The Traits were an American garage rock band formed in Pelham, New York, in 1967. The group's brief career is highlighted by their role as the studio recording band for the novelty song "Nobody Loves the Hulk", released in 1969. At the time of its distribution it was publicized by Marvel Comics, and since then the tune has appeared on compilation albums, covered by other artists, and remains a peculiar artifact among Marvel enthusiasts.
According to the record producer and songwriter of "Nobody Loves the Hulk", Rosalind Rogoff, the Traits were a popular teenage band composed of students enrolled at Pelham Memorial High School. The group's lineup featured Mike Carrol (lead vocals), Dom Chicherchia (lead guitar), Bob Creaturo (bass guitar), Jim Klieforth (keyboards), and Bobby Williams (drums). [1] Prior to "Nobody Loves the Hulk", the Traits appeared on the Ren Vell Records Presents: Battle of the Bands, Volume 1 compilation album in 1967, recording "High on a Cloud" for the release. [2] In an effort to break into the music industry, Rogoff wrote songs that appealed to the Marvel Comics, which she explained in an interview: "I was a nerd then and still am. I’m not as nerdy as the Big Bang Theory guys are, but I was very much into comics when I was in my twenties". [3]
Rogoff penned the lyrics to "Nobody Loved the Hulk", a novelty song about the origin story of the Marvel hero the Hulk, as well as the B-side anti-war composition "Better Things", while the Traits arranged the instrumentals. [1] [4] The single was published and advertised by Marvel Comics between 1969 and 1970, and 2,000 copies were sold via mail-order. The emerald-green record was covered by a picture sleeve featuring the Hulk and the lead song's lyrics, making it a highly-collectible novelty piece among both obscure garage and comic book collectors. [1] [5]
The Traits' later career is unknown; however, Rogoff ended her brief stint in the music industry to become a technical communicator. Retrospectively, the band's work has appeared on the compilation albums Pebbles, Volume 5 , Pebbles, Volume 21 , and Glimpses, Volume 4, among several other credits. "Nobody Loves the Hulk" has also been revived, noticeably being referenced in the 1992 installment of Hulk Annual #18, and covered by the Swedish garage band the Maggots in 2006 and the jazz group Tight Meat Duo the following year. [1] The Maggots release of the song also presents cover art strikingly similar to the original 1969 version. [6]
Note: The Traits song "High on a Cloud" originally appeared on the 1967 compilation album Ren Vell Records Presents: Battle of the Bands, Volume 1.
Marvel Comics Presents was an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics originally from 1988 to 1995. It returned for a second volume in 2007–2008, and a third volume that started in 2019.
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The Choir was a garage rock band largely active in the greater Cleveland area from the mid-1960s into the early 1970s. Originally called The Mods, their largest commercial success came with the release of their first single "It's Cold Outside" in December 1966. The song, considered to be a classic of the garage rock era, was featured on Pebbles, Volume 2, one of the earlier garage rock compilation LPs. The flipside, "I'm Going Home" was included as a bonus track when the Pebbles album was reissued as a CD, and it can also be found on a garage rock compilation LP on Ohio bands, Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 9. The Choir is well known for containing three of the four original members of Raspberries.
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Milan Radenkovich (December 15, 1941 – March 14, 1971), who was always credited mononymously as Milan, was an American record producer, songwriter and recording artist on numerous songs made throughout the 1960s, mostly though not exclusively in the garage rock genre. He released an LP and numerous singles for seven different national record labels and other independent labels (a total of more than 30 songs) under a variety of names, including Milan with His Orchestra, Milan, The World of Milan, Milan (The Leather Boy), and The Leather Boy, and also worked under the name Rick Rodell. As a producer, arranger and/or songwriter, Milan oversaw many other releases by a variety of artists ranging from the pop singer Lou Christie to the psychedelic rock band the Head Shop.
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Pebbles is a compilation of US underground and garage single record releases from the mid- to late-1960s. It had a limited original release in 1978 and a more general release in 1979. It was followed by several subsequent Pebbles compilations and albums. This album is nowadays known as Pebbles, Volume 1 and was originally issued in 1978 as Pebbles, Volume One: Artyfacts from the First Punk Era, an obvious riff on Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, a similar, groundbreaking compilation from 1972.
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Mouse and the Traps is the name of an American garage rock band from Tyler, Texas, United States, that released numerous singles between 1965 and 1969, two of which, "A Public Execution" and "Sometimes You Just Can't Win", became large regional hits. The leader of the band, nicknamed "Mouse", was Ronny Weiss. Two of their best known songs, "A Public Execution" and a cover of "Psychotic Reaction", are not actually credited to this band but, respectively, to simply Mouse and Positively 13 O'Clock instead. Their tangled history also included one single that was released anonymously under the name Chris St. John. The band are not to be confused with the girl group Mousie and The Traps who recorded for Toddlin' Town records around the same time.
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Pebbles, Volume 6: Chicago Pt. 1, also known as Chicago 1, is a compilation album featuring American garage and psychedelic rock musical artists from the 1960s that were associated with the Chicago music scene. It is a compact disc installment of the Pebbles series, and was released on AIP Records in 1994.
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Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 1 is a compilation album of American garage rock and psychedelic rock recordings from the mid to late 1960s. It was the first in a series that is nearly as long as the earlier Pebbles series of similar music, although the Highs albums concentrate strictly on particular regions of the US – in this case, recordings that were released in Los Angeles, California..
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