Del.icio.usPaul Revere & the Raiders
Fact Sheet
| Musical genre: | Rock |
| Country | USA |
| Official site | http://www.paulrevereandtheraiders.com/ |
The band, initially located in Boise, Idaho, started as an instrumental rock outfit led by organist Paul Revere, named in honor of the Revolutionary War hero, who in his early twenties already owned several restaurants in Portland, Oregon. Singer Mark Lindsay joined in 1958. Originally called The Downbeats, their name was changed to Paul Revere & The Raiders in 1960 on the eve of their first record release for Gardena Records. The band scored their first hit in 1961 with "Like Long Hair" an instrumental. Revere became drafted by the military, but was rejected when he became a conscientious objector. He worked for a mental institution for a year and half as defered service. After reforming the band, they attracted national attention again with a cover of "Louie Louie", which was picked up by Columbia Records although beaten in the charts by The Kingsmen's version. They would maintain a huge level of popularity in the mid-1960s beginning with "Just Like Me" (1965), which marked the beginning of a string of garage rock classics. The Raiders, under the guidance of producer Terry Melcher, increasingly emulated the sounds of the British Invasion (such as The Rolling Stones, The Animals) with an American R&B feel. The band appeared regularly on national television principly on Dick Clark's "Where The Action Is", and their trademark was wearing uniforms from the American Revolutionary War. This cartoonish image obscured the proto-hard rock sound that their music often took.
Their hits from the mid-60's included "Kicks"(Billboard Pop Chart #4), "Him or Me - What's It Gonna Be?"(Billboard Pop Chart #7), "Good Thing"(Billboard Pop Chart #5), "Hungry" (Billboard Pop Chart #5), and "Great Airplane Strike"(Billboard Pop Chart #20).
In mid-1967, with three gold albums to their credit, they were Columbia Records' top-selling rock band; their Greatest Hits album was one of two releases selected by Clive Davis to try out a higher list price for albums expected to be particularly popular, along with Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits.
Changing tastes in the late 1960s rendered them unfashionable, but they still continued to have hits through the rest of the decade, "I Had A Dream" (1967 - Billboard Pop Chart #20), "Too Much Talk" (1968 - Billboard Pop Chart #18), and "Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon" (1969 - Billboard Pop Chart #18). Tensions between Lindsay and Revere increased during this time ; Lindsay wanted to go more in the direction of hard rock acts like Led Zeppelin or the James Gang, while Revere sought a bubblegum pop direction. Lindsay's vision for the Raiders was represented on songs such as "Let Me" (1969 - Billboard Pop Chart #20 - Gold Single), "Powder Blue Mercedes Queen" (1972 - Billboard Pop Chart #54) and "Just Seventeen" (1970 - Billboard Pop Chart #70) and the 1970 Album "Collage". By the time of the release of "Collage" the band's name was officially shortened to "The Raiders". "Freeborn Man", written by Lindsay and bassist Keith Allison, has since gone on to be a Country Rock standard, covered by The Outlaws, Junior Brown, and Glen Campbell amongst many others.
Ironically, their single release, "Indian Reservation" (1971 - Billboard Pop Chart #1 - Platinum single), would be their biggest hit of all, after about a year and a half or so of no hits.
In 1972 The Raiders made one last attempt at a pop album with "Country Wine" but Columbia was sinking money into other acts, such as Mott The Hoople and Aerosmith and "Country Wine" and The Raiders sank in the resulting quagmire.
Lindsay left the band in 1975 to continue his solo career. That same year, The Raiders were dropped by their label, Columbia. Revere continued to put together Raiders lineups with some succes, but Lindsay was clearly the star of the band. Revere has continued to play shows on the oldies circuit and in Las Vegas with various Raiders. Lindsay is musically semi-retired and lives in Hawaii, but occasionally plays. (Other members of the band constantly changed ; bassist Keith Allison, who played in the Raiders from '68 to '75, is probably the best known of them, and has since gone into acting, and has appeared in the film Gods and Generals.
The punk rock and New Wave eras would see a wave of interest in the Raiders' music ; "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" was covered by The Sex Pistols (although The Monkees' cover version was more well known than the Raiders' original), and later "Just Like Me" would be covered by The Circle Jerks (as well as by more mainstream figures like Joan Jett and Pat Benatar). "Hungry" was also covered by Sammy Hagar. The Paisley Underground, garage rock revival, and grunge movements would all acknowledge the Raiders' influence.