Nazz

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Nazz
Origin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Genre(s) Rock
Years active 1967 – 1969
Former members
Todd Rundgren
Carson Van Osten
Thom Mooney
Stewkey (Robert Antoni)

Nazz was an early psychedelic garage rock band from the 1960s. Though sometimes mistakenly called "The Nazz", the group's official name on all records and press materials is simply, "Nazz", without the definite article. The band was formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1967 by Todd Rundgren (lead guitar) and Carson Van Osten (bass guitar). Thom Mooney (drums, formerly of the Munchkins) and Robert "Stewkey" Antoni (vocals, keyboard) joined before their first concert, opening for the Doors in 1967.

Contents

[edit] Career

Marketed by their manager, Michael Friedman, as a teenybopper boy band, Nazz signed with SGC Records, releasing Nazz in 1968. The album was not commercially successful and neither was the first single, "Hello It's Me". After a brief trip to England, cut short due to visa problems, Nazz recorded their second album, originally entitled Fungo Bat. (A fungo bat is a baseball bat used only for practice; it is not intended to hit pitched balls.) The album was originally a double album but was shortened to a single LP before being released as Nazz Nazz. Much of what was cut was Rundgren's material, and he departed the group, along with Van Osten, soon after.

With Stewkey in charge, Rundgren's vocals in the old tapes were replaced by his own; the band released the unsuccessful Nazz III in 1970. Mooney soon left, eventually playing with a variety of groups including the Curtis Brothers, Tattoo, Fuse and Paris. Stewkey played with Fuse alongside Mooney for a brief period, but then left. Rundgren went on to have a successful solo career. Rundgren's biggest solo hit was an up-tempo version of Nazz' first unsuccessful single, "Hello It's Me".

[edit] Origin of the band's name

Nazz took their name from the song "The Nazz are Blue" by The Yardbirds from their album Roger the Engineer. That song, in turn, took its title from Lord Buckley's comic monologue, "The Nazz," which is a re-telling of the tale of Jesus of Nazareth. [1] It is also often erroneously said that the band took its name from a line in the David Bowie song "Ziggy Stardust" which goes: "He was the nazz, with god-given ass..." but that song appeared in 1972, long after the first Nazz album, which appeared in 1968.

The term Nazz is also slang for "fool" in Nadsat.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Commercial releases

  • Nazz
    • (SGC Records - SD 5001 - October 1968 / reissued by Rhino - 1983 (LP/Cassette) & 1988 (CD))
  • Nazz Nazz
    • (SGC Records - SD 5002 - May 1969 / reissued by Rhino - 1983 (LP/Cassette) & 1988 (CD))
  • Nazz III
    • (SGC Records - SD 5004 - 1970 / reissued by Rhino - 1983 (LP/Cassette) & 1988 (CD)) [2]

[edit] Compilations

  • Best of Nazz
    • (Rhino - RNLP/RNC 116 - 1984 (LP/Cassette) / R1-70116 1989 (CD))[3]
  • Thirteenth and Pine
    • (Distortion Records)
  • Open Our Eyes: The Anthology

[edit] Box sets/Rarities sets

  • Nazz Nazz/Nazz 3: The Fungo Bat Sessions
    • (2006)

(Contains both Nazz Nazz and Nazz 3 albums on 2 CDs and many unreleased tracks)

[edit] Citations

  1. ^ Evans, Paul. "The Nazz." The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Ed. Anthony DeCurtis and James Henke with Holly George-Warren. New York: Random House, 1992. 497.
  2. ^ Edwards, David, Patrice Eyries, and Mike Callahan. "Miscellaneous Atlantic/Atco Distributed Labels." Both Sides Now Publications. 25 September. 2005. Both Sides Now Publications. 3 March. 2006 <http://www.bsnpubs.com/atlantic/miscdist.html#sgc>.
  3. ^ Callahan, Mike, David Edwards, and Patrice Eyries. "Rhino Album Discography, Part 2." Both Sides Now Publications. 25 July 2004. Both Sides Now Publications. 3 March. 2006 <http://www.bsnpubs.com/warner/rhino/02rhino100.html>.