(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Strawberry Alarm Clock - "Incense and Peppermints"
Hit Number 1; November 25, 1967
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
You know you're right in the heart of the psychedelic era when you're finding songs that don't make any sense, and they acknowledge that they don't make any sense. And for good measure, you also know you're in that era when you're finding songs by a group that calls themselves something like Strawberry Alarm Clock. (That's probably the weirdest band name I've come across so far on this blog) The group had previously called themselves Thee Sixpence, and while they were under that name, they released a few singles, but none ever became hits. Then came a song, "Incense and Peppermints", that was written by songwriter John S. Carter. It was during the recording/release process of "Incense and Peppermints" that the group changed their name to Strawberry Alarm Clock.
At first, the group agreed to record the song, but later expressed a dislike for the song's lyrics. So instead, the guy we hear on the final recording was a friend of the group, Greg Munford. Munford was visiting the studio while the band was recording the song, and they invited Munford to sing instead. So naturally as anyone would, he accepted the invitation, while the rest of the group provided backing vocals instead. The story for Munford isn't going as you might have hoped it would. Even though he sang lead on the band's biggest hit, he was never invited to stay with the group, and instead vanished from the music industry just a year after the success of "Incense and Peppermints". Kind of a lame move on the band's part.
Even though the band never recreated the magic they had with "Incense and Peppermints", they made their brief moment in the spotlight a good one. "Incense and Peppermints" is a really strange song, and it fits right into the weird psychedelic era. But it works. It's a song that can be used as the anthem for psychedelia. Some of my favorite lyrics in the song are "Occasions, persuasions, clutter your mind" and "A yardstick for lunatics, what point of view?" That doesn't make any ounce of sense. But the chorus of the song acknowledges the lack of sense it, and other psychedelic songs, have. "Who cares what games we choose/Little to win but nothing to lose", are the lines that get told to us over and over. To translate that for anyone who needs me to, the idea of psychedelic music is one big game. From my own interpretation, the "little to win but nothing to lose" could mean that no one is going to listen to the lyrics and think "Wow that song really speaks to me". But at the same time, there's no controversy that could ever come out of nonsensical songs.
Apart from the lyrics, "Incense and Peppermints" possesses a lot of traits that were very common for late-1960s psychedelic rock. It's a mixture of sunshine pop and psychedelia, with loud screechy keyboard bleeping that overrides the guitars, and multiple-part harmonies that were very similar to what groups like the Association were doing at that time. To Strawberry Alarm Clock's credit, they found ways to make the song pop. It's psychedelic syrup that will stick to your brain stem. All the way from the verses to the "sha la las" at the end of the song, it knocks out some serious hooks.
As I said, Strawberry Alarm Clock appear to be one-hit wonders, and they weren't together that long at all. After they split up, member Ed King went on to have way more success with the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. (I regret to inform that we will never hear from Lynyrd Skynyrd in this blog. The closest they got to #1 was with "Sweet Home Alabama" which made it to #8. It's a 10. That song does reference Neil Young though, who WILL appear in this blog eventually) The other members didn't latch on to any other famous bands though, and instead they went into obscurity. So for the rest of time, they're forever linked with the Strawberry Alarm Clock name, and "Incense and Peppermints". It honestly could be a lot worse.
GRADE: 8/10
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