The Rockin Vickers

A competently energetic but relatively faceless British mid-'60s band, the Rockin' Vickers are mostly remembered today because the guitarist for the bulk of their recording career was Ian Willis, who would eventually gain international fame as <a href="spotify:artist:0bmuibaBeiMxAqN2HwUqhd">Lemmy</a> with <a href="spotify:artist:2jK54ZlZhTF1TxygsVeR05">Hawkwind</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1DFr97A9HnbV3SKTJFu62M">Motörhead</a>. The Blackpool band were still <a href="spotify:artist:0bmuibaBeiMxAqN2HwUqhd">Lemmy</a>-less when they made their debut in 1964 with a supremely raunchy version of <a href="spotify:artist:5N6GwJzOcOY5kv8p0NjhYL">Neil Sedaka</a>'s "I Go Ape," which was anthologized in the '70s on Hard-Up Heroes, the British equivalent of Nuggets. They'd only record three other singles, all of which had <a href="spotify:artist:0bmuibaBeiMxAqN2HwUqhd">Lemmy</a> aboard on guitar. Although capable of generating respectably raunchy, modish heat, they had nothing in the way of original material. Their third single, interestingly, was a version of a <a href="spotify:artist:24Wa5wIZIo1sPkzVGP0B5p">Pete Townshend</a> song called "It's Alright," which sounds like a prototype for the much superior "The Kids Are Alright" (although, puzzlingly, <a href="spotify:artist:67ea9eGLXYMsO2eYQRui3w">the Who</a> had already released "The Kids Are Alright" by the time the Rockin' Vickers' "It's Alright" appeared in March 1966). <a href="spotify:artist:67ea9eGLXYMsO2eYQRui3w">Who</a> producer Shel Talmy liked the band and produced their final 45, a cover of <a href="spotify:artist:1SQRv42e4PjEYfPhS0Tk9E">the Kinks</a>' "Dandy," which actually made number 93 in the States (where it was far outpaced by <a href="spotify:artist:48YxSlb23RAaCd4RyHcV9V">Herman's Hermits</a>' version) before the Vickers split in 1967. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi