For
a very brief time in 1964, it seemed that the biggest challenger to
the Beatles' phenomenon
was the Dave Clark Five. From the Tottenham area of London, the quintet had the
fortune to knock "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the British charts
with "Glad All Over," and were championed (for about 15 minutes) by the British
press as
the Beatles' most serious
threat. They were the first British Invasion band to break in a big way in the
States after
the Beatles, though
the Rolling Stones and
others quickly supplanted the DC5 as
the Fab Four's most
serious rivals. The Dave Clark Five reached the Top 40 17 times between 1964 and
1967 with memorable hits like "Glad All Over," "Bits and Pieces," "Because," and
a remake of
Bobby Day's "Over and
Over," as well as making more appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show than any other
English act. The DC5 were distinguished from their British contemporaries by
their larger-than-life production,
Clark's loud stomping
drum sound, and
Mike Smith's leathery
vocals. Though accused by detractors of lacking finesse and hipness, they had a
solid ear for melodies and harmonies and wrote much of their early material, the
best of which endured quite well. Interestingly, and unusually for that era,
bandleader Dave Clark managed and produced the band himself, negotiating a much
higher royalty rate than artists of that period usually received. After a couple
years of superstardom, the group proved unable to either keep up with the
changing times or maintain a high standard of original compositions, and called
it quits in 1970. —
Rick Clark & Richie Unterberg
Formed | 1961 in Tottenham, London, England |
Disbanded | 1970 |
Group Members |
Dave Clark
|
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