GARAGE ROCK LEGENDS ? AND THE MYSTERIANS 1960’S ALBUMS
AVAILABLE ON VINYL APRIL 29TH
On April 29th, ABKCO will release the first two albums by Michigan garage Rock legends, ? (aka Question Mark) And The Mysterians … 96 Tears (1966) and Action (1967). The recordings (originally released on Cameo-Parkway Records during the band’s initial run) will be rightfully returned to vinyl, while expanded CD packages of each album will follow later in 2022.
Formed in the Bay City / Saginaw area of Michigan in 1962 by Mexican-American children of migrant farm workers, the band gained popularity with the addition of drummer Robert Martinez’s brother Rudy, aka Question Mark, as lead vocalist. The eccentric Question Mark (often stylized as ?) has claimed to have been born on Mars and lived among dinosaurs in a past life. The band’s debut single “96 Tears,” with its distinctive organ line played by Mysterians’ keyboardist “Little” Frank Rodriguez, was originally released on Pa-Go-Go Records in 1966, but was quickly reissued by the more established, Philadelphia-based label Cameo-Parkway Records.
The raw-yet-infectious song swept the airwaves, hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 29, 1966, beating out The Monkees, The Four Tops, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Dionne Warwick, Sonny & Cher, The Beach Boys and many more established acts. ? and The Mysterians’ debut album, also titled 96 Tears, followed in October, ’66, just as the single was crossing the one million sales mark. The LP, filled out with ten more originals -- including the Top 40 hit “I Need Somebody” -- plus a version of T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday,” peaked at #66.
A mere eight months after 96 Tears was released, Cameo-Parkway put out the follow up full-length Action in June of ’67. Their sophomore album is more evenly split between originals and covers, among them “Can’t Get Enough of You, Baby,” written by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer and first recorded by The Four Seasons one year previous. ? and The Mysterians’ version got to #56 on the Billboard Hot 100, faring better than Smash Mouth’s ubiquitous 1998 version, which appeared on four other Billboard charts but was absent from the coveted Hot 100. Action would be the band’s last studio album for more than three decades.
“‘96 Tears’ Is one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll songs in the history of the genre,” said Bill Holdship of Detroit Metro Times in 2009. “In fact, it may be the greatest.” In a May, 1971, issue of Creem magazine, Dave Marsh referred to a ? (Question Mark) and The Mysterians reunion as “a landmark exposition of punk-rock,” one of the very first times the genre was applied to a band. Not only did they influence others within punk, but they have also had a profound impact on music writ large. “96 Tears” alone has been covered by a diverse range of artists, including Iggy Pop, Suicide, The Modern Lovers, Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, The Sir Douglas Quintet, The Tom Tom Club, Primal Scream, Big Maybelle, Jimmy Ruffin and Aretha Franklin.
SiriusXM’s Little Steven’s Underground Garage channel air personality Lenny Kaye, who masterminded the famed Nuggets compilations that shined a light on the garage rock phenomenon of the mid-1960s commented, “‘96 Tears’ is the ur-text of garage rock, the truest ‘Nugget’ if you dug It ... In these two albums, Question Mark and The Mysterians answer the eternal query with the yearning spirit and self-revelation that is becoming a band, yowl, reedy organ and guitars on stun, with a backbeat that accelerates the move-and-groove. I remember seeing ‘Qwesty’ and the band at Coney Island High in the mid-90s, me and Joey Ramone hollering, ‘Yeah baybee!,’ knowing we were at the heart of rock as it begins to roll.”
On March 10th, the new audio-first entertainment company Fresh Produce Media and Audible will launch their first collaboration together, the new podcast Punk in Translation: Latinx Origins. Across eight episodes, released all at once exclusively as an Audible Original, Punk in Translation is Audible’s first production to be simultaneously published in both English and Spanish, and will tell the stories of Latinx artists and Latin music’s overlooked role in the origins and evolution of punk. The entire first episode, entitled A Band of Outsiders, is dedicated to ? And The Mysterians, and features the band’s guitarist Bobby Balderrama telling the story of how the “Mexican kids” from Michigan wound up performing on American Bandstand and ruling the charts.
