The Balloon Farm

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The Balloon Farm was a musical act from New Jersey, which took its name from a New York City nightclub.[1] It is best known for its sole hit song, "A Question of Temperature," which made the Billboard charts in February 1968, peaking in the top 40.

The members of the band, Mike Appel, Don Henny, Ed Schnug and Jay Saks,[2] first played together in a band called Adam, which made one single for the Mala label entitled "Eve" in 1966.[1] Adam's gimmick was that all four members of the group adopted the first name "Adam".[1] They were probably not the first to use this idea, but they were far from the last; a similar ruse would be used by other bands, including The Donnas.

After adopting the name The Balloon Farm, the band's first single was "A Question of Temperature," which was released late in 1967.[1] First pressings of the 45 rpm single contained a typographical error that rendered the title as "A Question of Tempature". Another typo, which was never fixed, was the name of the song's producer, Peter Schekeryk, which was spelled "Shekeryk", even after the title of the song was fixed. The single reached a peak of #37 on the Billboard Hot 100,[2] and in the years since has become something of a garage-psych classic. It has appeared on numerous thematic compilations, including the Rhino box set, Nuggets; it was recorded by Brownsville Station on its 1973 album Yeah, the same LP on which "Smokin' in the Boy's Room" appears; and it was recorded by several garage bands in the 1980s, including Mindflux and Human Sexual Response.

A follow-up single, "Hurry Up Sundown," flopped, and the Balloon Farm was dropped by Laurie before it was able to record an entire album. However, one of the band's unreleased songs, "Sunshine Rides on a Trolley" (also known as "Sunshine Rides on a Trolley Car"), ended up in Australia, where it was recorded by Robbie Snowden in 1967, who had a moderate hit with it.[1]

Later in 1968, the Balloon Farm re-surfaced with yet another new name, Huck Finn, and one single on the Kapp label, "Two of a Kind".[1] After that, the band broke up.

Two people involved with the hit "A Question of Temperature" gained greater fame in the 1970s. Schekeryk would become Melanie's manager and husband. Appel, after co-writing "Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted" and several LP cuts for The Partridge Family, would become the first manager of a young singer-songwriter named Bruce Springsteen.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Where Did They Get That Song?. Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
  2. ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Pop Singles 1955 to 2002. Menomonee Falls, Wis.: Record Research, 37. ISBN 0-89820-155-1.