Motorbikin'

"Ever since World War II, California has been strangely plagued by wild men on motorcycles. They usually travel in groups of ten to thirty, booming along the highways and stopping here are there to get drunk and raise hell. In 1947, hundreds of them ran amok in the town of Hollister, an hour's fast drive south of San Francisco, and got enough press to inspire a film called The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando. The film had a massive effect on thousands of young California motorcycle buffs; in many ways, it was their version of The Sun Also Rises."

- Hunter S. Thompson, "The Motorcycle Gangs: Losers and Outsiders", The Nation, May 17, 1965.

Welcome to another special edition of the Komodo Lounge, this week dedicated to the early seeking of freedom via the motorcycle. The garage ethic on two wheels, propelled by rebellion, high-octane fuel and an early devotion to bongos and three chords, motorcycle music takes a place of honour in the pantheon of mid-20th century music.

Les Baxter - Hogin' Machine



Originally released in 1969, this amazing track is from the original soundtrack for the movie Hell's Belles, by cycle trash movie moguls American International Pictures. Composed and performed by the iconic Les Baxter, who composed music for films from the 50s through the 70s, including American International, before his post-humous anointing as The King of Exotica in the mid-90s.

Ricky Nelson - Fools Rush In



The motorcycle connection here is Kenneth Anger's use of "Fools Rush In" as the first track on his groundbreaking experimental vintage homoerotica film Scorpio Rising (1964). Originally written by Johnny Mercer in 1940, Nelson had a major hit with it in 1963, when it reached no. 12 on the Billboard charts.

Davie Allan and the Arrows - The Wild Angels (aka Blues' Theme)



Classic fuzztone from one of the artists who created the sound. Davie Allan. was another mainstay of American International, with a trademark fuzzed out, aggressive and speedy guitar style that proved a fitting accompaniment for the teen surf movies and biker flicks that formed the core of AIP's offerings. Blues' Theme, the main theme for the 1966 Roger Corman bikesploitation film 'The Wild Angels' (starring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd) was a breakout hit for Allan, with 17 weeks on the Billboard Chart.

Savage 7 - Desert Ride



This track is from a scene in the movie The Savage Seven, 1968, among whose stars was a young Larry Bishop, son of Ratpacker Joey Bishop. While I can't say for sure who performed this insturmental track, which was used as background for a desert ridin' montage, the presence of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15ngUiPUxzs">Johnny and the Hurricanes on the movie's soundtrack makes me suspect they may have been the culprits.

Hell Ride - Opening Sequence



The aforementioned Larry Bishop became perhaps the most omnipresent biker movie actor in the sixties, appearing in more bikesploitation films than Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson combined. In 2008, with the support of executive producer Quentin Tarantino, Bishop capped a panhead-propelled career by writing, producing and starring in what might be the quintessential biker trash flick, Hell Ride.

Hell Ride - Alternate Title Sequence



This is just an alternate title sequence that was filmed for Hell Ride, but it's such a great montage that it would be criminal not to include it.

Chris Spedding - Motorbikin'



From a 1975 Top of the Pops performance, here's Brit guitar god Chris Spedding leveraging his leather-clad biker tough guy image with a track called Motorbikin', one of several biker tracks he was responsible for. This one was one of his biggest hits, reaching the top 20 in the UK, but he became perhaps better known for his brilliant session guitar work with Roxy Music and for producing the Sex Pistols' first demos.

Chris Spedding - Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots



Another of Spedding's motorcycle classics, about the "terror of Highway 101". The influence of guitar pioneer Link Wray on Speddings' work is easy to detect on this one. Don't be misled, though, Spedding didn't write this one, as it was performed long before he did it, by the "leather-lunged" Vaughn Munroe.

Vaughn Munroe - Black Denim Trousers



A big band leader and a popular entertainer in the 1940s and 1950s, as well as beating Johnny Cash to the punch in charting with "Ghost Riders in the Sky" in 1949. Munroe strayed from form a little to record this cover in 1955. But Munroe still wasn't the first to record Black Denim Trousers. That honour would go to an American vocal group called The Cheers, earlier in the same year.

The Cheers - Black Denim Trousers



The Cheers hit the charts with a couple of songs in the mid-1950s, both of which were written by the legendary songwriting team of Lieber and Stoller. The Cheers were notable for having the first rock'n'roll hit by a white group, after Bill Haley and the Comets, with their track 'Bazoom (I Need Your Loving)', which seems pretty sadly dated to modern ears.

Parting Shot: Edith Piaf - L'Homme a la Moto

We've finished this edition of The Komodo Lounge with an exploration of multiple versions of Black Denim Trousers, but we'd be absolutely derelict in our duties if we didn't include the French version, recorded by the legendary Edith Piaf. Enjoy!!!