Mark Lindsay Is Always Hungry
Birthday tribute to a multi-faceted musical powerhouse
Birthday shout-out to one of the greatest frontman in rock’n’roll: Mark Lindsay, best known as the singer for Paul Revere & The Raiders. In their major label era of the 1960s and early 70s, PR&TR were one of the tightest and most visible acts in the business. They were the first real rock band signed to Columbia Records, and their garage band energy and declarative stage look pushed back on the British Invasion bands of 1964.
.The Raiders kicked out hit after hit in multiple genres including bubblegum, country rock, hard rock, psychedelia, and soul/r’n’b, all with dazzling excellence. They cut the first definitive version of “Louie Louie” before leaving their Oregon base for Los Angeles, joining Terry Melcher (Byrds producer) to launch a prolific and innovative run of great records that still play today: “Just Like Me”, “Kicks” and (recently in the film ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD) “Good Thing,” “Hungry,” “Mr. Sun Mr. Moon,” and others.
Between 1965 and 1970, as Dick Clark expanded his jukebox TV empire, he hired PR&TR to host three TV shows. Before The Monkees even twanged “Last Train to Clarksville,” PR&TR had already set the bar for TV bands, gluing pre-adolescent me to the tube with rock’n’roll comedy and ear candy—and there was eye candy for 1000s of girls screaming for teen idol Mark Lindsay. He set the bar as a powerhouse vocalist, able to croon soft sensual pop ballads then flip to paint-peeling bluesy growls.
The Raiders crested in 1971 with the #1 hit “Indian Reservation,” which was actually a repackaging of a Mark Lindsay solo recording (backed by the Wrecking Crew). Mark had already charted as a solo act with “Silver Bird” and the hippy girl anthem “Arizona.” His remaining years with Columbia kept him one foot in big band bubblegum pop and another in the hipster singer-songwriter mode, exemplified in his soulful cover of Neil Diamond’s “And the Grass Won’t Pay No Mind”
As for Mark’s originals, his song “Freeborn Man” (co-written with Keith Allison) has become an alt-country standard
Always hungry for new opportunities, Mark branched into other music business roles, and he composed jingles as well as songs for films and TV shows. His career intersected with The Carpenters, The Chesterfield Kings, Eric Johnson, Carla Olson, Gerry Rafferty (Mark helped to champion Gerry’s stateside success), Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, and he has a considerable connection with The Monkees, whose orbit led me (as a sometimes Monkees musical consort) to cross paths with Mark a couple times. He always treated me like a gentleman, and I first saw him in concert in 1993—a rock solid show loaded with hits and deep cuts. Legendary author Stephen King expressed his fan-dom with Mark’s 2001 cover of “Treat Her Right,” backed by Los Straitjackets
Mark’s kept busy on the road and in the studio, and he’s done a string of radio shows and webcasts, the latest being “The American Revolution” on Sirius XM.
My choice of a quintessential Mark Lindsay track is "Too Much Talk.” It blew my mind when I was a kid—my 45 of it cracked but I kept pressing it with my fingers till the vinyl tissued. The fidelity on this clip is a tad distorted, but the visuals speak volumes.
Meanwhile, HB and thank you Mark for continuing to inspire and entertain with your skills and talents.
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