The band, originally a surf-rock group called theCrossfires from the Planet Mars, was formed in
1965 in Westchester, California (a Los Angeles neighborhood) by Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. With the help
of DJ and club owner Reb Foster, theCrossfires signed to White Whale Records
and, adhering to the prevailing musical trend, re-branded themselves as a folk rock group called "The
Tyrtles", the intentional misspelling inspired byThe
Byrds. However, the trendy spelling did not survive long. As
with theByrds,
theTurtles achieved breakthrough success with a Bob Dylan cover. "It Ain't Me Babe" reached the Billboard Top Ten in
the late summer of 1965 (see 1965 in music) and was the title track to the band’s first album. Their second
single, "Let Me Be"
(written by P.F. Sloan), cracked the top 30 in the autumn. Their third hit, "You Baby" (P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri), charted in
the top 20 in early 1966. However, their second albumYou
Baby never entered Billboard's Top LPs chart, and of several
singles released in 1966 only two — the Rolling Stones-like "Grim
Reaper of Love" and the adorable "Can I Get to Know You Better" — entered the
Billboard Hot 100. The albumYou Baby includes the frenetic pop-rock nugget "Outside Chance", written by Glenn Crocker and
Warren Zevon.
At the start of 1967 a heavy touring schedule combined with a lack
of recent chart success convinced drummer Don Murray and then bassist Chuck Portz to quit the group. They were
replaced by Joel Larson and then John Barbata on drums, and by Chip Douglas on bass. It occurred to the band that
for eight months they had been performing a certain song on stage that, while moderately popular with the fans, had
yet to be recorded. The first of several key Turtles singles co-written by Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon,
"Happy Together" seemed almost a
parody of itself, and had already been rejected by countless performers. "Happy Together," both their biggest hit and their
signature song, signaled a turning point for theTurtles and for Chip Douglas, who provided the
arrangement. With its incessant and infectious guitar riff, addictive chorus and backing vocals, simple drum and
organ parts, and even an oboe playing along during the second chorus, "Happy Together" is perhaps the quintessential example
of fresh, feel-good 1960s American pop despite its somewhat ironic tone and the fact that its verses are in a minor
key. The single replaced theBeatles' "Penny Lane"
at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1967. Their only number one, it remained at the top for
three weeks. An album of the same name followed and peaked at number 25.
Impressed by Chip Douglas's studio arrangements, Monkee Michael
Nesmith approached him after aTurtles show at the Whisky a Go Go and
invited him to become the Monkees' new producer, as that band wanted to break out of their "manufactured"
studio mold. Douglas accepted, left theTurtles and was replaced by
bassist/singer Jim Pons. 1967 proved to be theTurtles' most successful year in the
charts. "She'd Rather Be With Me" reached number 3 on the US charts in late spring and actually out-charted
"Happy Together" overseas.
Two successive top-15 gems followed: the singularly lush and pretty ballad "You Know What I Mean" and the playfully
psychedelic and gleefully adolescent "She's My
Girl". Both 45s signaled a certain shift in the band’s style.
Golden Hits was released later that year, charting in the top 10. (The album covers for Golden Hits and its
follow up Golden Hits Vol 2 were designed by Dean Torrence ofJan & Dean fame and his company,
Kittyhawk Graphics.)
1968 started without a bang. The first two singles,
"Sound Asleep" and
"The Story of Rock and Roll",
stalled somewhere in the middle of the top 100. The band's fortunes changed when now hugely successful Monkees
producer Chip Douglas returned to work with them in the studio. Late in 1968 theTurtles released a concept album called
TheTurtles Present the Battle of the
Bands, in which the group pretended to be eleven different bands
(with names like'The Bigg Brothers', 'Nature's
Children','The US
Teens featuringRaoul', and 'The Fabulous Dawgs'), each with a song
in a different genre. The album yielded two distinctive singles: "Elenore" and "You Showed Me" (both peaking at number six). The
blissful-sounding "Elenore" is likely the only Top Ten single to contain the words et cetera in its lyrics, and
allegedly was the band's tongue-in-cheek response to White Whale's demands for more songs like
"Happy Together". (Howard Kaylan
confirmed this account in a live interview on XM Radio's 60s channel on March 3, 2007.) The breathy-trippy 1969 hit
"You Showed Me" was written
byByrds members
Gene Clark and Roger (then Jim) McGuinn in 1964. Television appearances in 1968 include a February 26 visit
toThe Mike Douglas Show, to
which they returned in April 1969.
