Paul Revere & the Raiders were a pretty big deal in the back half of the ’60s and even into the front half of the ’70s. Case in point is today’s classic song of the day, “Hungry.” Released as a single in June of 1966, “Hungry” went all the way to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the Cash Box Top 100.
“Hungry” was written by the legendary songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. They also wrote “Kicks,” another top ten hit for the Raiders earlier that year.
The “Hungry” single was notable for its driving bass line. That line was actually three separate tracks: a normal bass line, the same line played an octave higher, and another track recorded with a heavy fuzz bass. The Raiders’ Phil Volk played all three tracks.
Paul Revere & the Raiders was fronted by a guy actually named Paul Revere (actually Paul Revere Dick, who had the good taste to drop his real surname), who played organ but didn’t sing. Lead vocals were handled by Mark Lindsay, who also had a successful post-Raiders solo career with hits like “Miss America,” “Silver Bird,” and “Arizona.” Other members of the group were Drake “Kid” Levin on guitar, Phil Volk on bass, and Mike “Smitty” Smith on drums. Terry Melcher, Doris Day’s son, served as their producer.
Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay formed the Raiders in Boise, Idaho, but they later relocated to Portland, Oregon. Originally calling themselves the Downbeats, they changed their name to Paul Revere & the Raiders in 1960 and got their first recording contract, with Gardenia Records, shortly after. They had some early regional hits but didn’t hit it big until they started emulating the British Invasion sound and dressing up in colonial American outfits, as befitting their name. Their biggest hits included “Just Like Me” (#11 in 1965), “Kicks” (#4 in 1966), “Hungry” (#6 in 1966), “Good Thing” (#4 in 1966), “Him or Me—What’s It Gonna Be?” (#5 in 1967), “I Had a Dream” (#17 in 1967), “Too Much Talk” (#19 in 1968), “Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon” (#18 in 1969), “Let Me!” (#20 in 1969), and “Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)” (#1 in 1971)—that last one a Mark Lindsay solo recording that carried the Raiders label for promotional purposes.
The Raiders were all over the tube in the late ’60s, appearing frequently on The Ed Sullivan Show, Where the Action Is, Happening ’68, and It’s Happening. Those last two, both Dick Clark productions, were actually co-hosted by Revere and Lindsay; the Raiders functioned as the house band for those two shows, plus Dick Clark’s other production, Where the Action Is.
Mark Lindsay officially left the Raiders in 1975, but the group continued on without him, albeit with frequent lineup changes and occasional reunions with some or all of the original members. Paul Revere supposedly retired from the music business in 1976 but was back on the road two years later with another incarnation of the Raiders; he really truly retired from the band in August of 2014 and passed away two months later, from cancer. He was 74 years old.
For today’s daily bonus video of the day, here’s Paul Revere & the Raiders, with Mark Lindsay on vocals, lip-synching “Hungry” (poorly) on the show Where the Action Is back in 1966. Groovy, baby!
