(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 refer down below)
The McCoys - "Hang on Sloopy"
Hit Number 1: October 2, 1965
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
Let me confirm what we are all thinking. Yes, Sloopy is absolutely the worst name you could give to a girl. But in the song, "Hang on Sloopy", that's the girl's name that the narrator is head over heels for, and apparently, she has a pretty rough life. Besides being named Sloopy, of course. She apparently lives in a bad part of town, and everyone is always putting her down, but despite this, the narrator in "Hang on Sloopy" is "in love" with her, and doesn't care "what her daddy do". The song is just as silly as it sounds.
According to the McCoys' lead singer, Rick Derringer, the song was written by some unidentified high school kid from St. Louis, before the kid sold it to record producer Bert Berns. The name, Sloopy, is said to come from Dorothy Sloop, a jazz singer at Ohio University, whose nickname really was "Sloopy". The Vibrations, a soul vocal group, were the first ones to make a hit of the song, though there version was titled "My Girl Sloopy" instead. (It wasn't a major hit. It only made it to #26, and their version is a 4) That looked to be it for ol' Sloopy, but then the McCoys showed up.
A New York City rock band by the name of the Strangeloves had interest in cutting their own version of the song as a follow up to their song "I Want Candy" (a #11 hit, it's a 5), and began to perform the song live. However, the Dave Clark Five, who they were touring with (and who will appear in this blog very soon) were apparently feeling dickish, and told the group that they were going to record their own version of the song when they got back to their native England, and copy the Strangeloves' arrangement for the song. The Strangeloves weren't stupid, and they knew how popular the DC5 were, especially in England, so they knew their version was certainly going to be a hit. However, they were still enjoying their success from "I Want Candy", so they weren't ready to come up with a new single just yet. Then during a show in Dayton, Ohio, four teenagers who called themselves "Rick and the Raiders" opened for the Strangeloves, and provided backup for them.
The Strangeloves were impressed. Derringer, at the time Rick Zehringer, was the band's leader, and he was flown to New York to record his lead vocal over the backing tracks that the Strangeloves had already recorded for "Hang on Sloopy". It was decided to change the group's name to the McCoys to avoid confusion with "Paul Revere & the Raiders" (another band that will eventually show up in this blog) and Zehringer also decided to use the last name Derringer instead as a stage name. It paid huge dividends for everyone involved, cause the McCoys' version soared to the #1 spot on the charts, and became the most iconic version of the song to date. (About the DC5, either they decided to not record the song, or their version really sucked, so it never became a hit)
I'll say it again: "Hang on Sloopy" is a pretty ridiculous song all told. The McCoys' version sounds like a bunch of teenage hooligans throwing together some garage rock song, and letting loose. It's pretty hard to not laugh at the lyrics being sung too. (I mean, the girl's name is Sloopy for crying out loud) But I don't know that I've ever seen a song that realizes how silly and stupid it is, and full on embracing it. Derringer and company maybe weren't even expecting a hit out of it, so instead they just went with the flow, and busted out some garage rock banger. It doesn't take a genius to be able to tell these were a bunch of kids having fun, rather than trying to make a serious hit.
And that folks is why "Hang on Sloopy" works. It is absolutely 100% necessary to run with the cheesiness of the song, and embrace it to the fullest. The Vibrations took the thing too seriously to me, and that resulted in a snooze fest of a song. But I can't help but have a good time with "Hang on Sloopy", with the way the McCoys did it. It's really easy to dance to, and the group just seems to feed off of each other, with a bunch of echoes of Derringer's calls, and a wicked guitar solo to give you that true "teenage garage rock" feel to it. It's a band who were shameless, and simply didn't care how stupid or silly they may sound. But I'll be damned, they made it work.
GRADE: 8/10
MY INSPIRATION / MORE INFORMATION:
SONGS REFERENCED:
The Vibrations - "My Girl Sloopy" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh0hHm-ckQw
The Strangeloves - "I Want Candy" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiiD8KeAFew
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