Head" and "Slow Death" have both been covered numerous times), and their best songs, IMO, stack up with practically any of the best work of those bands....and no, they didn't have any hit singles, due primarily to incredibly piss-poor management.

The songwriting teams of Loney-Jordan (Teenage Head, Slow Death, Yesterday's Numbers, Second Cousin, Comin' After Me, and Headin' For the Texas Border - recently covered live by The Raconteurs), Jordan-Wilson (Shake Some Action, You Tore Me Down, I Can't Hide, Teenage Confidential, Jumpin' In The Night), and Cyril Jordan by himself (She's Got A Hold On Me, Over My Head, I'm Only What You Want Me To Be, Step Up) all have very impressive original song catalogs, and the middle version of the band (with Chris Wilson as lead singer) probably did better Beatles covers than anyone other than the Raspberries, as well as more-than-decent Stones and Byrds covers.

They were named the #4 best-ever SF band by Joel Selvin in the SF Chronicle in 2002, beaten out by only Sly & The Family Stone, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and The Grateful Dead. Selvin says it was due to their longevity and influence over Bay Area bands and music.

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I never did get the Big Star thing and believe me I tried. A couple good songs that's it. They're no match for Pezband

that's like saying the New York Dolls are no match Poison....

it's one thing to not like Big Star... but to say Pezband is superior is kinda off the mark... to say that you might like them a lot more, is totally cool...

"Daisy Glaze" alone puts them in a league far above Pezband...

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How in tarnation did that guy leave out 'Baby Blue' when mentioning Badfinger classics???

i'm w/ you hollies65 - 'baby blue' is right up there in the top ten power pop songs of all time, along w/ the raspberries-song(s)-of-your-choice ('go all the way/i wanna be with you/let's pretend/tonight/overnight sensation' etc)
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exactly...

The Groovies excell in some weird rock pop hybrid, that's less power pop per se... it's much closer to the spirit of rock and roll.... whereas the Spongetones took the Groovies Beatle (Merseybeat) rip one step further and brought it to the highest level possible... there's a true edge in the Groovies that's absent in the Spongetones (personality & substances have a role)

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