Pop Rocks: Dave Clark Five: "Bits and Pieces"

As big as The Beatles were, you can't invade a country alone successfully for too long; and so Tottenham's own took up the fight to give garage bands across America a new song to practice and soundproofing to test, because this is by far the LOUDEST of any song I've written about so far. Dave Clark (drummer and obv. bandleader; Mike Smith, keyboards, led the yelling and stomping) put his drum set right up front onstage and this relentless pounding and yelling is a portent of all other stomping classics to come, in both this decade and the next. There may not be a lot here to chew on, metaphorically, but this band's forte was being heard first and foremost - there was nothing subtle about them, how could there be? He's in misery, can't tell day from night, she's dumped him and he just can't pull himself together. If this song means anything, it is release, and maybe a gaining of energy from sharing that release with others. That this should be done with smiling faces and coordinated suits (complete with Beatlesque group bow at the end) shows that pop was still regarded as 'light' entertainment at the time, the tv appearances no doubt neater and tidier than their live shows; gradually the dissonance between these two will start to show, even as conventional radio is about to have its own headaches. Pop rocks, rock pops, and it is all too much for those who thought it was going to blow over once the kids 'grew up.'

Nevertheless, I cannot overemphasize how big the DC5 were in the USA and worldwide, leading to their own movie (Catch Us If You Can) and to this later cover, which in turn leads to this proud induction. The British Invasion of the US has just begun, and garages across the land begin to get busy...