Nut Rocker

Last updated
"Nut Rocker"
Single by B. Bumble and the Stingers
B-side "Nautilus"
Released1962
Genre Instrumental rock
Length1:59
Label Rendezvous R 166-1 (UK Top Rank Records)
Songwriter(s) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Kim Fowley [1] [2]
Producer(s) Kim Fowley [1]
B. Bumble and the Stingers singles chronology
"Rockin-On'n'-Off"
(1962)		"Nut Rocker"
(1962)		"Dawn Cracker"
(1962)

"Nut Rocker" is an instrumental rock single recorded by American instrumental ensemble B. Bumble and the Stingers that reached number 23 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in March 1962 and went to number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1962. [3] It is a version of the march from Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet The Nutcracker . [1]

Contents

Original recording

The recording was made by the house band of session musicians at Rendezvous Records in Los Angeles, including drummer Earl Palmer and guitarist René Hall, who had already had hits in the US charts with rocked-up versions of "In the Mood" (1959, credited to the Ernie Fields Orchestra) and "Bumble Boogie" (1961, also credited to B. Bumble and the Stingers, with Ernie Freeman on piano). "Nut Rocker" was produced by Kim Fowley, and, since Freeman did not show up, featured pianist Al Hazan. [4]

In 1962, Fowley secured the copyright to an arrangement of the march from Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet The Nutcracker and took this to local entrepreneur and pianist H. B. Barnum. Barnum recorded it as by "Jack B. Nimble and the Quicks" on the small Del Rio label. However, when Rod Pierce of Rendezvous Records heard it, he convinced Fowley that his label could do a better version with their own band. A new recording was arranged, but on the day, Ernie Freeman, who had played piano on "Bumble Boogie", did not appear, apparently due to heavy partying the night before.[ citation needed ] In his place, guitarist and arranger René Hall rushed pianist Al Hazan into the Rendezvous office, which was rigged up as an improvised studio. According to Hazan, "Rod decided to record the first take while I was still trying to practice the piece with the other musicians. Because I was so rushed to learn 'Nut Rocker', I was not happy at all with my performance on that first take. However, in spite of my asking Rod to let me do it over again, he said he liked it just fine the way it was." [5] Released as "Nut Rocker" in February 1962, the record went to No. 23 in the US and No. 1 in the UK. [4] [6]

The song is a fast, lively track that is purely instrumental and was the band's biggest hit. It was reissued in 1972 in the UK, and again made the charts (No. 20, week ending July 8). [1]

Reception

At the time of its original release in the UK, the BBC had a policy of banning records which parodied classical music. "Nut Rocker" was put to committee, which decided that "[t]his instrumental piece is quite openly a parody of a Tchaikovsky dance tune, is clearly of an ephemeral nature, and in our opinion will not offend reasonable people", and was not therefore banned. [7]

It was the theme song for Boston Bruins ice hockey broadcasts in the 1970s and 1980s on WSBK-TV of Boston.

It has been featured in many commercials, movies and television programmes such as Butcher Boy (1998), Big Momma's House (2000) and ITV's Heartbeat in 2006.

The song is used as the theme tune for the Stock Rod racing formula on many of the UK's short oval car racing circuits. [8] It was also used by Romanian gymnast Simona Amânar in her floor exercise routine which won a silver medal at the 1996 Olympics.

The song was used as a soundtrack in the second season of Greek comedy television series I andres den iparhoun pia (Men no longer exist), with Hristos Valavanidis and Filippos Sofianos in 1999 on Mega Channel.

Other recordings

"Nut Rocker (Live)"
Single by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
from the album Pictures at an Exhibition
B-side "The Great Gates Of Kiev"
Released28 February 1972 [9]
Genre Progressive rock, jazz fusion
Length4:25
Label Cotillion
Songwriter(s) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Kim Fowley
Emerson, Lake & Palmer singles chronology
"Stones of Years"
(1971)		"Nut Rocker (Live)"
(1972)		"From the Beginning"
(1972)

It was a live favourite when performed by prog-rockers Emerson, Lake & Palmer, whose single was also released in 1972. Cash Box described it as "Classic live rock extraordinaire." [10] The single reached #70 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [11] and #92 on U.S. Cashbox . [12] The main keyboard they used was not a piano but a Clavinet (although Emerson switched it to a Yamaha CP-70 during the 1977/78 live performances). In 2009, Trans-Siberian Orchestra released a version of "Nut Rocker", featuring Greg Lake, on their album Night Castle .

