enjoyed seven years of serious chart action, and during their three biggest years (1966-1969), sold records in numbers second only to
. And their hits "Steppin' Out," "Just Like Me," "Hungry," "Him or Me-What's It Gonna Be," and "Kicks," in particular, are now seen by compilers as bold, unpretentious pieces of '60s rock & roll with a defiant, punk edge.
was born on January 7, 1938 in Harvard, NE. He learned to play the piano as a boy, and developed a keen appreciation for the work of
. He joined his first real band while in his teens, and was later joined by 16-year-old
(b. March 9, 1942), a singer/saxman who ended up replacing the group's vocalist. Called the Downbeats, they were popular at local dances, and cut a demo for Gardena Records in Los Angeles, where the company's owner was interested in issuing a record, but only if they changed their name.
. Their third single, a
-style instrumental, charted low in the Hot 100, and by the middle of 1963, they were one of the major music attractions in the Pacific Northwest.
The song "Louie, Louie," which they'd picked up from their rivals
the Kingsmen, got them a local release that was picked up by Columbia Records, which not only released it nationally but signed
Paul Revere & the Raiders to a contract. Their next big break came in 1965 when their producer,
Terry Melcher, suggested that they update their sound. He got them to create music that was a mix of fast-paced, guitar-and-vocal-dominated
Beach Boys-style rock & roll, and also the more intense and intimidating brand of R&B produced by
the Rolling Stones. Their new sound debuted with the single "Steppin' Out," a
Revere-
Lindsay original that was released during the summer of 1965. And they suddenly sounded punk -- like cool (yet frustrated) suburban white teenagers, which was the audience they were aiming for.
Mark Lindsay sounded the way every male teen 14 through 17 pictured himself looking and acting at the age of 21, free and ready to say what he felt like and make it stick.
"Steppin' Out" coincided with the group's debut on the new
Dick Clark afternoon music showcase Where the Action Is, which went on the air on June 27, 1965. The band had gone through a visual metamorphosis, adding Revolutionary War-style outfits to their look, and they stood out for playing straight-ahead rock & roll and having fun doing it. Their second album.
Just Like Us!, released in early 1966, was a landmark record, filled with great songs and even better performances, and earned a Gold Record Award. The group also learned quickly, under
Melcher's guidance, how far they could go in making records. By the time of their next album,
Midnight Ride, released three months later, and,
Spirit of '67, issued in November of 1966, the group members were playing multiple instruments. Those albums went gold, lofted high and long into the charts by the hit singles "Kicks" -- a great song that managed to be cool and anti-drug -- "Hungry," "Good Thing," and "Him or Me-What's It Gonna Be"."
Their fortunes took a downturn, however, when Where the Action Is went off the air in the spring of 1967, and by 1968, the
Raiders were looking for a newer sound; and in addition to trying to figure out what would sell for the group,
Lindsay developed aspirations as a solo singer (later enjoying a huge MOR hit with "Arizona"). And suddenly, it was 1969, and the era of the "Woodstock Nation," and "
Paul Revere & the Raiders," with their goofy costumes seemed more than a little outmoded.
In a quest to shed their '60s image, the group switched to the name "The
Raiders" in 1970. And suddenly, the
Raiders tried to sound serious, heavy, and very modern. The result was the
Collage album, a very strong rock record, built largely on songs by
Lindsay and new member
Keith Allison, that never found an audience. And the "
Raiders" name change only seemed to confuse wary fans -- where was
Mark Lindsay?
The group kept plugging along, however, and seemed to strike gold with their next single. The
Raiders took a
John D. Loudermilk song called "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" and cut a version that shot all the way to number one, their first chart-topper in their history. The problem was that they just couldn't sustain the momentum, or translate the sales of the single into parallel LP sales, or hold the public or radio programmers' interest from one single to the next. By 1975, Columbia Records had abandoned the group, and
Lindsay had parted company with
Revere. In the decades since, a version of the group that is as much devoted to comedy as music has performed under the leadership of
Paul Revere (age 71 in 2009). Meanwhile, their old music has never commanded more respect, as serious reissue labels, spearheaded by Sundazed, France's Magic Records, and Australia's Raven Records have reissued audiophile-quality expanded-CD versions of the group's entire Columbia Records library.
–
Bruce Eder, Rovi