"96 Tears"
| Besucher auf der Seite | 3565 |
| Autoren | Rudy Martinez |
| Jahr | 1966 |
| Status |  nicht mehr im Programm |
| Info | On the smartest/dumbest two-note Farfisa riff in history, "96 Tears" went to No. 1 at a time when a couple of shifty looking guys from Saginaw, Mich., with a shaky grasp on rock'n'roll could do such a thing. I read somewhere, possibly apocryphally, that once at a Suicide show before they performed "96 Tears", Alan Vega screamed "your national anthem, whether you know it or not!" Works for me. --Jess Harvell |
Wissenswertes über "96 Tears"
| America in the mid-'60s was a truly grand time and place
to be alive; where else could five greasy-looking teenagers who sounded
like they were still learning their instruments cut a record in someone's
living room and not only see it win nationwide release, but hit number one
on the Billboard singles charts? Rock & roll doesn't come much more
gloriously dumb than "96 Tears"; over a two-finger Farfisa organ
riff from one Frankie Rodriguez Jr., Question Mark (aka Rudy Martinez) wails
in a combination of sorrow and anger about the girl who has done him wrong,
and announces his determination that he's going to hurt her as she hurt
him, until he's cried 96 tears -- not 90, not 100, but exactly 96. It was
weird as all get out, but it was also funny, and very catchy. In 1966, a
time when every kid who could talk his parents into buying a Sears Silvertone
guitar dreamed of someday being as big as the Beatles, it must have been
a real inspiration to see five guys from Saginaw, MI, who weren't much farther
along than they were achieve this impossible dream, if only for a moment.
While Question Mark and the Mysterians cut a few more records (most of which
sounded an awful lot like "96 Tears"), their days in the sun were
numbered, though over 30 years later, the band was still at it, sounding
just as inspired (and only a bit less inept) as they did during their 15
minutes of fame, and more than willing to crank out their hit for anyone
who wanted to hear it. (AMG) |
|
The band, all Mexican-Americans living in Michigan, cut
"96 Tears" in their manager's living room, and ? promoted the
single throughout the state, all without ever revealing his real name (Rudy
Martinez) or removing his sunglasses. That organ figure put the Farfisa
company on the map (? later claimed they had used a Vox). The original has
never been on CD; all the CD versions are rerecordings.
(#210 of Rolling Stone's Best 500 Songs) |
|
On the smartest/dumbest two-note Farfisa riff in history, "96 Tears" went to No. 1
at a time when a couple of shifty looking guys from Saginaw, Mich., with a shaky
grasp on rock'n'roll could do such a thing. I read somewhere, possibly apocryphally,
that once at a Suicide show before they performed "96 Tears", Alan Vega screamed
"your national anthem, whether you know it or not!" Works for me.
(Jess Harvell, #120 of Pitchfork's 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s)
|
|
|
|
#210 von 500 
#96 von 1001 
#120 von 200
