The Arrows were a band based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England. The group, which formed in 1974 and disbanded in 1977, included American singer/bassist Alan Merrill, American guitarist Jake Hooker and English drummer

Paul Varley Paul Varley (24 May 1949 – 2 July 2008) was an English musician best known as the drummer in the band Arrows. Born in Preston, he played on several top 30 hit records, including "Touch Too Much," " My Last Night With You" and "I Love Rock ' ...

(original drummer Clive Williams was replaced by Paul Varley). They had UK chart hit singles in 1974 and 1975 with "

Touch Too Much "Touch Too Much" is a song by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It was released on their 1979 album '' Highway to Hell'', their last with lead vocalist Bon Scott, who died the following year. Overview The song was performed by Scott and AC ...

" and " My Last Night with You",

produced Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Mickie Most Michael Peter Hayes (20 June 1938 – 30 May 2003), known as Mickie Most, was an English record producer behind scores of hit singles for acts such as the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Nashville Teens, Donovan, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, Hot Choco ...

on RAK Records. They wrote and recorded the original version of " I Love Rock 'n' Roll", later covered by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.

Career

The Arrows had two 14-week television shows in the UK called '' Arrows'' in 1976 and 1977, which were broadcast on

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

and produced by Muriel Young. They are the only band to have two weekly TV series and no records released during the run of either series; a result of a conflict between the band's manager Ian Wright of the M.A.M. Agency, and the group's mentor/producer Mickie Most. Each series consisted of 14 shows, 30 minutes in length. There were 28 shows broadcast in total. Their final single, "Once Upon a Time", was released one month before the first show of their first series in 1976. Joan Jett became aware of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" while on tour with her band the Runaways in England in 1976 and saw the group perform the song on their weekly show."Ten hits you may not know were cover versions"
BBC News. Retrieved 14 October 2014 The band's only US TV appearance was on '' Don Kirshner's Rock Concert'' in February 1975. They played their UK hits, "Touch Too Much" and "Toughen Up". The first manager of The Arrows was Peter Meaden, who had also managed The Who in the early 1960s. He came up with the band's name, which originates from The Who's logo, with the arrow pointing up. One of Liverpool's most renowned Beatles biographers and editor of 1960s British invasion bible '' Mersey Beat'', Bill Harry wrote his first published book about the Arrows, ''Arrows : The Official Story'', published on Everest books in 1976. Terry Taylor who joined the band in the autumn of 1976 for the band's second weekly TV series, is currently with

Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings are an English blues rock band founded and led by bassist Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones. Other personnel have varied depending on availability, an arrangement described in ''The Telegraph'' as "a fluctuating squa ...

band. The band's second single "Toughen Up" made number 51 in the UK chart in 1974. That year Arrows won the Golden Lion award (Belgium) in the "best new band" category and performed at the ceremonies on Belgian television. The Arrows highest reaching chart hit was "Touch Too Much" in 1974 which went to number 2 in the South African charts and was in the top 20 there for 15 weeks. Arrows listed as a top glam rock act in an active internet poll. Arrows are the only band in the history to have hit records before their weekly TV series, and no records released during the run of their two television series. The band's last single was released a month before their first TV show was broadcast. The Arrows song "Moving Next Door to You" (composed by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker) was used on the BBC1 TV show '' Homes Under The Hammer'' series 18, episode 70. The song was the B-side of "My Last Night with You", produced by Mickie Most in 1975. After that, the BBC TV show used the Arrows song "We Can Make It Together" in series 19, episode 53, the b-side of the band's single "Touch Too Much". The Arrows album ''First Hit'' was reissued in Japan on 11 March 2015, with bonus tracks on Warner Brothers Japan. The Arrows founding band members Paul Varley (1952 – 2008), Jake Hooker (1953 – 2014) and Alan Merrill (1951 – 2020) are all deceased. Eamonn Carr of later Freddie + The Dreamers/St Cecilia fame toured as piano/keys player for The Arrows live performances.

Discography

Album

* ''First Hit'' (1976), Rak Records

Archival releases

* 1998 ''First Hit'' (reissue with bonus tracks) - CD * 2001 ''Singles Collection Plus'' * 2002 ''Tawny Tracks'' * 2004 ''A's B's and Rarities'' * 2015 ''First Hit'' (Japanese reissue with bonus tracks)

Singles

List of songs

The following is a sortable table of all songs by Arrows:

Cover versions

Arrow songs covered by others

References

External links

*
Arrows fan site

Arrows in the UK charts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arrows 1974 establishments in England 1977 disestablishments in England English pop music groups English glam rock groups Musical groups from London Musical groups established in 1974 Musical groups disestablished in 1977 Rak Records artists