From:  "Dik de Heer"  
Date:  Tue Oct 5, 2004  1:28 am 
Subject:  This Is My Story : The Rock-A-Teens
 
THE ROCK-A-TEENS

The Rock-A-Teens were a youthful sextet from Richmond, Virginia, led by
Vic Mizelle (vocals, guitar). The other members were Bobby "Boo" Walke
(guitar), Bill Cook (guitar), Eddie Robinson (sax), Paul Dixon (bass) and
Bill Smith (drums). They first opened for business during 1956 as high
school band Boo Walke & the Rockets.

In 1959 they auditioned for George Donald McGraw, who owned a record
shop in Salem, Virginia, and a record label, Mart Records, to which Mickey
Hawks was contracted at the time. McGraw was impressed by the boys'
own composition "Rock-A-Teen Boogie", a falsetto-refrained instrumental
with one of rock's first midtune drum solos. Retitled "Woo-Hoo", it came
out on Doran 3515 (a subsidiary of Mart) in August 1959, coupled with
"Untrue", a vocal number. These first pressings on Doran credited the
Rock-A-Teens as the writers of "Woo Hoo". However, none other than
Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith sued the group for plagiarism, much to the
confusion of the young boys. McGraw then said "I'll buy the song off you
guys and that way they can't sue you". For a few hundred dollars, the
song got a new owner. Unbeknownst to the group, McGraw struck a deal
with Morris Levy at Roulette Records in New York to reissue the record
for national distribution on Roulette 4192, now with composer credits on
both sides going to G.D. McGraw.

"Woo-Hoo" entered the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1959 and had a 12-week
run, peaking at # 16. Probably to the group's amazement, Roulette decided to
follow this success by having them record an LP. One session in November
1959 proved not enough for a full album, so a second session was called for
in early 1960. Meanwhile, Roulette released a follow-up single in December,
again coupling an instrumental ("Twangy") with a vocal track ("Doggone It
Baby"). The latter was a stupendous raver, with Mizelle really ripping it up,
but it was lost on the B-side of "Twangy".

The LP "Woo Hoo" (Roulette SR-25109) was released in the spring of 1960
and contained seven vocal tracks and five instrumentals. Of the four tracks
from the two singles, "Untrue" was omitted from the LP, as the group found
it too bad for inclusion. The album (a total flop in terms of sales, but now an
in-demand rarity) shows that the Rock-A-Teens' real forte was as a raw,
attacking, garage rock band, almost a punk band, some 16 years before the
genre became fashionable. Not all group members were equally competent,
though. Mizelle and Walke had to teach Cook and Dixon over and over how
to play certain chords.

Eventually, the Rock-A-Teens' enthusiastic rawness was probably their
undoing, as the musical times were a-changing. By 1960, rock 'n' roll was
becoming ever more streamlined and sophisticated. There were no further
recordings, but the groups leaves a fine legacy, which has been reissued
heavily, including some previously unissued tracks and alternates. For an
overview see Terry Gordon's website at
http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/r/rock2500.htm
The most complete overview (not mentioned by Gordon) is the CD "Woo-Hoo
& Other Classics" on Sparkletone 99015 (34 tracks), but this is a bootleg,
as are the CD's on BigTone and Lady Luck.

According to Wayne Jancik, in his "One Hit-Wonders" book, drummer Bill
Smith went on to form the Bill Smith Combo, which had some releases on
Chess in the early sixties. With all due respect, Wayne, I don't think this
is correct. There was a Bill Smith Combo that included Gene Summers
(Lonely/Heartbreak Hotel, Chess 1773), though I doubt if this is the same
group that issued "Raunchy" on Chess 1780. I don't have the time right now
to research this in depth. Perhaps other list members can tell us more.

For those who can read German, by far the most comprehensive source
of information on the Rock-A-Teens is:
http://www.rockinfifties.de/Leseprobe/Rock-A-Teens.pdf
(The PDF version may take some time to download.)