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The Buckled Shoe of Rock: Paul Revere & The Raiders vs. The Upper Crust
The saga of Paul Revere & the Raiders is almost as epic as one of those Lord of the Rings movies in that approximately 50 people have occupied a spot in that band at one time or another. There’s a good chance you were in Paul Revere & the Raiders and you just don’t remember it. Think back to college. Remember that weird job you took for a couple weeks where you had to wear a really stupid uniform and sway your hips in front of gaggles of screaming housewives and scared children? That’s it. You were Paul Revere’s bass player.
The Raiders started in the late ’50s with an organist actually named Paul Revere. The band was originally called the Downbeats, but Revere and singer Mark Lindsay (the other mainstay) could just smell the Revolutionary War trend that was a heartbeat away from affecting our nation’s youth. Ergo, they rechristened themselves Paul Revere & the Raiders. The band’s first substitution came shortly after the release of their debut single, 1961’s “Like Long Hair.” Revere was drafted to fight in Vietnam but deferred as a cook in a mental institution; Lindsay picked one Leon Russell to take the place of the group’s namesake for their inaugural tour of the States that summer.
Columbia Records signed PRATR on the strength of 1962’s “Louie, Louie”, a recording most vinyl snobs will tell you they prefer to the more famous Kingsmen version that was recorded around the same time (and, if you can believe it, in the same studio). The ultimate irony hanging over the Raiders like a sopping wet towel is, despite their extremely American name and goofy patriotic outfits, these guys were more or less just aping the sounds of the British Invasion. No musical revolution was Lindsay kicking up—he was but a puppet of the Merseybeat aristocracy. For some reason, the Raiders just couldn’t bring themselves to discuss colonial hot button issues, such as taxation without representation or Thomas Jefferson’s slave diddling. No, they just complained about having nothing to do (“Kicks”) and gushed about chicks (“Just Like Me”). Only once did the group come anywhere near a “period” piece—1971’s “Indian Reservation”, a solemn lament about the plight of the Native American. A touching song, but not exactly in character.
The logical reaction to the George Washington vibe of the Raiders would be a rock group taking the guise of British nobility circa 1776. Surprisingly, this act would not come until 1995, but (in another ironic twist) it would originate in the city best known for being ground zero for the American Revolution—Boston, Mass. Donning powdered wigs, tight britches, and high-falutin’ attitudes, the quartet calling itself the Upper Crust differed from the musically straightforward Raiders in that they specifically sang about 18th century junk. Indentured servants, boudoirs, finishing school, and bloodletting are all subjects the Crust laid out for their audience in a manner similar to 1970s hard rock gods like Thin Lizzy and AC/DC (singer Lord Bendover comes pretty close to out-Bon Scotting Scott’s real life replacement Brian Johnson). Kicks for the Crust were not hard to find. They merely abused rickshaw boys, teased wenches, and dumbfounded rock audience after rock audience by speaking in near-perfect Olde English between songs at their concerts.
A Lindsay-less version of the Raiders had been dicking around for years when the Upper Crust first exploded on the scene. Realizing their Ben Franklin-era shtick was in danger of being usurped, Lindsay (who quit the band in ’75) reunited with his mid-’60s brohams for a triumphant reunion show in 1997. However, in yet another ironic twist, the actual Paul Revere was once again absent from the proceedings. So it was really just Mark Lindsay & the Raiders trying to take back the metaphorical buckled shoes of rock in Portland, Oregon, that night. In the end, it didn’t matter any way—Raidermania was not born anew. The Upper Crust carried on their reign as America’s premier pre-Civil War rock novelty act unabated. That year, Boston’s finest released their keystone sophomore effort, The Decline & Fall of the Upper Crust, which boasted such foppish headbangers as “Vulgar Tongue” and “Tell Mother I’m Home.”
The Crust continue to rock the fair faces of music fans well into this new century—’twas just two or three months ago I watched them 
address loyal subjects at Manhattan’s Highline Ballroom. They have kept their humor fresh by performing infrequently and appearing on television even less frequently. This stands in stark contrast to the Raiders, who wiggle their over-the-hill asses onstage in Branson, Missouri, almost every goddamn night of the year and love to claim they logged the most TV time of any popular group of their time. Not surprisingly, Dick Clark owns most of the nationally broadcast footage of the boyishly handsome Lindsay and his cohorts; to date, America’s Oldest Teenager refuses to release any of it. That might explain why the Raiders are currently stuck in the tacky living time machine that is Branson.
