The Barbarians were an American garage band of the 1960s with a few nationally charted hits. They had their biggest hit with the novelty single "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?".
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The Barbarians were formed in 1964 on Cape Cod, Massachusetts by original members Victor Moulten, Bruce Benson, Ronnie Enos, and Jerry Causi. While their debut single, "Hey Little Bird" produced by Al Ham (on Joy Records) bombed, two of their next three singles (on Laurie) charted on Billboard, (with "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?" peaking at No. 55) and also made the Cash Box charts. "Are You a Boy" was co-written by Doug Morris, who went on to head Universal Music Group.
They received their biggest break when featured on The T.A.M.I. Show (performing "Hey Little Bird") alongside other artists such as The Rolling Stones, The Supremes, Lesley Gore, Chuck Berry, James Brown & The Famous Flames, The Miracles, and Marvin Gaye.
They wore leather sandals and grew their hair longer than most of their contemporaries. One-armed drummer Victor "Moulty" Moulton used a prosthetic hook on his left arm, having at age 14 lost part of his arm in an explosion. Moulton was able to play drums using the prosthesis to hold a drum stick. Their minor hit, "Moulty" was a humorous and melodramatic autobiographical song chronicling the drummer's life and the loss of his hand. Moulton sings lead on the track, but the other Barbarians do not play on it. Instead, Moulton is backed by New York session musicians including members of Levon & The Hawks, later to be known as The Band. Although it barely scraped the Billboard charts, "Moulty" would gain a cult following when it was included on Lenny Kaye's Nuggets compilation in 1972,
In 1965 Boston guitarist Geoffrey Morris replaced Ronnie Enos on lead guitar. It was Morris's arrangement of "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?" that is heard on the single.
In 1967, Benson, Morris and Causi left The Barbarians to form Black Pearl. The Barbarians disbanded in 1968, though not before a version of the group incorporating Denny Romans aka Demian Bell (from Maypole) as the lead guitarist and lead singer, with Walter Parks as Bass player. They combined martial arts and music by rigorously rehearsing nearly every day at a Karate dojo owned by Moulton's brother-in-law.
The Ramones' song "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" includes Moulton in its list of rock and roll figures and institutions.
45s
LPs
Billboard
Cash Box