* fun fact > PAUL REVERE, THE FBI AND LOUIE LOUIE

"Louie Louie" is probably the most iconic American rock and roll song. Numerous artists have covered it, most famously The Kingsmen. It written by Richard Berry in 1955 and originally recorded as a calypso vocal song, but was considered a failure. In the late 50’s Rockin' Rob Roberts of the Northwest based band The Wailers heard the song while in California and brought the song to the Northwest where it became a local favorite.

About this time two Northwest bands formed - Paul Revere and the Raiders and The Kingsmen. KISN Radio DJ Roger Hart, who at the time was booking bands to play parties and dances discovered Paul Revere and the Raiders. Hart later became the band’s manager and suggested that they record “Louie Louie.” He produced the single, which got the attention of Columbia Records who soon signed the band.

Ken Chase, who also worked at KISN as the music director and owned a nightclub, managed the Kingsmen. The Kingsmen soon became the house band for his nightclub and as part of an attempt to get the Kingsmen a gig on a cruise ship Chase had the band record a demo of Louie Louie as well. The Kingsmen didn’t get the job.

Louie Louie went #1 in the West and Hawaii for Paul Revere, but it abruptly died. Paul Revere was later to find out that Columbia killed the release before it went much further because Mitch Miller, A&R exec at Columbia didn’t like rock and roll and pulled the plug on it.

Meanwhile, The Kingsmen’s demo got the attention of Jerry Dennon, a record producer from Seattle, Washington. He decided to press a few hundred copies of the single on his regional record label, Jerdon. The recording made its way to Boston, where radio stations began to play it frequently and it eventually gained national distribution on Wand Records.

Now on the national stage the song gained the attention of the governor of Indiana, Matthew E. Welsh, who banned the song for “indecent lyrics.” The matter was brought to the attention of Robert Kennedy who was then the Attorney General of the United States and the FBI investigated. After a thirty-one month investigation the FBI determined that the words were "unintelligible at any speed," and therefore not obscene. All of this attention only made the song more popular - it held the #2 spot on the Billboard top 10 for 6 weeks.

*Special thanks to my buddy Marky Mark who is a human music encyclopedia and confirmed all this for me without having to look it up.