Hungry For Some Good Music? It's Just Like Me to Give You a Good Thing

Sometimes a band is ahead of its time, where even though they have commercial success, you can't really appreciate just how inventive they actually were. Add in the fact that they dressed in Revolutionary War costumes, and the tendency was to dismiss them for not being serious musicians.

That's why it's my job to make you listen to the music.

Paul Revere and the Raiders were an Oregon based band popular in the mid-late 60's and into the 70's. Led by Paul Revere Dick, they had a string of great songs, many of which dealt with topics not usually written about in song at the time. "Kicks," was written by the famous songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and was a cautionary tale about trying to find the magic of life through drugs. "Just Like Me" would later be covered by Joan Jett and Pat Benatar. "Hungry, about wanting all the good things in life, would be covered by Sammy Hagar. They sang about the plight of the American Indian in "Indian Reservation." In 1967, there was an strike of the major airlines, the Raiders had a hit song about it.

Back in the 60's Dick Clark had an afternoon TV show called Where the Action Is, and Paul Revere and the Raiders were regulars on it. Later they also were part of another couple of video heavy shows called Happening '68 and It's Happening. While the group changed members over the years, the front man for their heyday was Mark Lindsey, a pony-tailed hearthrob back in the day, who along with many of the members of the group, was well respected in his field.

Paul Revere turns 75 today and is still going strong...band and all.

Listen to some great stuff.

"Hungry"  ...I can almost taste it now
"Just Like Me" ...change the arrangement and this could be a hit in any decade
"Kicks" ...complete with the dancing girls
"Midnite Ride" ...a very tongue-in-cheek story of Paul Revere
"Good Thing" ...one of the sexiest starts to a record, ever.
"The Great Airplane Strike" ...just fun

Happy Birthday Paul...still getting a kick out of your music after all these years.

.