Paul Revere & the Raiders - "Him or Me"

Thanks to Frank and Save vs. Death for uncovering this high quality video of Paul Revere & The Raiders performing "Him or Me." As Frank writes, "It's a mistake to categorize them as bubble gum- despite the gimmicky costumes and choreographed dance moves- their songs have a lot of proto garage/ hard rock rumble to them."

Paul Revere & the Raiders - "Him or Me"

• [elbogotano]

  When I was 10 the next door neighbor kid came over and asked if I wanted to go over and watch a new TV show called “Where The Action Is” he told me that a band called “The Pirates” were on the show. Well it turns out it was Paul Revere and the Raiders and I remember spending a lot of afternoons watching the show with a bunch of kids glued to the TV. Dick Clark had not only The Raiders on but he would showcase any body that was hitting the charts and popular at the time. If you were good you were a guest on the show. The Raiders were the house band, and they were not good they were great!!

• [Teller]

  Mark Lindsay wrote some music for a project I worked on last century. Nice guy. Thorough. Pro.

• [Anonymous]

  I didn’t even know they were considered bubble gum. I only know of them as the first group to record “(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone.”

• [Anonymous]

  I remeber Kieth Allison from “Were the Action is” I was not suprised to see him join the Raiders. He kind of looked like Paul of the Beatles. These guys were Boss!!

• [Anonymous]

  Anyone who labels Paul Revere and the Raiders as bubblegum knows absolutely nothing about rock and roll. They were known as a great show band, a great bar band and a great garage band – but NEVER bubblegum. I saw them in the mid sixties live, and they genuinely kicked butt. And Paul is still out there on a show opening for Bill Medley, still knocking audiences out. Long Live Paul Revere & the Raiders!

  As to Comment #1 – Friend – :) – Manfred Mann recorded a song called Sha La La – I’d suggest you might want to check that one out – it rumbles, it’s garage, it’s blues, it was QUITE heavy for it’s day.

  Knock bands for singing Sha La La and you’re knocking about half the bands on this planet in their early days…

• [Kimmo]

  I wasted my bandwidth looking for the promised ‘proto garage/ hard rock rumble’… if this is the mob who penned Stepping Stone, the posted vid is apparently a poor example.

  #12: ‘Knock bands for singing Sha La La and you’re knocking about half the bands on this planet in their early days…’

  Heh – like Spinal Tap? : p

• [Mark Frauenfelder]

  Hey, Anonymous: “Sha la la la lee”

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcosDZ5oAyM

• [smartlikeatruck]

  I saw them perform a few years ago. They still wore the pants.

• [adamnvillani]

  no one saw anything strange about being into … The Mamas and the Papas

  Well, not until yesterday, that is:
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/22/mackenzie-phillips-oprah_n_294479.html

• [Axx]

  Exploring the roots of your favorite kinds of music is a blast! The garage/hard rock connection is a little more transparent in this vid of the Animals doing “It’s My Life” — complete with cheesy retro intro.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNzmrEgz_GI

• [chaircrusher]

  As someone who was born in 1957, I remember Paul Revere and the Raiders as being a pretty big deal about the same time as the Monkees in the 67-69, and being very popular with kids my age. It may seem strange now, but I lived in San Jose at the time, and no one saw anything strange about being into Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Mamas and the Papas, Jimi Hendrix, and the Grateful Dead. Of course the rise of Psychedelia and Bubblegum and Motown all seemed to coexist on pop radio in ways that are unthinkable now…

  And given how they were on the cover of teen magazines in 1968, they kind of fell out of popularity very rapidly — only a few years later I saw them at the All Iowa Fair, which wasn’t even the Iowa State Fair. All Pop idols take note: find an honest accountant and bank your money when it’s flowing!

  • [Anonymous]

    Living in San Jose you should have supported your scene of fantastic garage bands like Syndicate of Sound, Chocolate Watch Band, E-Types, and the Count Five.

• [Chas44]

  Nobody in the 1960s had foreheads, I guess?

• [Anonymous]

  wow, this is the earliest video (‘film’ for us geezers)I’ve seen of someone playing a Gibson EDS-1275, the double-neck guitar made famous by Jimmy Page. Any guitar afficionados know of any earlier?

  Sorry, my guitar geekness meter went off the charts when I saw this.

• [Cowicide]

  @#3

  beat me to it

• [Anonymous]

  Rick-rack never looked so sexy.

• [Anonymous]

  Please help the Raiders get into the RnR Hall of Fame.

  http://www.raidersrockhall.com

• [Anonymous]

  “their songs have a lot of proto garage/ hard rock rumble to them.”

  no, they don’t. any band whose lyrics include “sha-la-la-la-la” is automatically excluded from this category.

• [Anonymous]

  Great song, but you can tell that the lead singer was doing his dead level best to copy the contortions of Mick Jagger. Not doing a half bad job either.

  • [Anonymous]

    The difference is that Mark Lindsay looks cool doing it. Jagger looks like a skinny chicken on crack!

• [JackSpellman]

  Featuring young Jeff Daniels and keyboard and backing vocals.

• [Anonymous]

  I love how they didn’t even bother to plug in their instruments.

• [creesto]

  They totally rock! Vintage rockers must be viewed in Eyes of the Times rather than Today or one can completely miss the cultural significance/impact/stance. How genuine their joy seems. Dig it.

• [Anonymous]

  @#2 Reminds me a lot of early Stones and The Who.
  @#1 The Who had many la-la-la lines. And they define hard rock.

• [Reed Savory]

  Only one thing to say:

  Paul Revere and the Raiders

  “Kicks”

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP8G4clUJBY&feature=related