One of these days I might actually put together a radio show that features these off-brand recordings, but for now they’ll do nicely as a K-Chuck Radio blog post.
Let me explain.
There was once a time when a pop song or a rock song became a worldwide hit. The song was recognizable, it was enjoyable, it was memorable. You could instantly recognize the riff, the guitar lick, the lead singer’s vocals, all of that.
What I have here has NONE of those qualities.
See, once a song actually became somewhat popular, cheapo companies would produce their own versions of the same song. And they would sell them as budget 45’s and budget LP’s, hoping to scrape a few dollars from unsuspecting consumers who go to the record store, see the title, think they’re buying the hit, purchasing the 45, taking it home, putting it on the turntable and realizing they’ve been seriously swindled.
Let us show some examples of this bait-and-switch tactic.
This is the Beach Boys’ classic track “Good Vibrations.” It has the classic Beach Boys harmony, the Wrecking Crew studio band, and sounds like Brian Wilson spent the better part of $40,000 on producing this masterpiece.
Okay. Now that we’ve set the baseline … take a listen to this knockoff version from Hit Parader Records, a cheapo company from Derby, Connecticut. The singers are off-key, the musicians sound bored as hell, and the whole session probably cost about $35 and a six-pack of Schlitz to produce.
Our next example. Here’s the Lovin’ Spoonful’s kick-ass track “Summer in the City,” in glorious stereo, complete with honking horns and jackhammers in the instrumental breaks. Damn, I love this song.
Here’s a knockoff version that sounds like they only had five minutes to record it. Muff the lyrics? No biggie. Honking horns and jackhammers? Who needs ’em? Complete fail on the piano notes? What do you expect for a cheapo price?
Let’s travel back to 1956 and the early years of rock and roll, with one of the greatest doo-wop tracks of the era – Frankie Lymon and the Teen-Agers’ “Why Do Fools Fall In Love.”
Okay, brace yourself. This was produced for the budget Tops label, and suddenly we go from a doo-wop soul track to what appears to be a white harmony big band track. Credited to Benn Zeppa with the Four Jacks. Excuse me while I go throw up.
The Del-Vikings were one of the first integrated doo-wop groups to find national success, with tracks like “Whispering Bells” and this classic, “Come Go With Me.”
The best thing I can say about this version, as performed by the “Promineers” on Promenade Records, is that no matter how bad it is, you can’t destroy the record, seeing as its most endearing quality is that it was pressed on “unbreakable vinyl.” No matter how hard you try. Hammer, chainsaw, napalm…
Trust me, these cheapo companies have absolutely no shame. How can you take one of the greatest songs in the history of rock and roll music …
And you put together some mangle-lyric track that sounds like it was recorded in your sister’s boyfriend’s bedroom – and consists of only one lyric and a quick fadeout? Yikes.
Okay. If you thought that knockoff was putrid, you haven’t heard what they did to the Beatles.
Spoiler alert – someone get this drummer a metronome for Christmas. He needs it.
So if you really need something to scare you for Halloween … as you can clearly hear … I gotcha covered.
On K-Chuck Radio.
Chuck The Writer 
Some of those cheap-ass knockoffs were so bad, the artist(s) were too ashamed to actually take ownership. As you probably know, Frankie Lymon’s “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” was covered years later by Diana Ross after she left Motown for RCA. Probably brought more attention to Lymon at the same time.
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My fave is the bass line of Good Vibes. One string, it sounds like.
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