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| A Mysterian. Oh, hell yeah. |
The Hit
If you’ve ever wondered how far back “69” goes as a dirty word, I can confirm 1966 at a minimum. ? and The Mysterians toyed with calling their hit “69 Tears” but, even at 15, lead guitarist Bobby Balderrama knew wouldn’t touch a name like that. Fortunately, the same guy who came up with it (Robert Martinez, OG Mysterian and drummer) had the bright, marketable idea of flipping the numbers in the same conversation, thus “96 Tears.”
If you’ve listened to enough oldies radio, you know this one; if you’re a fan of garage, or even punk, you know it: if nothing else, you know that keyboard riff because it’s probably been in 20 commercials by now. It barely has lyrics – “Too Many Teardrops,” which repeats like a broken man’s mantra, was its working title – so it’s mostly that loping (almost Motown?) rhythm staggering between a couple different musical passages and with that famous keyboard snippet tying it together. Add Question Mark’s (tonally) pitch-perfect delivery and you’ve got a hit.
The Rest of the Story
“Question Mark was an eccentric figure, publicly stating that his soul had originated from Mars and that he once walked on Earth with the dinosaurs.”
It’s hard to choose what’s more out there about ? and the Mysterians: Question Mark’s personality, or the fact that every Mysetrian who ever played in the band was the son of Mexican migrant workers (the auto factories, mostly), and in Bay City and/or Saginaw, Michigan. Those reading closely might have caught another notable detail – e.g., Balderrama was young when he started in the band. Frankie Rodriguez, the guy playing that famous keyboard hook, joined at the insanely young age of 13. They weren’t much older when they hit it big and toured…
Back to the beginning, the band started nameless and as a three-piece – one without a keyboardist. Robert Martinez, Larry Borjas (guitar), and wee Bobby Balderrama was the original line-up and they started covering surf music (e.g., The Ventures, Duane Eddy). As a bunch of Mexican-American kids in an area where they didn't come in bunches, they struggled to find venues that would let them play. As the band bumbled for a sound and an identity, they lifted "Mysterians" from a 1957 Japanese sci-fi movie. The first big step toward breaking out came when Question Mark, the band’s singer/talisman, came on board; Rudy Martinez (aka, Question Mark, aka, Robert’s younger brother) already had a reputation as a dancer, but it turned out he could sing – and with a surfeit of style. The rest of the band thought he sounded enough like Mick Jagger (huh) that they threw over the surf rock and started playing closer to the The Rolling Stones and the Beatles.
The timeline gets a little murky in what I read, but, by the time they’d sorted themselves out enough to where people trusted them with studio time, I’m fairly confident that Rodriguez had joined up. They recorded their first 45 - “Are You For Real” b/w “I’ll Be Back” – in 1966 (and, yeah, I hear keys on both, even if it’s recessed), but neither single took off…unlike Borjas and the elder Martinez did when their local Vietnam draft board came calling. Fortunately, both knew enough to enlist, which let them choose Germany over Vietnam (for some reason), but that still left the band scrambling for members. They called in Eddie Serrato (originally trained in Mexican music) to take over on drums and a bassist named Frank Lugo came in early enough to dish the keys for “96 Tears” to Rodriguez. Once Question Mark added his vocal riffs (for that’s what they are), they had their hit.
Then, the real scrambling ensued. First, they went back to an amateur(?) producer they’d tried a year prior named Lilly Gonzalez, a woman who owned a Mexican store in Bay City, but with a side/main hustle digging up Mexican-American acts (though she always pushed them toward Americanized rock, according to Balderrama). They recorded their second, famous 45 in her studio, only out of order, with “Midnight Hour” on the A-side and “96 Tears” on the B. They started pushing it, Question Mark, in particular, dishing it around north central Michigan’s radio stations until it became a regional hit. A guy named Neil Bogert (with Cameo-Parkway Records) bought its rights, took “96 Tears” national, and got ? and the Mysterians on TV (the usual Dick Clark double-whammy, American Bandstand and Where the Action Is). The song peaked at No. 1 in 1966 in no time, something I haven’t seen a lot in this project…but it only stayed there one (damn) week, because The Monkees’ “Last Train to Clarksville” knocked it off (no links for them). Question Mark had some thoughts:
“They had a hit series going and without a hit record, what would it be? The series would go downhill. So, they needed that. That's the thing about the music business, we were for real, The Monkees weren't. It's too bad we didn't have a TV series. People don't realize those two songs came out at the same time and we beat 'em to number one first.”
There’s a lot of Question Mark in that quote –the sense of pride, the belief, the (over-)confidence(?) – and it’s worth re-reading that quote after watching him at a 2010 event/interview with a station called WFMU (he’s still got it, baby). I haven’t read a ton about him or The Mysterians (all sources linked to below), but I’ve also never seen him shrink from putting his band on a level with The Stones and The Beatles. (Elsewhere, “Why would I want to copy what's happening over here? But, they had reasons to, because rock 'n roll started over here, not in England. So, they were copying our sound.”) Balderrama repaid the compliment in an interview with Legs McNeil by comparing Question Mark to some other legends (“He’d do flips and dance all over the place, was way before Michael Jackson. Question Mark was just as good as James Brown, but I wasn’t really into soul music.”) For all that…call it eccentricity (and at a level I applaud, frankly), Question Mark doesn’t seem shy about sharing credit with the people around him, and that strikes me as a rare, admirable combination of ego and grace.
Their flash in the pan didn’t last long, but they stomped a good-sized foot-print into pop culture. They also charted at least once more – “I Need Somebody” hit No. 22 (also, I love old footage) – and they had a few radio-play singles besides those (“Girl (You Captivate Me),” “Do Something to Me,” and “Can’t Get Enough of You Baby,” which should sound a bit familiar). They never broke up and, with the exception of poor Eddie Serrato, they’re all still kicking and continued to fill rooms of a certain size into the 2010s. Even if “96 Tears” is the only thing people know about them, it’s a well-loved, much-imitated song, and, like a lot of these mid-60s rock numbers, it has its special place as a song that gave the people who started punk some ideas.
About the Sampler
A couple of the singles made the playlist and, along with “96 Tears,” they reflect the band’s sound pretty well – i.e., low-fi production, keyboards forward, groove-heavy rhythm. I chose a few of the other tracks – e.g., “Midnight Hour,” “Up Side,’ and “Shout (Part 1 & 2)” – to flag something else you hear in ? and the Mysterians sound: call it Detroit’s version of a jam band. If you close your eyes, you can see them pushing any of those past the 10-minute mark at a live show. Oh, and I included “Hangin’ on a String” just because I like it…and I can’t explain “Ten O’clock” beyond saying it just kind of fit.
Source(s)
Old American Bandstand snippet
Classicbands.com interview with Question Mark (undated, as always)
Bobby Balderrama by Legs McNeil (if you read one, make it this one)
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