THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Herman's Hermits, "A Must To Avoid"

Drawn in part from previous posts, this is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). 

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

HERMAN'S HERMITS: A Must To Avoid

Written by P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri

Produced by Mickie Most

Single, MGM Records, 1965

When I think of rock 'n' roll movies, I don't think of concert films or documentaries. I think of scripted flicks with some excuse for a plot (however slight), and pop idols singin' their songs. I primarily think of star vehicles, like Sonny and Cher in Good Times or Bloodstone in Train Ride To Hollywood. As a kid growing up in the '60s, I only saw two such films: The Beatles' magnificent A Hard Day's Night and the significantly less-great Hold On!, the latter starring Herman's Hermits. 

A little bit o' background here: I love Herman's Hermits, and none of the seeming snark above should lead you to forget that fact. I love many of the Hermits' records, especially "No Milk Today" and "A Must To Avoid," but also including all of their big hits and many of their lesser-known tracks. Yes, please consider me a big fan of Herman's Hermits on record.

As for their movies? The Lord says love the singers, hate the singers' films.

Although I did indeed see Herman's Hermits in Hold On! when it was still in theaters, let's forget about that. And believe me, it's an easy movie to forget. Instead, let's move ahead by a decade and change, to when I was an 18-year-old college freshman in 1978. That's when I scored a truly beat-up copy of the Hold On! soundtrack LP, a record that was a lot more interesting than the cinematic trifle that spawned it.

One may be tempted to dismiss the album as a trifle as well, but it was at least an interesting trifle; I loved some of it, and I wasn't much put off by the rest. If I could take or leave (mostly leave) "The George And Dragon," "Leaning On A Lamp Post," and Shelley Fabares' "Make Me Happy" (which skipped on my copy anyway), I had more enthusiasm for "Hold On!," "Wild Love," "All The Things I Do For You Baby," and "Gotta Get Away." My biggest go-to tracks on Hold On! were "Got A Feeling," "Where Were You When I Needed You" (later a hit for the Grass Roots), and "A Must To Avoid." 

"A Must To Avoid" quickly became my favorite Herman's Hermits. My local heroes the Flashcubes likewise gave it their seal of approval by covering "A Must To Avoid" in their live sets, and that served to validate what I already knew: "A Must To Avoid" is power pop, as in pop with POWER!, a rockin' number that eschews leaning on a lamppost in favor of leaning forward as power pop oughta. The Hold On! album meant a lot to me in the summer of '78, when I routinely played it alongside my cache of punk and power pop.

Then, as now, "A Must To Avoid" was the track I played the most.

The sharp-eyed among you will notice some scribbling on the above photo of my copy of the Hold On! LP.  I saw a bar-band line up of Herman's Hermits (minus Peter Noone) at a nightclub in 1978 (right in the same time frame that I was seeing the Ramones and the Runaways, the Kinks, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, and the Flashcubes). The Herman-less Hermits played a bar called The Gin Mill in Liverpool, NY, and they put on a swell show, after which I solicited autographs from bassist Karl Green, guitarist Derek Leckenby, and drummer Barry Whitwam, plus guitarist Frank Renshaw, who had replaced Keith Hopwood in Hermitdom. I saw Peter Noone on several subsequent occasions, including one show with his fab early '80s new wave group the Tremblers, but have never had an opportunity to get him to add his signature alongside those of his erstwhile co-workers.

The Tremblers were themselves an incredible second act for Noone. By the early '80s, Noone was tired of being cute 'n' cuddly ol' Herman. To paraphrase CREEM magazine's review of the Tremblers' lone album Twice Nightly: Noone was sick of leaning on the damned lamppost, and he wanted some action. Even the band's name--a play on "knee-tremblers," a reference to clandestine sex in the alley--was a bit ruder than anything ever said to Mrs. Brown about her lovely daughter. 

Noone was unable to reconcile his former image with the new image he wanted. The Tremblers' live set consisted of all of the tracks from the album, and nothing else: No non-LP covers, no other new material, and for God's sake no Herman's Hermits songs. That was an unfortunate decision. It's not like the Tremblers projected a junkie image like they were Johnny Thunders or something, nor were they metal or punk, nor any more salacious than the Knack (who were salacious enough). Their music was a tangent to that of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, or a more boppin' version of the Cretones, or a less-raucous relative of the Romantics. The lone cover was Elvis Costello's "Green Shirt," as heard on Twice Nightly. I could see why he/they might not want to perform "I'm Henry VIII I Am," but "A Must To Avoid" or "No Milk Today" would have enhanced their set. 

Enhanced their set? Hell, a run-through of "A Must To Avoid" by this crack combo woulda been as far from a must to avoid as human minds can imagine, and it woulda brought the motherlovin' house down. 

When I saw the Tremblers, I called out a request for "Oh, You Pretty Things," the David Bowie song that had been Noone's first post-Hermits single about a decade before that. Noone brushed off the idea with a breezy We know that one! as he moved on to "Steady Eddie" or "Dad Said" or whatever Tremblers song was next on the set list.

I liked Twice Nightly a lot, and I'm still thrilled I had a chance to see its songs performed live. The Tremblers weren't around for very long, and Noone soon reverted to his old role as Herman. Second verse, same as the verse. It's a pretty good verse. I would love to hear Noone incorporate some verses from what he did with the Tremblers into what he does as Herman with his Hermits. Peter has long demonstrated his ability to lean into something good.

And the Tremblers could have killed with "A Must To Avoid." Lean in. Pop with power. Way better than the movie. Hold on, Hermits. Hold on.

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I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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