Songs featuring studio musicians The Wrecking Crew are part of the soundtrack of our lives, yet most never heard of them. A newly-released documentary will change that.
Wrecking Crew bassist Carol Kaye and double bass player Chuck Berghofer both played on this 1966 Nancy Sinatra hit. Producer Lee Hazlewood asked Berghofer to make the sliding scale at the beginning of the song as gradual as possible — it resulted in one of the song’s most memorable moments. (Wrecking Crew/YouTube)
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, supplemented by members of the Wrecking Crew, recorded the most popular version of this pop standard, for their 1965 album called Whipped Cream & Other Delights. “A Taste of Honey” won record of the year at the Grammy Awards of 1966. (Wrecking Crew/YouTube)
When the Wrecking Crew was hired for a February 1966 Beach Boys session, that was scheduled to run from 11:30 p.m. to 3 a.m., the song they were scheduled to record still didn’t have a name. Eventually, it became known as “Good Vibrations.”(Wrecking Crew/YouTube)
The Ventures hits “Hawaii 5-0” and “Walk Don’t Run” both feature the Wrecking Crew. “Hawaii 5-0” reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. (Wrecking Crew/YouTube)
Even though the American Federation of Musicians contract for Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine lists the band as “Simon and Garfunkle, ” instead of Garfunkel, “Mrs. Robinson” hit number one on Billboard’s Hot 100, and became the first rock song to win the Grammy’s Record of the Year in 1969. (Wrecking Crew/YouTube)
When Roger McGuinn and Byrds recorded Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Columbia Records brought in the Wrecking Crew because the session’s producer didn’t have confidence in the Byrds’ musicianship at the time. Of the Byrds, only McGuinn was allowed to play on the track. (Wrecking Crew/YouTube)
Legendary producer Phil Spector often brought in the Wrecking Crew to create his trademark “Wall of Sound” at his Gold Star studio. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys has called The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” the greatest pop record ever made. (Wrecking Crew/YouTube)
Longtime Washington radio DJ Cerphe Colwell, formerly of WHFS and DC-101, and now at musicplanetradio.com says the Wrecking Crew created the music of our lives. (Photo courtesy Cerphe)
Radio host and Top 40 expert Jeff “Goldy” Goldberg assembled this montage of songs featuring Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine. (Photo courtesy Goldy)
Jeff “Goldy” Goldberg of WFNC radio, and formerly of Oldies 100 in Washington, D.C. became friends with Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine. Goldy explains the impact of the legendary group of studio musicians, now featured in a documentary.
WASHINGTON — Very few knew their names at the time, yet most people have heard, bought, and loved their music.
The Wrecking Crew, a music documentary that is now in theaters, and available on demand and iTunes, tells the story of unsung studio musicians who have played on countless hit records by stars ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys to Simon & Garfunkel.
“People will now found out that their favorite records that they listened to in the late 50s, 60s, and 70s were not the groups that they thought they were, it was the Wrecking Crew playing on most of those records,” says Jeff “Goldy” Goldberg, WFNC Radio host, formerly of Oldies 100 in the Washington, D.C. area.
Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine told Goldy in an interview that record companies hired studio musicians for financial reasons. “We could go in and do a record in an hour or hour and a half, and it would be perfect. We could do a couple, or three, or sometimes 12 records in three hours.”
Roger McGuinn of the Byrds told Goldy that his band members were livid when the Wrecking Crew was called in to record “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “although maybe they were not so livid when the songs went to number one.”
“I don’t think Byrds member David Crosby ever forgave him for that,” says Cerphe Colwell, longtime Washington-area DJ at WHFS and DC-101, and now at Music Planet Radio.
Wrecking Crew members were largely nameless and faceless at the time.
“Many of them were jazz-trained at conservatories and music schools, and ended up in Los Angeles playing sessions,” says Cerphe.
Even though most of the players were not familiar names, “a couple of them, Leon Russell and Glen Campbell, broke out as pop stars in their own right,” he says.
Both Goldberg and Colwell are glad the documentary will shed light on the Wrecking Crew.
“Just like that Sonny and Cher song they played on, the beat goes on, baby,” says Colwell.
Neal Augenstein has been a general assignment reporter with WTOP since 1997. He says he looks forward to coming to work every day, even though that means waking up at 3:30 a.m.
