In the year of our Punk Lord Roy Loney, the Flaming Groovies were the musical incarnation of the Dead End Kids and lead singer Roy Loney was the wild man from vinyl Borneo who was just as Gorcey as Leo and and groovier than the gods who dwelled in the Hall of Huntz. San Francisco was the scene of the afterbirth after the afterglow that produced the punk placenta that produced the Flaming Groovies in 1965. The Summer of Love was two years off somewhere in the Haight Ashbury Galaxy which would be dominated by the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company and jumpin' foot stompin' Janis Joplin. Psychedelics and alterstates...but by the time the psychedelic era hit like a tab of acid, the the non-psychedelic derelicts of Roy Loney, Cyril Jorday, Ron Greco also hit...but were not a hit. The stars were not properly aligned. Beer and Punks don't mix with the acidhead snobbery that dominated the era. They played small clubs and while the Fillmore was pulsating with Moby Grape, Iron Butterfly and Quicksilver Messenger Service and other similar acts, the Groovies were kicking ass in mall clubs in the Bay Area like Mandrakes in Berkeley where I used to go to see them. The hippies would say "groovy" but were not flaming groovy, although I knew some flaming mincing male types in kaftans and daishikis...and no, they were not groovy either, nor would I have wanted teenage head from any of them. Gimme me Female Libido or Give me Death!
I was living and loving in the Haight by 1966 and made the holy pilgrimage to the Fillmore, the Avalon and Matrix as though I were a pilgrim trekking to the Ganges River in search of some holy epiphany or Ghandi...which ever came first. Yes, I enjoyed Santana as well as the next person and the Dead were in your head in those days and I am still Grateful, but damn...Mandrakes with a little 12 by 12 stage and tables and chairs that might as well have been on top of the speakers and then with a mighty King Kong entrance..."Ladies and Gentlemen..I give you Kong!" Instead...we got something better..something groovier..we got the band ready to play and as the lights dimmed and went back on...bang! Roy Loney leaped onto the stage as a magician appears from a cloud of smoke and they launch into raunch and roll with a Penniman presentation Loney style of "Keep a Knockin'" an early cover that finally appeared on the "Flamingo" album in 1970.
The Summer of Love now lay in the dumpster of the teenage wasteland by 1969, and the groovies recorded their first album, "Supersnazz" with Cyril Jordan on guitar and vocals, Loney also on guitar and vocal, George Alexander on bass and harmonica, and Danny Mihm keeping the beat on the tom toms. The albums was a portent of power pop to come and remember..."to is a prepostion..come (cum) is a verb!" It was an assortment of rock and roll covers from the golden age of the 1950's and more "groovy" contemporary offerings penned by Jordan. This was all followed up in 1970 and 1971 with the release of Flamingo and Teenage Head respectively.
By now the groovies were loosing their groove and their cool with each other...it happens all the time with bands and not unusual at all and this time Loney left in 1971. Enter now...Chris Wilson who along with his new co-hort Jordan took the group into the arena of pop powered power pop. Not much happened at this point until 1976 when they copulated creatively with Dave Edmunds in England which led to the release of "Shake Some Action" It was also in that same year that Jordan decided to drop the "g" and add the apostrophe..the Flaming Groovies, were now the Flamin' Groovies, but for us Loney faithful and and in deference to the original lineup that I enjoyed for a few summers in Berkeley..the will always be The FLAMING Groovies.
Loney formed his own group in 1979 called the Phantom Movers with groovies drummer Danny Mihm and others and released albums on the Downunda Australian label, Raven Records. The Groovies under Jordan continued until 1992 when they finally disbanded.The Groovies were monster hits in England...it seems England takes our forgotten and underated artists from Suzi Quatro, Iggy Pop, the Groovies and The Dolls and gives them their due as musicians with appreciation and respect. America as usual is fickle with it's artists and barely gives them 15 minutes of fame if a large record company isn't behind them running the music industry like a large corporate concentration camp with Nazi efficiency.
. Jordan formed a group, "The Magic Christian" yes, sounds like the film with Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, eh? And Loney had his Movers...rumor also has it that Roy worked part time behind the counter at Jack's Record Cellar in San Francisco. Jeez, you'd think at least it would be a Peaches Record Store! I still have my Groovies Vinyl and when I feel like having a little Teenage Head...I just pop it on and close my eyes and pretend I'm getting one hell of a jailbait blow job by my Second Cousin...or at someones second cousin...now that would be flamin' groovy as hell!