96 Tears

[TC Chris]

Most of us probably have songs that have stood the test of time in our affection. For me, "96 Tears" by ? and the Mysterians is one of those. My brother included the album on the thumb drive he made up for me before I left Vermont in the new, no-CD truck.

Listen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjCMLU3Zil0

It has local significance. The group was from the area where I grew up, Hispanic kids, and the song was recorded at a small studio in town. It's the only no.1 hit recorded in Bay City. As Wikipedia says:

"The band recorded the songs "96 Tears" and "Midnight Hour" on April 15, 1966 at Art Schiell's Recording Studio in Bay City, Michigan,[7] for the small Pa-Go-Go label, which released the single in April, 1966.[8] After getting extensive regional airplay in Michigan and Ontario, Neil Bogart, president of Cameo-Parkway Records purchased the rights to the record for national distribution."

Art Schiell's studio was a small room on his home, adjacent to his hair-dressing parlor. He had a disc cutter and would produce LPs of your recording or ones he made in the field (weddings, funerals). I have discs of our high school concert band's yearly spring concerts.

Chris Campbell

[hermitcrab]

Those guys lived in a house down the street from us on the east side of Saginaw, My sister went on a date with ? or should I say Rudy... my dad wasn't too keen about it. but it was only one date...Rudy would bring his guitar and try to serenade her...but after they made the record we never saw or heard from them again. We figured they thought of themselves as to famous to hang out with the peasants anymore...

[TC Chris]

More likely they were too busy dealing with the demands of sudden fame. When the single hit big, they had to do an album, ad appear on TV, etc.

One of the guys bought his parents a house on Wheeler Road near Bay City. We always called it "the Question Mark house."

Chris Campbell