October 27, 1966
With a raw, new sound from the mid-60’s known as garage-rock, the song 96 Tears by ? (Question Mark) & The Mysterians held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 on this day – replacing Reach Out I’ll Be There by Motown’s Four Tops. (On This Day… October 15, 1966)
But the Hispanic quintet from Saginaw, Michigan would be tearing up in their tequilas the following week when the song dropped to #2, replaced by Last Train To Clarksville, the debut hit by The Monkees on November 5th.
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Originally released on a small Texas independent label called Pa-Go-Go in 1966, the rights to ’96 Tears’ were purchased by Philadelphia-based Cameo-Parkway Records later that year.
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Vocalist and eventual leader Rudy Martinez was recruited into The Mysterians by his younger brother – group drummer Robert Martinez. Known by the moniker “?“, Martinez became known for carrying a pink-handled hairbrush in his back pocket, and by his trademark dark wrap-around sunglasses.
Martinez’ peculiar aura fit in well with a group named “The Mysterians” which was derived from a 1957 sci-fi movie of the same name.
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[Note] Some audio song files may not play on smartphones, tablets or connected devices. A laptop, desktop PC or Mac may be required for optimal enjoyment.
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96 TEARS
? (Question Mark) & The Mysterians
(Extended Version)
[1966]
’96 Tears’ features a dominant electric organ – in this case, the compact Italian-manufactured Farfisa. It was a popular instrument on records from the 60’s, including hits by Sam The Sham & The Pharoahs (Wooly Bully), Swingin’ Medallions (Double Shot Of My Baby’s Love) and Percy Sledge (When A Man Loves A Woman).
Despite a lone week at the top, ’96 Tears’ sold a million copies and was Billboard’s 19th biggest single of 1966.
It’s ranked at #213 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
Also, because of the attitude presented in the song, it’s considered to be one of earliest records that fits within the future category of music known as punk-rock (1966’s Little Girl by Syndicate Of Sound also comes to mind).
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DEEP TRAX!
96 TEARS
? (Question Mark) & The Mysterians
(Demo Version)
[1966]
Here’s a very rare, slower version of ’96 Tears’, including a song introduction by Rudy Martinez. This is garage band music at its finest – and an ‘true’ stereo!
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I NEED SOMEBODY
? (Question Mark) & The Mysterians
[1966]
The followup Cameo release to ’96 Tears’ was I Need Somebody, which is quite similar in structure – just with different notes! Lol. With the Farfisa organ again prominent, the single was released in late fall of ’66 and reached #22 on the Hot 100 0n December 24th.
Two more singles on Cameo followed ‘I Need Somebody’ – Can’t Get Enough Of You, Baby (1967 • #56) and Girl (You Captivate Me) (1967 • #98). And again, both were in the same garage-sounding vein.
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DEEP(er) TRAX!
DO SOMETHING TO ME
? (Question Mark) & The Mysterians
(Original Version)
[1967]
The fifth and final Cameo single for the band faired the poorest of all on the Hot 100, languishing at #110 in the “Bubbling Under” section of Billboard in early September of 1967.
But the record was of significance for a couple of reasons. First, Cameo-Parkway had just recruited a couple of new songwriter-producers – Bo Gentry and Ritchie Cordell – who endeavored to create a new genre of music which later became known as “bubblegum.”
One of the first Gentry-Cordell experiments in this new type of music was Do Something To Me. The song, belonging to their music publishing company Patricia Music, was a slickly produced recording which significantly changed the sound of ? & The Mysterians; taking the band’s sparsely produced, rough-edged style and giving it a teen-pop sound.
[Note] Gentry and Cordell would soon move to the newly-formed New York City-based label, Buddah Records, where they were teamed with fellow writers-producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz to further develop new bubblegum-sounding acts.
In tandem, they helped Buddah lead the way in this new wave of “sugar-coated” recordings, with hit singles by “studio” groups like the Ohio Express (Yummy Yummy Yummy and Chewy Chewy) and the 1910 Fruitgum Company (Simon Says, 1,2,3 Red Light and Indian Giver) – all of which were million-sellers in 1968-69.
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DO SOMETHING TO ME
Tommy James And The Shondells
[1968]
The second reason why the original (Question Mark) version of DSTM was of note – despite the failure of the record, a cover recording of the song became a moderate success as a single for the prolific 60’s hit-makers Tommy James And The Shondells in 1968.
As the group’s 12th single release, TJ&S took the cover version of ‘Do Something To Me’ to #38 on Billboard in October of ’68.
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Songs Source: The Music Vault of HouseoftheHits, Inc.
Billboard® Chart Data: Joel Whitburn’s Record Research (eBook Editions)
Record Sleeve & Label Graphics: Courtesy of 45cat