For more information or to listen to Punk in Translation, contact Hannah Schwartz at Shore Fire Media: hschwartz@shorefire.com
96 Tears and Action vinyl albums are available now for pre-order: https://abkco.lnk.to/qmtmPR
96 TEARS
SIDE A
1. I Need Somebody
2. Stormy Monday
3. You’re Telling Me Lies
4. Ten O’Clock
5. Set Aside
6. Up Side
SIDE B
1. “8” Teen
2. Don’t Tease Me
3. Don’t Break This Heart of Mine
4. Why Me
5. Midnight Hour
6. 96 Tears
? and The Mysterians – Action
Side A
1. Girl (You Captivate Me)
2. Can’t Get Enough of You, Baby
3. Got To
4. I’ll Be Back
5. Shout (Parts 1 & 2)
Side B
1. Hangin’ On a String
2. Smokes
3. It’s Not Easy
4. Don’t Hold It Against Me
5. Just Like a Rose
6. Do You Feel It
? and the Mysterians placed 4th in our Top 50 Garage Bands of All-Time poll a few years back. (Damn!!! Has it REALLY been ten years already?!?! This poll first ran in 2012!)
Incredibly, it was a comment from one of our Forgotten Hits Readers that got the ball rolling. They mentioned in their email that “Tthanks to their #1 Hit "96 Tears," ? and the Mysterians had to be the greatest garage group of all time. After we published her letter, we started to get a ton of responses ... "What are you, crazy?!?! The greatest garage group of all time has to be The Kingsmen ... there is NO greater garage song than 'Louie Louie'!" ... which, in turn, prompted, "What about The Standells and 'Dirty Water'?" and "How can you even talk about garage bands and leave out The Shadows Of Knight? 'Gloria' is the ULTIMATE Garage Band song." More letters followed, nominating artists and tracks like "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen, "Wild Thing" by The Troggs and "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.
Suddenly, we knew we were on to something ... so, in 2012, we decided to poll our readers in order to determine, once and for all, who are The Greatest Garage Bands of All-Time!!! Just over 9000 votes came in (9008 to be exact!) and, with THAT kind of response, I think we've been able to assemble the definitive list.
We then partnered with Mike Dugo, who ran the excellent website 60sGarageBands.com (since shut down) and between us, wrote brief bios on each of the finalists, ultimately expanding the list to include The Top 50 so that we could permanently post something on the website.
(You can view the whole list via the link provided below!)
Meanwhile, from those final tabulations, here is the piece that we ran on ? and the Mysterians exactly ten years ago …
THE GREATEST GARAGE BANDS OF ALL-TIME
#4 - QUESTION MARK AND THE MYSTERIANS
Perhaps the only group universally classified as a “garage band” to top the charts, Flint, Michigan’s ? & The Mysterians’ were led by Rudy Martinez, who also wrote their classic ‘96 Tears’. The organ-driven song has often times been credited with having the term “punk rock” — for the first time in print — applied to it (by critic Dave Marsh). ? & The Mysterians are often regarded as a “one-hit wonder”, but their follow-up song ‘I Need Somebody’ just missed making the Top 20. (Mike Dugo)
Attempts to reach Rudy Martinez ... who apparently ONLY goes by the name "Question Mark" these days ... failed to generate a response in time to run in our countdown / recap … which is really too bad, as I felt he would be very proud to know how highly his band placed on the list … and, in fact, INSPIRED the list in the first place! (After our piece ran, I did hear back from Question Mark, through film-maker Terry Murphy.)
Remember all the publicity Prince got when he changed his name to a symbol? (And can you believe that was TWENTY YEARS AGO already?!?!?) And everybody thought it was such an original and unique concept??? Au contraire, mes petits chouchous ... Rudy Martinez was using the "?" question mark symbol nearly thirty years earlier ... and went so far as to legally changing his name to "?" years later.
"96 Tears" is, without question ... pun intended ... one of the stand-out tracks of the '60's ... it has SUCH a distinctive sound that, once you hear it, it never leaves you. It topped the charts in late 1966 and (despite the fact that, until recently, Cameo / Parkway material hasn't been commercially available for ages), has never really been off the radio.
The band had other chart hits, too ... "I Need Somebody" followed it into The Top 40, peaking at #15 later that same year ... and "Can't Get Enough Of You, Baby," while only reaching #47, became one of those huge, signature tunes when it was recorded by Smash Mouth thirty years later.
That "cheesy" Farfisa Organ became an integral part of the '60's sound ... and the intro to all of their hits immediately let the listener know that ? and the Mysterians were on the air!!! Great times ... great memories. (kk)
A recent film documentary by Terry Murphy declares ? and the Mysterians to be "The World's Greatest Garage Band" ... and they are, without QUESTION, right up there at the top ... but according to YOUR votes ... they OFFICIALLY come in at #4.
Martinez
made headlines a few years
back when his home was destroyed in a fire, destroying all of his precious
memorabilia from the glory days. Meanwhile, the band maintains a GREAT website,
which you can view here:
Click
here: The Official Website Of ? and The Mysterians, 96 tears, and the Film 'Are
You For Real?'
You can see the whole Top 50 list here:
http://forgottenhits.com/your_top_50_all-time_favorite_garage_bands
