![]() bands attempted was to use fake British-sounding names, figuring it would be a better bet than if people took them for un-hip homegrown talent. The influx of British music acts that rapidly and quite suddenly stormed North American radio stations and record stores in 1964 and '65 made some of the locals nervous about being overridden on their own home turf. So credit the Strawberry Alarm Clock, at the very least, with figuring out how to twist the Jefferson Airplane’s ideas into pop perversions a lot better, and a lot more quickly, than the Jefferson Airplane themselves did.STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK Incense and Peppermints The Jefferson Airplane wrote great songs, but as a singles act, they never got any higher than #5, with 1967’s “Somebody To Love.” They didn’t hit #1 until they evolved into Starship in the ’80s. It takes the sounds that are floating around in the ether - in this case, the psych-rock of the early Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane - and translates it into silly and efficient bubblegum. “Incense And Peppermints” does what pop music is supposed to do. And Munford - who, like fellow 16-year-old hit-singer Alex Chilton, sounds way older than his years - delivers that gibberish with total conviction, finding the ideal middle ground between acid-fried moonchild and Vegas lounge belter. But it all works together with a brisk and hooky sense of efficiency. There’s a lot going on on “Incense And Peppermints”: the zonked-out organ noodling, the starry-eyed guitar riffage, the layers upon layers of backing vocals, the heavy use of cowbell. But it’s also truly effective pop bullshit. And maybe “Incense And Peppermints” is that. Given that whole backstory, it’s plenty possible to hear “Incense And Peppermints” as a cheap cash-in, a pop-industry version of the acid rock that was blossoming in San Francisco during that moment. These days, he orchestrates film scores for his ex-bandmate Danny Elfman. Meanwhile, guitarist Steve Bartek went to school for composition and eventually joined Oingo Boingo. After that breakup, singer and guitarist Ed King joined Lynyrd Skynyrd - who had once opened for the Strawberry Alarm Clock on tour - and wrote the “Sweet Home Alabama” riff. They never came up with another big hit after “Incense And Peppermints,” and they broke up in 1970, though a reunited version of the band is still operating today. “Incense And Peppermints” was one of the first singles from the Strawberry Alarm Clock, a Los Angeles band who’d changed their name from Thee Sixpence after learning that there was already another Thee Sixpence somewhere out there. Munford never ended up joining the band, even after “Incense And Peppermints” hit #1. The singer we hear delivering those lyrics is Greg Munford, a 16-year-old friend of the band who was brought in to do backing vocals and who took the lead when nobody in the band liked how they sounded on the song. The members of the band claim they wrote the actual music but got screwed out of credit and royalties.) Nobody in the Strawberry Alarm Clock sang the song, either. ![]() (Carter and his songwriting partner Tim Gilbert also wrote the vocal melody. Carter, a record producer and A&R guy who would go on to work with Bob Seger and Tina Turner. Instead, those words are the product of John S. The members of the Strawberry Alarm Clock didn’t write those lyrics. ![]()
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