Charts

Chart (1972)Peak
position
Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [13] 48
Japanese Singles (Oricon) [14] 70
US Billboard Hot 100 [15] 70

Related Research Articles

Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes instrumental performance and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental music in rock can be found in practically every subgenre of the style. Instrumental rock was most popular from the mid-1950s to mid-1960s, with artists such as Bill Doggett Combo, The Fireballs, The Shadows, The Ventures, Johnny and the Hurricanes and The Spotnicks. Surf music had many instrumental songs. Many instrumental hits had roots from the R&B genre. The Allman Brothers Band feature several instrumentals. Jeff Beck also recorded two instrumental albums in the 1970s. Progressive rock and art rock performers of the late 1960s and early 1970s did many virtuosic instrumental performances.

<i>The Nutcracker</i> 1892 ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Nutcracker, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination. The plot is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' 1844 short story The Nutcracker, itself a retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The ballet's first choreographer was Marius Petipa, with whom Tchaikovsky had worked three years earlier on The Sleeping Beauty, assisted by Lev Ivanov. Although the complete and staged The Nutcracker ballet was not initially as successful as the 20-minute Nutcracker Suite that Tchaikovsky had premiered nine months earlier, it became popular in later years.

<i>Pictures at an Exhibition</i> (Emerson, Lake & Palmer album) 1971 live album by Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Pictures at an Exhibition is a live album by English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released in November 1971 on Island Records. It features the group's rock adaptation of Pictures at an Exhibition, the piano suite by Modest Mussorgsky, performed at Newcastle City Hall on 26 March 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Fowley</span> American record producer and songwriter (1939–2015)

Kim Vincent Fowley was an American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed the Runaways in the 1970s. He has been described as "one of the most colorful characters in the annals of rock & roll", as well as "a shadowy cult figure well outside the margins of the mainstream".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hot Legs</span> 1978 single by Rod Stewart

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Ernest Lawrence Fields was an American trombonist, pianist, arranger and bandleader. He first became known for leading the Royal Entertainers, a territory band which was based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and toured along a circuit stretching from Kansas City, Kansas, to Dallas, Texas, and eventually across the US and parts of Canada. Later, he led a band that recorded in Los Angeles.

B. Bumble and the Stingers was an American instrumental ensemble in the early 1960s, specializing in rock and roll arrangements of classical melodies. The band's biggest hits were "Bumble Boogie", which reached number 21 in the US, and "Nut Rocker", which reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1962. The recordings were made by session musicians at Rendezvous Records in Los Angeles. When their recordings became successful a touring group was formed, led by R. C. Gamble as "Billy Bumble".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernie Freeman</span> American pianist, arranger and composer (1922–1981)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">H. B. Barnum</span> American songwriter

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">René Hall</span> American guitarist and arranger

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"Rubber Ball" was an early 1961 hit for Bobby Vee on Liberty Records. It was the record which made Vee an international star. The song was recorded on August 12, 1960, in a four-song, three-hour session at United in Hollywood. It was produced by Thomas "Snuff" Garrett, arranged by Ernie Freeman, and was co-written at the Brill Building in New York by Gene Pitney, using his mother's maiden name (Orlowski), and by Aaron Schroeder. Veteran session drummer Earl Palmer played drums at the session. The record marked Vee's first use of overdubbing his second vocal.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rendezvous Records</span> American pop record label, 1958–1963

Rendezvous Records was an American record label, established in 1958 in Los Angeles, California. Its biggest successes were "In the Mood" with Ernie Fields along with "Bumble Boogie" (#21) and "Nut Rocker" (#23) recorded by members of its house band going under the name B. Bumble and the Stingers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emerson, Lake & Palmer discography</span>

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 65. ISBN   0-85112-250-7.
  2. ↑ Archived February 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 137. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  4. 1 2 "B. Bumble And The Stingers". Rockabillyeurope.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  5. ↑ "Nut Rocker". Spectropop.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  6. ↑ "The Official UK Charts Company : ALL THE NUMBER 1 SINGLES". Theofficialcharts.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  7. ↑ "Unfit for Auntie's airwaves: The artists censored by the BBC – Features – Music". The Independent. 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
  8. ↑ "Spedeworth Motorsports : Stock Rods page". Spedeworth.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
  9. ↑ "ELP singles".
  10. ↑ "CashBox Record Reviews". Cash Box. February 26, 1971. p. 20. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
  11. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2011). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 287. ISBN   978-0898201888.
  12. ↑ Hoffmann, Frank (1983). The Cash Box Singles Charts, 1950-1981. Metuchen, New Jersey & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 192.
  13. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 7727." RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  14. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN   4-87131-077-9.
  15. ↑ "Emerson Lake Palmer Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
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