The McCoys

This Indiana group was still in high school when they were tapped by <a href="spotify:artist:4NMkJqM1SsQP3gk81cqk6K">the Strangeloves</a> production team of <a href="spotify:artist:74pk8mfG0gn3s1pOa4wKjL">Feldman</a>-Goldstein-Gottehrer as a vehicle for their material in 1965. Their first effort, "Hang on Sloopy," was a monster number one smash, built around a riff and chorus that ranks with "Louie Louie" and "La Bamba" as a garage band perennial with its compelling, elemental simplicity. Featuring the lead vocals and lead guitar of a young <a href="spotify:artist:1FX4aA0cUcWndv39j1YoTm">Rick Derringer</a>, they went on to cut a lot of similar chunky, innocuous pop/rock over the next couple years with fair success. The "Hang on Sloopy" sound-alike "Fever" was their only other Top Ten entry, and the <a href="spotify:artist:5Y9xEAGW4GwGJgbiI6W85P">Ritchie Valens</a> cover "C'Mon Let's Go" their only other Top 40 hit.

The McCoys recorded very little original material during their early years at Bang Records; most of it was supplied by the <a href="spotify:artist:74pk8mfG0gn3s1pOa4wKjL">Feldman</a>-Goldstein-Gottehrer production team, much of which consisted of unexceptional derivations of the "Hang on Sloopy" prototype. Notable exceptions were the folky "Sorrow," covered for a Top Ten hit by <a href="spotify:artist:41qTjISnBzDLRlrJEJNGKj">the Merseys</a> in Great Britain (and covered by <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">David Bowie</a> on Pin Ups a decade later), and the adventurous Middle Eastern-tinged garage psychedelia of "Don't Worry Mother," their best cut besides "Hang on Sloopy." The McCoys proved unusually durable after their career as a teen pop band; in the late '60s, they broke from their Bang producers to record psychedelic and progressive rock for Mercury. Most of the group joined <a href="spotify:artist:2ODUxmFxJSyvGiimNhMHbO">Johnny Winter</a>'s backup band in the early '70s, and in 1973 <a href="spotify:artist:1FX4aA0cUcWndv39j1YoTm">Rick Derringer</a> joined the <a href="spotify:artist:3UNrI3SG1l2ezKikxQ2zuk">Edgar Winter</a> group as lead guitarist and vocalist, after which he had a successful hard rock solo career. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi