DO YOU REMEMBER? Billboard #1 HOT 100 (This Week in 1967) Strawberry Alarm Clock: Incense and Peppermints Incense and Peppermints is a song by the Strawberry Alarm Clock. The song is officially credited as having been written by John S. Carter and Tim Gilbert, although it was based on an instrumental idea by band members Mark Weitz and Ed King. It was released as the A-side of a single in May 1967 by Uni Records and reached the #1 position on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for one week of its 16 weeks on the chart. During recording sessions for Incense and Peppermints, the band expressed a dislike for the songs lyrics (written by John S. Carter), so the lead vocals were sung by a friend of the band, Greg Munford, who was attending the recording session as a visitor. The regular vocalists in the band were relegated to providing background and harmony vocals on the record. Controversially, band members Mark Weitz and Ed King were both denied songwriting credits by the bands producer, Frank Slay, despite the fact that the song was, at least partially, built on an instrumental idea of Weitz and Kings. King would go on to greater fame as a member of the 1970s Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Incense and Peppermints initially appeared on the B-side of Thee Sixpences fourth single, The Birdman of Alkatrash, released on All-American Records in April 1967. However, local radio stations began playing Incense and Peppermints instead of the A-side and the song began to gain in popularity in and around Los Angeles. Sensing the possibility of a national hit, Uni Records (a subsidiary of MCA) picked up the record for national distribution and the single was re-released in May 1967: this time with Incense and Peppermints on the A-side and The Birdman of Alkatrash as the B-side. By the time of this second pressing, the band had changed their name to Strawberry Alarm Clock due to the existence of a local group with a name somewhat similar to Thee Sixpence. Strawberry Alarm Clock..
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 17:52:40 +0000