The Hollywood Argyles

The Hollywood Argyles were a quickie act thrown together by producers <a href="spotify:artist:6AgAlEkTLN4m5ZERuhiWnk">Kim Fowley</a> and Gary Paxton and featuring <a href="spotify:artist:5gI33iEWzSZqDZeVOwfJVi">Sandy Nelson</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:6AgAlEkTLN4m5ZERuhiWnk">Fowley</a> made his first recordings with drummer <a href="spotify:artist:5gI33iEWzSZqDZeVOwfJVi">Nelson</a> during the late '50s and had already produced a number of short-lived groups -- including <a href="spotify:artist:3rZKnhYrwfRs3wluf9vnsO">the Paradons</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:59aYVQd0YHXqoOBf3pmxqs">the Innocents</a> -- and found his first taste of success by producing a handful of successful efforts by Arizona schoolmates <a href="spotify:artist:4grlrRNDGqFFdp3IFPurHX">Gary ("Flip") Paxton</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3FR36b15gZMpFbYCNdfnBq">Clyde ("Skip") Battin</a>, who performed under the name <a href="spotify:artist:52tfhEl2JsUCTTNr06lD09">Skip & Flip</a>, and scored two Top 20 hits in 1959, "Cherry Pie," (number 11 Pop) and "It Was I" (number 11 Pop). Immediately after dissolving <a href="spotify:artist:52tfhEl2JsUCTTNr06lD09">Skip & Flip</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4grlrRNDGqFFdp3IFPurHX">Paxton</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6AgAlEkTLN4m5ZERuhiWnk">Fowley</a> created a novelty doo wop-inspired group -- a one-off collective of local musicians and vocalists -- and called them the Hollywood Argyles.

In 1960, this "group" actually topped the charts with the number one smash hit "Alley Oop," a flagrant <a href="spotify:artist:3QZKZBEmr54lAVI5XvmjnM">Coasters</a> ripoff that had been written and performed by future country artist <a href="spotify:artist:7dpP2YddNPXZPQmr5qmEmB">Dallas Frazier</a> a few years earlier in 1957. It was based on a popular newspaper comic strip character at the time. <a href="spotify:artist:6AgAlEkTLN4m5ZERuhiWnk">Fowley</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5gI33iEWzSZqDZeVOwfJVi">Nelson</a>, drunk as skunks, bashed empty bottles and wastepaper baskets. As the group weren't merely anything more than a collection of Fowley's music-making associates, they didn't have a follow-up, and <a href="spotify:artist:6AgAlEkTLN4m5ZERuhiWnk">Fowley</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4grlrRNDGqFFdp3IFPurHX">Paxton</a> moved on.

In October of that same year, the two signed a production deal with Bob Keene's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Del-Fi+Records%22">Del-Fi Records</a>, recording a follow-up called "Alley Oop Cha Cha Cha," while <a href="spotify:artist:4grlrRNDGqFFdp3IFPurHX">Paxton</a> drawled out the very same lyrics to the "Alley Oop" hit. It was credited to <a href="spotify:artist:3GVZQJmREdGbgzfLNw6cPU">the Prehistorics</a>. ~ Bryan Thomas, Rovi