Breakfast Blend: ? and the Mysterians, “96 Tears”

In the same vein as Hey Little Girl and the Music Machine posts of late, 96 Tears came bopping out of the KTKE stream the other day, and as much as I love that the station drops gems from the past into their mix without warning, I never understood why this song was such a big hit.

Like Incense and Peppermints or Spirit in the Sky, or (double gag) MacArthur Park, this song did and still does little for me. But, all those songs were big hits somehow.

OK, if you turn the volume up while streaming the vid below, it is not horrible, but certainly not any kind of a break through classic song. And, as a garage song, it does not compare with Talk Talk, or even Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) in my meager view.

I am sure this will rankle many, and I am sorry if you love it. Give me Jackie Wilson’s Higher and Higher over it any minute of any day of the week.

2 thoughts on “Breakfast Blend: ? and the Mysterians, “96 Tears”

  1. This is not the original for one thing. It’s dinkier. And well, yeah, I’ll take Higher & Higher too. But I put 96 Tears in the garage pantheon, and the original still does it for me, especially the bridge and the way they come out of it.

Leave a Reply to kroyteCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.