The Detroit Wheels

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The Detroit Wheels
Album cover of 1989 Detroit Wheels re-release
Album cover of 1989 Detroit Wheels re-release
Background information
Origin Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genre(s) rock
Years active 1964-1969, 1971
Associated acts Mitch Ryder, Detroit, The Rockets

The Detroit Wheels were an American rock group from Detroit, Michigan. They served as Mitch Ryder's backup band from 1964-1967, and played on all his most successful records. Their original members were:

The band had a number of top twenty hits in the mid-1960s before lead singer Ryder was enticed away with offers of a solo career, after which the group quickly dissolved. Two of its former members later reunited to establish the nucleus of a new band called The Rockets.

Contents

[edit] History

The band had its origins in Detroit in the early 1960s. At this time, a young white singer by the name of William Levine, Jr., who was singing at a black soul club called The Village, met a rock & roll group which included McCarty, bassist Earl Elliot, and Badanjek. Levine decided to join the group and took the stage name of Billy Lee, and the band became Billy Lee and the Rivieras. After attracting attention from producer Bob Crewe while working as a support act to The Dave Clark Five, the group moved to New York to start recording. However, since another band had already recorded as The Rivieras, the band decided to change its name again. Levine took the new stage name of Mitch Ryder, and Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels were born. The group's live performances are said to have had an "explosive quality" and their style has been described as "revved up...R&B".[1]

Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels had their first big hit in 1965 with "Jenny Take a Ride", which reached #10 on national charts, and #1 on the R&B chart—the first time a self-contained rock group had achieved the latter distinction.[2] Crewe had originally planned to release the track as a B side, but changed his mind after seeing the reaction of The Rolling Stones, who were in the studio at the time it was being recorded.

Ryder and the Wheels followed up with another top twenty hit, "Little Latin Lupe Lu," which peaked at #17. After a couple of misses, the group had its biggest hit with the "Devil With a Blue Dress On"/"Good Golly Miss Molly" medley which reached #4. Around this period they also recorded a number of albums, largely comprised of reworked R&B classics, along with a smattering of original compositions.

In 1967 Ryder had another top ten hit with "Sock It To Me, Baby!", which was banned by some stations as too sexually suggestive. The band had its last hit with the brassy "Too Many Fishes in the Sea"/"Three Little Fishes" single, which reached #24. Crewe then persuaded Ryder to quit the group and embark on a solo career.

After Ryder's departure, Badanjek fronted a short-lived band of the same name which recorded several tracks, most notably "Linda Sue Dixon",[3] a song glorifying the illicit hallucinogenic drug LSD,[2] which charted worldwide in 1968. The band's line-up during this time is uncertain.

Ryder's solo career, meantime, had been mishandled and failed to take off. In 1969 he, Badanjek and some other musicians established a new band called Detroit, which recorded an eponymously named album. One single was released from the album, a cover of Lou Reed's "Rock and Roll" that Reed reportedly liked better than his original version, and Reed subsequently hired Detroit guitarist Steve Hunter for his own band.[2] Detroit's follow-up tour to the album, however, met with little success, after which Ryder departed once again and the band broke up.

In 1972, Badanjek and former Wheels guitarist McCarty reunited to form the nucleus of a new group called The Rockets, which recorded a number of albums through the 1970s and 1980s.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels

Take a Ride (1966)

1. Shake A Tail Feather
2. Come See About Me
3. Let Your Lovelight Shine
4. Just A Little Bit
5. I Hope
6. Jenny Take A Ride
7. Please, Please, Please
8. I'll Go Crazy
9. I Got You
10. Sticks And Stones
11. Bring It On Home To Me
12. Baby Jane (Mo-Mo Jane)
13. Joy

Re-released on the Sundazed Music Inc. label, ASIN B000003GX4.

Breakout...!!! (1966)

1. Walking The Dog
2. I Had It Made
3. In The Midnight Hour
4. Ooh Poo Pah Doo
5. I Like It Like That
6. Little Latin Lupe Lu
7. Devil With A Blue Dress On/Good Golly MIss Molly
8. Shakin' With Linda
9. Stubborn Kind Of Fellow
10. You Get Your Kicks
11. I Need Help
12. Any Day Now
13. Breakout

Re-released on the Sundazed Music Inc. label, ASIN B000003GX5.

Sock It To Me! (1967)

1. Sock It To Me-Baby
2. I Can't Hide It
3. Takin' All I Can Get
4. Slow Fizz
5. Walk On By
6. I Never Had It Better
7. Shakedown Listen Listen 8. A Face In The Crowd
9. I'd Rather Go To Jail
10. Wild Child
11. Too Many Fish In The Sea/Three Little Fishes
12. You Are My Sunshine
13. Ruby Baby & Peaches On A Cherry Tree

Re-released on the Sundazed Music Inc. label, ASIN B000003GX6.

All Mitch Ryder Hits! (1967. Collector's Edition with bonus tracks, 1993)

1. Devil With A Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly
2. Jenny Take A Ride
3. Joy
4. Breakout
5. In The Midnight Hour
6. Sock It To Me - Baby!
7. Little Latin Lupe Lu
8. Takin' All I Can Get
9. Too Many Fish In The Sea/Three Little Fishes
10. I'd Rather Go To Jail
11. Shake A Tail Feather
12. (You've Got) Personality/Chantilly Lace (bonus track)
13. Baby I Need Your Loving/Theme For Mitch (bonus track)

Re-released on the Sundazed Music Inc. label, ASIN B000003GXU.

[edit] The Detroit Wheels

[edit] Detroit

Detroit (1971 album).

MCA label, ASIN B00004VPJG.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Official Mitch Ryder homepage.
  2. ^ a b c The Ryder Stipulates, Metro Times.
  3. ^ Carson, pp. 235-236. Extract from Google books.

[edit] References

[edit] External links