My Favourite 45s of the Year: 1964 Quiz

Answer: The Kinks

"You Really Got Me" by The Kinks has to be one of the most famous songs in the history of pop and rock'n'roll, demonstrating as it does the importance of the riff and of the power chord. As the band had had only minor success with their first two single releases, their record label gave them one last chance - and the result was this fabulous track (although it was clearly influenced by the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie"). The distorted guitar sound was achieved by Dave Davies slashing his amplifier's speaker cone with a razor blade.

The record shot to number one in the UK Singles Charts; I remember watching its progress on "Top of the Pops" and "Ready Steady Go" with delight and telling my mum and dad about it. Sadly with both of them being some 43 years older than me they weren't particularly interested! The record also charted in the States, reaching number seven in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The Kinks went on to much more success, although it's interesting to speculate how well they would have done in the US if they hadn't been banned from touring there for four years from 1965. I saw them play live in 1971 and they were still excellent.

Contrary to popular belief, the guitar solo actually was the work of Dave Davies rather than of (at that time) session musician guitarist Jimmy Page. The song was probably the first hit song to be written around power chords, and thus could be seen to be the antecedent of heavy metal and hard rock.

Answer: Dionne Warwick

The variety of music in the charts in the early 60s was huge, with both "Teen" and "Mum and Dad" music. This song was probably more of the latter, but I loved it anyway - it's hip to be square, I suppose!

Written by the cosmic duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, the lyrics were just right for Warwick's contralto voice. Selling over a million copies, it got to number six in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number nine in the UK Singles Chart. Warwick, Bacharach and David inspired each other during the remainder of their long careers.

The song has been covered numerous times, with the best version being by Isaac Hayes on his 1969 "Hot Buttered Soul" album - twelve minutes of funk. Further versions were recorded by The Stranglers (number 21 in the UK Singles Chart in 1978) and Gabrielle (number seven in the UK in 1997). You can't keep a good song down!

Answer: The Four Tops

"Baby I Need Your Loving" was the first single by the Four Tops to be released on the Motown label, featuring the wonderful lead vocal of Levi Stubbs. Selling over a million copies it reached number 11 in the US Billboard Hot 100. It failed to chart in the UK but a cover version was soon recorded by The Fourmost, a better-than-average Liverpool band, and this reached number 24 in the UK Singles Chart.

It totally entrenched my liking of Tamla-Motown music!

Answer: The Righteous Brothers

"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by the Righteous Brothers is a stone-cold classic. Produced by Phil Spector, it's the ultimate expression of his "Wall of Sound " production technique. Using the famous session group known as the Wrecking Crew, Spector overdubbed the basic track with four guitars, three pianos, three basses and seven horns. Lots of reverb was added for extra atmosphere.

Bill Medley said "we had no idea if it would be a hit. It was too slow, too long, and right in the middle of the Beatles and the British invasion". It was also very long - nearly four minutes. Despite that, it reached number one on both the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart. A number of music writers have described it as "one of the best records ever made" and "the ultimate pop record". Even an execrable cover version by Cilla Black reached number two on the UK Singles Chart.

The song has broken many records. At the end of 1999 it was ranked by the performing rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) as the most-played song of the 20th century, having been broadcast more than eight million times on American radio and television; by 2011 it was up to 15 million plays. The record has also won 14 BMI Pop Awards, the most for any song. The BBC estimated that it was the third-biggest earner of royalties of all songs.

The release of the song in late 1964 coincided with my breaking up with my first-ever girlfriend; I played it over and over again!

Answer: The Fourmost

I wasn't really that interested in the Merseybeat bands of that era but I had a bit of a soft spot for the Fourmost, mainly on account of the great songs they released - it helped that they were managed by Brian Epstein and that John Lennon wrote their first two releases, "Hello Little Girl" and "I'm In Love".

This, their third release, was my favourite, a catchy pop song with a nice melody and great harmonies. It reached number six in the UK Singles Chart, the highest placing in their career, but it failed to chart in the US. Sadly it was their last top ten hit, which was surprising as they later released an excellent cover version of the Four Tops' "Baby I Need Your Loving", but this only got to number 24 in the UK.

Despite losing various members, they were still touring in 2018!

Answer: Brian Poole and the Tremeloes

Apart from being an Essex band, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes have one massive claim to fame - on January 1st 1962 they were auditioned by Decca Records along with another band who were from Liverpool. Brian Poole's group got through the audition - the Beatles didn't.