Kaylan and Volman resisted White Whale's efforts to turn
theTurtles into
something more like an assembly-line-style pop act -- the label apparently encouraged Kaylan and Volman to fire the
rest of the band, tour with hired musicians, and make records by adding their vocals to backing tracks recorded by
Memphis session players. Such pressure did convince the band to record a single called "Who Would Ever Think That I
Would Ever Marry Margaret" (which they totally disowned after its release). But the duo's adherence to their own
vision ultimately resulted in the 1969 release Turtle Soup, a critically well-received LP produced by Ray Davies
ofThe Kinks. Inspired by the revered 1968 concept albumThe
Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, this was Davies’s only
ever production work for another band. Kaylan and Volman insisted the whole band share in the writing and singing.
Notable tracks include the ethereal and introspective "Somewhere Friday
Nite" and the rather failed single "Love in the City". In spite of Turtle Soup's positive
reception from the music press, its commercial success was marginal and the band soon began
disintegrating.
The Turtles wound down their career with a B-sides and rarities
album,Wooden Head (1969),
and a second compilation album,More Golden Hits
(1970). With the demise ofThe Turtles, White Whale Records was left with few, if
any, commercially viable bands, and ceased operation.
Kaylan and Volman (accompanied by Pons) joined theMothers of Invention as
"The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie", since the use of theTurtles name (and even their own names in
billings) was prohibited by their contract with White Whale. Frank Zappa claimed that his association with Kaylan
and Volman was inspired by a DJ's comment that he could make theMothers as big as theTurtles. "If you want to be as
big as theTurtles, have
a fewTurtles in
your band," Zappa reportedly claimed. The collaboration with Zappa lasted until a jealous fan attacked and
seriously injured Zappa when theMothers were performing at the Rainbow
Theatre in December, 1971. Kaylan and Volman also sang back up vocals on several recordings byT.Rex beginning in
1970, including their world-wide hit "Get it On (Bang A
Gong)" and albumsElectric Warrior andThe Slider.
Flo & Eddie, as they soon became known, recorded albums with
theMothers and
later released a series of records on their own. They also recorded soundtrack music for children's shows like
theCare Bears andStrawberry Shortcake, and began hosting
their own radio show on KROQ in Los Angeles and WXRK in New York City. Flo & Eddie also are credited with
backing vocals on Bruce Springsteen's single,Hungry
Heart, fromThe
River.
In 1983, Howard Kaylan appeared in the rock-n-roll comedy
filmGet Crazy, starring Malcolm
McDowell and Daniel Stern. Kaylan played the part of 'Captain Cloud' a spiritual guru type of character, leader of
a caravan of time lost gypsy-like hippies.
When White Whale's master recordings were sold at auction, the
winning bidders of the Turtles masters were Kaylan and Volman, making them the owners of their own recorded work.(
The duo promptly licensed the tracks to Sire Records in 1975, who issued the compilation
"Happy Together Again" .)
In 1984 (see 1984 in music), they legally regained the use of theTurtles name, and began touring
asThe Turtles...
Featuring Flo and Eddie. Instead of trying to reunite with their earlier bandmates, they began featuring
all-star sidemen who had played with different groups.
Also in 1984, they released a new greatest hits CD on Rhino
Records, 20 Greatest Hits, and in 1988, released another,Turtle
Wax:The Best of The Turtles,
Vol. 2, which featured the best of their "album tracks" and
previously-neglected single B-sides.
In 1987, 'Kaylan & Volman' appeared in a new music video of
their song "Happy Together"
promoting the romantic comedyMaking Mr.
Right, starring John Malkovich.
The 1989 debut album by hip-hop combo De La Soul featured an
uncredited sample from theTurtles (specifically, the intro to "You Showed
Me"), in the song "Transmitting Live from Mars". Kaylan and Volman sued,
winning a large settlement, setting a legal precedent, and causing the music industry to begin carefully crediting
(and paying royalties for) sampled works on future rap and other recordings. As they explained, "We don't hate
sampling; we like sampling. If we don't get credit, we sue, and all that stuff (a share of the royalties, plus
punitive damages) comes back to us!"
In that same year, the romantic-comedyHappy Together based on the
musical Cabaret premiered. It starred teen-heart throb Patrick Dempsey and Helen Slater. The Turtles
recording of "Happy Together" was featured in the film as well as the soundtrack album.
Music Club Records released aTurtles anthology in the UK in 1991,Happy Together: The Best of the Turtles. Repertoire Records in Germany released their own compilation, titledElenore, in 1993, as well as
re-releasing the originalHappy Together album. Rhino Records also presented Captured Live, a greatest-hits-live album of
their 1992 tour, that year. Sundazed Records re-released all of The Turtles' original albums in 1994, and in
1999 Varèse Sarabande released Happy Together: The Best of White Whale Records, which included many of the
Turtles' singles.