The current incarnation of the Raiders, by the way, is fucking frightening. Paul visually leans towards Captain Kangaroo’s reanimated corpse by way of Rip Taylor. He apparently often sits in the cab of a fake Cadillac onstage holding signs and baring his gargantuan teeth while the son of one of the Righteous Brothers (who could be the Ukraine’s number one Fabio impersonator), and a few other carnival types, strut around in seam-busting overcoats. The “Indian Reservation” must be right next to the $3 Chinese Buffet. ZING! You guys certainly are “hungry for those good things,” aren’t you? OOF! Yeah, these are cheap shots I’m tossing out, but you try writing 900 words about Paul Revere & the Raiders without doing the same goddamn thing.
Watch: The Upper Crust [at youtube.com]
Watch: Paul Revere & the Raiders [at youtube.com]
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17 Comments
I’ve read somwhere that “Kinks” was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil about (or at least inspired by, since the actual lyric is scolding a girl) their fellow Brill Building legend Gerry Goffin, who was beginning to suffer damage from too much chemical inspiration.
At any rate, Paul Revere and the Raiders are nothing to sneer at. Those singles were brilliant and stand up next to anything else in the 60s. “Good Thing” manages to locate the exact space between the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys. Amazing.
Ummm, obviously I meant “Kicks”, nor “Kinks”. Perhaps Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil need to write a song about me now. Oh well.
Boredom, drug addiction – it doesn’t matter what “Kicks” is really about. All that matters is it’s not about any American Revolutionary-type shit.
I’ve seen PRATR recently and they weren’t good. But, spend a little time listening to their amazing singles from the ’60’s and you’ll agree that this article is a bit unfair. They were harder than most of the Merseybeat bands and had their own sound. The “Alias Pink Puzz” and “Goin’ to Memphis” LPs show a band trying to push their boundaries, like all good musicians. And why should anyone apologize for a lengthy string of big hit singles?
Never heard of “The Upper Crust” before reading this article. Must be some local band the author adores.
But..why the put down of the ML era of PRR ? They were huge in their time and their music (records) from their time on Columbia still sounds good today. Yes, I could easily write 900 words praising the PRR of yesteryear without tossing out cheap shots. can’t say the samething for “The Upper Crust.”
Contrary to the author,the Raiders’ song Kicks wasn’t about having nothing to do. It was about being hooked on drugs and was actually one of the early anti drug songs.
900 words on the Raiders without the Upper Crust and cheap shots should be easy if you cared about the subject.
It would have been nice if you had credited my original photo of the Upper Crust, which I posted on Wikipedia under a Creative Commons license.
Caring about shit is sooo last year.
Hey there Kevin,
You’ll see that the photo has been credited to you; we use a scroll-over credit here at Crawdaddy!
Thanks!
I was in Branson this summer, but couldn’t bring myself to see the Raiders show …
You got it at least partly wrong about the Raiders aping the British Invasion sounds. Sure, the Raiders covered “Satisfaction” in ‘65, but at the same time in England The Who and David Bowie both were covering the Raiders’ “Louie, Louie Go Home,” while the Kinks were krunching away at “Louie Louie” and the Beatles were looking forward to meeting Tacoma’s Wailers once they hit Seattle on tour. Pretty much all the English bands were, after all, inspired by American music of a few years earlier, such as the Raiders had been playing non-stop for years already! To me, the Raiders have a total NW Ruenced sound, which eventually was mixed with LA production values to create nothing but classic American rock
Feh! Both David Bowie (1964) and the Who (1965) were covering Paul Revere aiders … The British Invasion took as much — if not more — from the American NW Rd as bands like the Raiders took from the UK groups.
This is the worst, if not dumbest and uneducated article’s I’ve ever read period. James Greene, seriously you suck. Jealous you weren’t in the band? Ripped off the British? Dude do your homework you uneducated so called “Journalist”. Have fun with your ever changing career’s.
Seriously, The Upper Crust? Isn’t that promotion over at Pizza Hut? Never heard of them until this D+ English assignment. I hope you had fun with The Upper Crust, the one band that invited you into their green room along with 50 others, so that now you feel special. How was the free cold cuts? I’m sorry if this was your first article ever published, however I hope it was your last. Goodnight! And Don’t forget, PRin Branson…still selling out shows and entertaining!
Just Discovered on Wolfgang’s Vault! Items for Sale of PRt’s right, Poster’s and Handbill’s. What’s ironic is right under Snoopy’s nose are some iconic memorabilia such as this handbill that has the following artist’s on the cover:
Bob Dylan,
The Rolling Stones,
Sonny
We Five,
Paul Revere and the Raiders,
The Byrds,
Bo Diddley,
Dick Clark.
Plus there’s items in the $499 Plus category. That’s good, right?
I feel that you understand now James Greene, Jr., since this piece work is almost a year old and carries no weight, you’ve probably grown. Goodnight, I have to wash my hair.
I bet I’m the only one here that has seen both of these bands in their prime (Raiders in ‘66 on a Rolling Stones tour in Seattle, the Crust at the Drunkfest in Las Vegas about 4 years ago). Both great bands. No reason to crap on either one for the sake of the other.