Originally a bluesy Roy Orbison B-side from 1961, "Candy Man" was covered by Brian Poole and the Tremeloes in early 1964. They'd had a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart with "Do You Love Me", and "Candy Man" went on to reach number six. It was a great song, with good guitar work, brilliant drumming from Dave Munden and a very R&B vocal from Brian Poole.

Poole left the band in 1966 and basically disappeared, but the Tremeloes went on making hit singles in the late 1960s without him: "Silence Is Golden" reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in 1967.

Answer: The Applejacks

Back in the early 1960s it was almost unheard of for a woman to be playing in a British guitar band; they might be the vocalist - for example Lulu with the Luvvers or Judith Durham with the Seekers - but only a handful of groups had a woman playing an instrument. Surprisingly, two such groups released UK top ten hits in 1964. The Honeycombs featured a woman drummer, Honey Lantree, and they reached number one in the UK Singles Chart and number five in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Have I the Right?". I wasn't wild about them - Lantree was a competent drummer, but the sound of the record was too heavy on the percussion for my taste - a bit like "Bits and Pieces" by the Dave Clark Five, which I loathed.

The other woman musician, Megan Davies, played bass guitar for a Birmingham band, the Applejacks. They were signed by Decca in late 1963 and the record company teamed up two songwriters, neither of whom had so far written a hit record, to write the band's first single release. They came up with "Tell Me When", a nice frothy pop song that I found irresistible. It reached number seven in the UK Singles Chart but failed to reach the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote their second release, "Like Dreamers Do", but this peaked at number 20 in the UK and the band's progress faltered. A row with Decca didn't help, and they spent the rest of the 60s playing on cruise liners.

The hitless song writers were Les Reed and Geoff Stephens. Reed later wrote "It's Not Unusual" and "Delilah" for Tom Jones, while Stephens penned countless hits for British artists. And check out the YouTube video of the Applejacks featuring the world's most geeky drummer!

Answer: The Rolling Stones

A terrific song, "It's All Over Now" was written by Bobby and Shirley Womack and released in the US by Bobby Womack's group The Valentinos. The Rolling Stones heard it on their first tour of the US and nine days later recorded a cover version which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart and number 26 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

A probably apocryphal story goes that Bobby Womack told Sam Cooke that he didn't want the Stones to cover his song, and that he had told Mick Jagger to "get his own song". Cooke, however, persuaded him to let the Stones go ahead. Some time later, after he'd received the first royalties for the song, Womack told Cooke that Jagger could have any song he wanted. The original recording by The Valentinos peaked at number 94 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

I loved the guitar sound on this record, with the massive echo on Keith's lead guitar and Brian's choppy rhythm guitar; it confirmed my preference for the Stones over the Beatles. My mum - who was nearly 60 at the time - really liked it as well, bless her.

Answer: The Zombies

The Zombies got together in the St. Albans area of the Home Counties in the early 1960s, and after winning a talent competition organised by the London "Evening News" newspaper signed with Decca. Their first release was the astonishing "She's Not There", a wonderfully jazzy-sounding record featuring Rod Argent's electric piano and Colin Blunstone's delicious, breathy vocal. It was way ahead of its time, and it reached number 12 in the UK Singles Chart and number two in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The long and complex history of the Zombies is dominated by the fate of their later album "Odessey and Oracle" and the massive US hit it spawned, "Time of the Season". However the band are still touring and Colin Blunstone's voice is still a thing of wonder - just listen to his 1971 solo album, "One Year".

Answer: The Shangri-Las

A teen-aged girl group from Queens, New York, the Shangri-Las had already charted in the US and UK before this track was released - indeed, "Leader of the Pack" had hit number one in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. However, as as far as I'm concerned this was the best of their records that year. Do you remember the first line? - "When I say I'm in love you'd best believe I'm in love L-U-V". Genius! And also the final vocals: "How does he dance? - Close, very very close" followed by a wonderful slow fade-out.

Sadly the group broke up soon afterwards, and both the Ganser twins have since died. But their influence lives on as the proto-punk, bad-girl group. And of course the very first line of the very first UK punk single ("New Rose" by The Damned") starts off with a quote from the Shangri_Las' "Leader of the Pack": "Is she really going out with him?".