The Hollywood Argyles were an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

musical ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group, musical group, or a band is a group of people who perform Instrumental music, instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist ...

, assembled for

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

recordings by the producer and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

Kim Fowley Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed the Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...

and his friend and fellow musician Gary S. Paxton. They had a US number one

hit record A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

, "

Alley Oop ''Alley Oop'' is a syndicated comic strip created December 5, 1932, by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin, who wrote and drew the strip through four decades for Newspaper Enterprise Association. Hamlin introduced a cast of colorful characters and ...

" (Lute Records 5905), in 1960.

"Alley Oop"

According to Paxton—who, at the time, was half of

Skip & Flip Skip & Flip was a U.S. pop duo, consisting of Skip ( Clyde Battin) and Flip ( Gary S. Paxton). They met while attending the University of Arizona in the late 1950s. Career Once known as The Rockabillies, they recorded on Rev Records as The Pled ...

—"Alley Oop" was written by

Dallas Frazier Dallas Frazier (October 27, 1939 – January 14, 2022) was an American country musician and songwriter who had success in the 1950s and 1960s. Life and career Frazier was born in Spiro, Oklahoma, on October 27, 1939, but was raised in Bakersfie ...

as a country tune:

"As for the name, Kim Fowley and I were living in a $15-a-week room in
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...
. ... Since I was still under contract (to Brent Records) as 'Flip,' I couldn't put my name on 'Alley Oop.' Seeing that the studio was on the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Argyle Street, I decided on Hollywood Argyles. Other than myself, there were no actual Hollywood Argyles. Everyone else on the track was either a friend or a studio musician who I paid $25 apiece for the session. When 'Alley Oop' suddenly took off and people wanted to book us for concerts, there was no such group."

The "Alley Oop" session was produced by Fowley, who recalled that "all the participants were hopelessly drunk on cider by the time they recorded the song." According to some reports, the lead vocalist on the track "Alley Oop" is Norm Davis, although the voice on the record has been identified as a match with other recordings sung by Paxton from the same era, such as "Spookie Movies". According to Paxton, the group consisted of Ronnie Silico on drums, Gaynel Hodge on piano, Harper Cosby on bass, and

Sandy Nelson Sander Lloyd Nelson (December 1, 1938 – February 14, 2022) was an American drummer. Nelson, one of the best-known rock and modern jazz drummers of the late 1950s and early 1960s, had several solo instrumental Top 40 hits and released over 30 ...

(of "

Teen Beat ''Teen Beat'' was an American magazine geared towards teenager, teenaged readers, published 1967–. Over its history, the magazine had multiple teen idols on its cover, including John Travolta, David Cassidy, Leif Garrett, Menudo (band), Menud ...

" fame) playing percussion on tambourine and a garbage can. Nelson also provided background screams in the song. The background singers included Dallas Frazier, Buddy Mize, Scott Turner, and a woman named Diane. "Alley Oop" was the first song played on WLS-AM Radio in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

on May 2, 1960, when it changed format from

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

programming to

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

. "Alley Oop" charted for 15 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number one for the week of July 11, 1960. The song sold over one million copies and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Other versions

According to Jerry Osborne, two other groups— Dante and the Evergreens ( Madison 130) and the Dyna-Sores (

Rendezvous Rendezvous or rendez-vous may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Rendezvous'' (1923 film), a silent film adventure melodrama * ''Rendezvous'' (1930 film), a German musical directed by Carl Boese * ''Rendezvous ...

120)—had versions of "Alley Oop" on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' charts at the same time, peaking at No. 15 and No. 59, respectively.

Later activities

Frazier is perhaps best known for writing the song " There Goes My Everything", a hit song for

Jack Greene Jack Henry Greene (January 7, 1930 – March 14, 2013) was an American country musician. Nicknamed the "Jolly Greene Giant" due to his height and deep voice, Greene was a long time member of the Grand Ole Opry. A three-time Grammy Award nominee ...

in 1966 and Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967. Frazier also wrote and recorded "

Elvira Elvira is a female given name. It is believed to have first been recorded in medieval Spain, while other sources claim that it is likely of Germanic ( Gothic) origin. In the Balkans, Elvira is popular among Bosniaks, Croats, and Slovenes in the ...

", which became a 1981 country hit for the

Oak Ridge Boys The Oak Ridge Boys are an American vocal quartet. The classic and most well-known lineup of the group, which performed together for over 40 years, consisted of William Lee Golden (baritone), Duane Allen (lead), Richard Sterban (bass), and Joe B ...

. Paxton later formed Garpax Records and became a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

artist. Fowley soon produced

the Murmaids The Murmaids were an American one-hit wonder all-female vocal trio, composed of sisters Carol and Terry Fischer (1 April 1946 – 28 March 2017); and Sally Gordon from North Hollywood, California, United States, who, in January 1964 reached No ...

' 1963 hit "

Popsicles and Icicles "Popsicles and Icicles" is a song written by David Gates and performed by The Murmaids. The single was arranged by Nestor La Bonte and produced by Kim Fowley. Chart performance It reached No. 2 on the Middle-Road Singles chart, No. 3 on the ' ...

" (US No. 3). He also helped bring together

the Runaways The Runaways were an American rock band who recorded and performed from 1975 to 1979. Formed in 1975 in Los Angeles, the band released four studio albums and one live album during its run. Among their best-known songs are " Cherry Bomb", " Holl ...

in 1975, as well as the Orchids (not the Scottish band, but another American

all-female band An all-female band is a musical ensemble, musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universa ...

). Their 1980 album, ''The Orchids'', was released on

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

as MCA-3235.

Discography

Singles

References

Bibliography

Joel Whitburn Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings. Early life Joel Carver Whitburn was born in W ...

; ''Top 40 Hits'' *

Steve Propes Stephen C. "Steve" Propes (b. about 1943)
Steve Hochman, ''

American rhythm and blues musical groups Musical groups established in 1960 American comedy musical groups