The KNICKERBOCKERS
by RICH ARITHMETIC
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in two parts on the 1980’s Cassette Culture Blog, May 13-14, 2025
PART ONE: It was early 1966, and I was dispiritedly doing my 8th grade math homework with my transistor radio on my desk, tuned alternately to WLS in Chicago and KOMA in Oklahoma City, two 50-thousand watt AM behemoths whose signals I could pick up only at night. And both stations were enthusiastically promoting a rocking new single — a slab of disc full of Beatles magic. I mean, that was John Lennon’s distinctive mannerisms on the lead vocal, and the backing vocals were drenched in those signature Fab Four harmonies. And the rhythm section — that was George Harrison’s explosive guitar licks and Ringo’s driving beats. Right???
But, NO! It wasn’t the Beatles at all!
It was The Knickerbockers, a rather generic New Jersey dance band that somehow had nicked the Beatles Sound to perfection — so much so that it fooled this 14-year-old Beatlemaniac!
And here it is 60-some years later, and Lies still sounds like vintage British Invasion Beatles, just as fresh as it did back in 1966. It’s the Best Single The Beatles Never Recorded.
As many of you know, The Knickerbockers went on to be one of the featured House Bands on Dick Clark’s daily “Where The Action Is” TV show. They subsequently released a handful of other great guitar-driven pop records. But none were as catchy and undeniable with their pop hooks as Lies.
PART TWO: It was 1984, and I was flipping through the stacks of vinyl in my favorite record store, Second Time Around Records, which, in addition to being a great used record store, was one of the only places at the time in Wichita, Kansas, that you could find punk and new wave records, hard-to-find British and Australian/New Zealand alternative bands, and indie-label records.
Among all the artsy record covers featuring cutting-edge graphics and art, I spied a fairly nondescript LP featuring a very simple photograph of four somewhat nerdy looking guys on the cover of an album entitled “Beat Music.
“Beat Music!” — that was the label that the British Rock Press of the time had attached to the sounds emanating from the Cavern Club in Liverpool back in 1962-63.
Taking a chance, I plunked down Seven Dollars and took the record home to discover joyful, rocking, catchy beat music by a Beatles soundalike band with the unwieldy name of The Spongetones. They weren’t The Beatles, and they weren’t from Liverpool — in fact, they were four college boys from North Carolina — but if their record had been released in 1964 instead of 1982, it would have easily shared the Top 10 alongside the best bands of the British Invasion.
A few years after “Beat Music” was released, The Spongetones bundled that album with their follow-up EP, “Torn Apart,” to create the CD “Beat & Torn,” which I would present as evidence that it could justifiably be called “The Second Album The Beatles Should Have Made.”