The Marketts

The Marketts were an American instrumental pop group, formed in January 1961 in Hollywood, California by Michael Z. Gordon. They are best known for their 1963 million-seller, "Out of Limits".

Biography

The Marketts'^[1] line-up featured Michael Z. Gordon^[2] and various session musicians from the Los Angeles area, including drummer Hal Blaine. The group name was originally spelled "Mar-Kets". The group's direction was spearheaded by producer Joe Saraceno and Michael Z. Gordon, although Saraceno did not arrange or play on any of the group's material.^[3] Gordon's songs which were composed for the Marketts are best remembered for their surf rock sound, though not all of their material has this sound; Saraceno took the group's style in whatever direction he thought would catch the record-buying public's ear. In the U.S., the group had three Top 40 hits and had two popular albums.

The Marketts' surfer sound started with "Surfer's Stomp",^[4] which was by written by and produced by Gordon^[4] and Saraceno. Gordon also wrote their biggest hit, "Out of Limits",^[5] which was originally entitled "Outer Limits", named after the television program of the same name. Rod Serling sued the Marketts for quoting the four-note motif from his television show, The Twilight Zone, without his approval, which resulted in the change of the title to "Out of Limits".^[6] It reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1964. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.^[7] The band name was used as late as 1977 for further releases, though their last hit came in 1966.

Discography

Albums

• Surfer's Stomp (Liberty Records, 1962)
• Marketts Take to Wheels (Warner Bros. Records, 1963)
• The Surfing Scene (Liberty, 1963)
• Out of Limits! (Warner, 1964) U.S. No. 37^[8]
• The Batman Theme (Warner, 1966) U.S. No. 82^[8] (1. "Batman Theme" 2. "Bat Cave" 3. "Robin the Boy Wonder" 4. "Bat Signal" 5. "Batmobile" 6. "The Joker" 7. "The Penguin" 8. "The Bat" 9. "Dr. Death" 10. "The Riddler" 11. "Bat Cape" 12. "The Cat Woman")
• Sun Power (World Pacific, 1967)
• AM, FM, Etc. (Mercury Records, 1973) Stereo SRM 1-679 (featured new versions of "Balboa Blue" and "Surfer's Stomp" and a cover of the Mystery Movie theme)
• Tryin' to Get That Feeling (Arista Records, 1975)

Singles

• "Balboa Blue" (1962) U.S. No. 48^[9]
• "Surfer's Stomp" (1962) U.S. No. 31 (written by Michael Z. Gordon and Joe Saraceno)^[4]
• "Out of Limits" (1963) U.S. No. 3 (written by Michael Z. Gordon, WB 5391)^[5]
• "Vanishing Point" (1964) U.S. No. 90 (written by Michael Z. Gordon, WB 5423)^[10]
• "Batman Theme" (Neal Hefti) / "Ritchie's Theme" (1966) U.S. No. 17 (produced by Dick Glasser, WB 5696)
• "Mystery Movie Theme / Sister Candy" (1973). (produced by Joe Saraseno) Mercury 73433)

References