Hudson Blog 3

            The Leaves, who originally called themselves The Rickwells, are a 1960 garage band that was founded in San Fernando Valley, California in 1964. The band was founded by Jim Pons who played the bass and Robert Lee Reiner who was the guitarist. The original band members included Reiner, Pons, John Beck who did vocals, Bill Rinehart the lead guitars, and Jimmy Kern on the drums, who was replaced by drummer Tom Ray a year after they started.            The Leaves first single was called “Too many People” and turned out to be a local hit in Los Angeles. In November of 1965 the Leaves released “Hey Joe” however after its release it was pulled because they were not happy with its sound. A second version of the song was released in early 1966 after the original guitarist Bill Rinehart left the band and was replaced by Bob Arlin. The second time around the song was a hit and hit number 1 in L.A. by May 21^stof that year it had already been debuted on Billboard and Cash Box. The song made it to number 31 on Billboard, and number 29 on the Canadian RPM Magazine charts. The Leaves were shown on tv shows such as American Bandstand and Shebang and even in a Hollywood movie called “The Cool Ones which came out in 1967. Only one more album named “All the Good That’s Happening” was released before the band broke up in 1967 due to the fact that Pons left to join a pop group called The Turtles.
            What I find the most interesting about this band is the messages that their songs bring the words to “Too Manny People” tell the story of the struggle that people face when trying to fit the mold of society and be respected. I wrote a section of the song here so that you can see what I mean. The words to this song I admire because they talk about how many people feel but can not express. Too many people are trying to change meToo many people are looking to rearrange meBut the last thing I will ever doTo prove that I am a man like youIs to work from nine to fiveTrying to keep myself aliveAnd have to listen everday to everybody's jiveAnd concentrate my timeOn simply trying to make a dimeAnd agitate my mindOn trying to make my values right “Too many People”