Going out to the Z-man, wherever he is. It's my happening, and it freaks me out!
I don't remember if I knew Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense And Peppermints" at the time of its 1967 chart reign--I was seven years old, but it's possible--or if I came to embrace the song after the fact. If the latter, I may have heard of the 1970 sexploitation film Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls before I knew "Incense And Peppermint;" I certainly didn't see the movie itself until many, many years later, and I didn't know that Strawberry Alarm Clock appeared in it, but I saw a Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls pictorial in Playboy, and that got my adolescent attention. (What business did a ten-year-old have reading Playboy? The business of staring at unclothed women. Plus articles, I guess.)
But yeah, in addition to the pulchritudinous charms of its actresses, Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls presented Strawberry Alarm Clock in a party scene, lip-syncing their hit from a few years back, and then doing the same with two new songs for the soundtrack LP (as well as pretending to back up the film's fictional combo the Carrie Nations).
Unlike the Carrie Nations, the Strawberry Alarm Clock kept their clothes on. Who cares what games we choose?
Little to gain, but nothing to lose. "Incense And Peppermint" was the group's only big hit, (though "Tomorrow" did make the Top 40 at # 23). But man, they earned that one hit, and one hit is one more freakin' hit than most of us ever achieve. The Strawberry Alarm Clock's one hit still buzzes like the audible psychedelic flash of a black light custom-fitted for AM radio. A yardstick for lunatics? That's one point of view. Good sense, innocence, cripplin' mankind. Beyond any valley of dolls, the sound of the Strawberry Alarm Clock is but one of many things I can't define. Turn on. Tune in. Turn your eyes around. And to hell with the Z-man anyway.
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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.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.
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