Hollywood Argyles: Hully Gully

This post is a mash-up of two seemingly unrelated artists, so bear with me. I just watched the documentary Bad Reputation. It tells the story of Joan Jett from acquiring her first guitar at the age of 10 (a gift from her parents) to her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. It is not the best music documentary ever made, but it is by far the best I have seen about the life of Joan Jett and the band The Runaways. I also found it to be more interesting than the 2010 biopic The Runaways because of its focus on the sexist, misogynistic attitudes that held her back for her entire career. However, this post is not only about Joan Jett. It is also about one of the most important events in the career of Jett – her introduction to songwriter/producer Kim Fowley in 1975. Fowley was an integral part of The Runaways, serving as manager and producer for their first three albums until he was released by the band in 1978. Before helping form The Runaways, Fowley was best known for his bubblegum pop records during the ’60s, including the #1 1960 hit “Alley Oop” by the Hollywood Argyles, and for his work with early versions of bands/artists such as Paul Revere and The Raiders, Slade, Soft Machine, and a pre-Deep Purple Ritchie Blackmore. His work in the ’70s included early recordings by artists such as Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers, Warren Zevon, Alice Cooper, and material used in the film American Graffiti. Some of the most interesting scenes in the Joan Jett documentary that aren’t about Jett are discussions with Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat and Fugazi), and Iggy Pop (The Stooges) about bubblegum pop and Kim Fowley, including an acapella vocal performance of “Alley Oop” by Iggy Pop. Other than “Alley Oop,” I knew nothing about the band Hollywood Argyles until I just listened to a collection of their singles (which took less than 30 minutes). They aren’t great, but they are of the time. “Hully Gully” was a follow-up single to “Alley Oop.” It was a cover of a minor hit by The Olympics in 1959 that started the Hully Gully dance craze. I stole this from the Wikipedia article about the song.

According to recollections by the Beatles about their early 1960 and ’61 touring years, both in Hamburg and Liverpool the song had also gained a certain notoriety as a popular accompaniment to brawls among the audience, with fights often breaking out as soon as the song started being played.

I love the connection of an otherwise innocuous tune in 1960/61 with club brawls reminiscent of British punk concerts in the late ’70s. The connection of this with the music of Joan Jett and The Runaways is one of those great coincidences of rock and roll history. If you don’t know the music of Joan Jett or The Runaways, go listen to some. It is as pure as rock and roll gets. The Runaways deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. They deserve to be listed along with The Stooges and The Ramones as the most important American punk bands of the ’70s. If the music of The Runaways does not define what American punk was in the ’70s, nothing does.

To learn more about Hollywood Argyles and Kim Fowley, check out Fowley’s Wikipedia article.

To listen to all of the songs of the day, check out the Radio Faux Show Song of the Day playlist.

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