Ram Jam
| Ram Jam | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | skirt |
| founding | 1977 |
| resolution | 1979 |
| Founding members | |
| Myke Scavone | |
| William "Bill" Bartlett | |
| Howie Blauvelt († October 25, 1993) |
|
| Peter Charles († November 14, 2002) |
|
| Last occupation | |
singing |
Myke Scavone |
Lead guitar |
Jimmy Santoro |
Rhythm guitar |
William "Bill" Bartlett |
bass |
Howie Blauvelt († October 25, 1993) |
Drums |
Peter Charles († November 14, 2002) |
Ram Jam was an American hard rock band founded in 1977 around the guitarist William "Bill" Bartlett, which was strongly influenced by the producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz . With a cover version of the folk song Black Betty , Ram Jam had a world hit. That remained the only notable success, after two studio albums Ram Jam broke up in 1979. The band's name and their music productions continued to be marketed.
history
Background: Band Starstruck (1970–1975)
The roots of the band Ram Jam go back to 1970. After the band The Lemon Pipers split up in 1969, the guitarist and singer William "Bill" Bartlett founded the band Starstruck together with the organist Greg Rike and the guitarist Tom Kurtz in Cincinnati , which was also known as The Starstruck Band .
The band played a cover version of the song "Black Betty" and released a single. Although the song has often been attributed to blues musician Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter (he released the single Looky, Looky, Yonder with the song "Black Betty" in 1939 ), the origins of the song go back even further. These are traditional songs that were sung by colored slaves as early as the 18th century and were recorded for the first time in 1933 by the American folk singer James "Iron Head" Baker. - Since there were no offers for further record contracts, the band Starstruck disbanded in 1975.
Foundation of the band Ram Jam and debut album (1976–1977)
In the spring of 1976, Bill Bartlett contacted producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz, with whom he had previously worked. They made him the offer to move to New York and put together a new band. The condition was that Bartlett bought the shares of the other Starstruck members in the 1975 released single.
A record deal was signed with Epic Records . In the summer of 1977 the single "Black Betty" including the B-side "I Should Have Known" was released a second time, this time under the name Ram Jam. The single reached number 7 in the British single charts, number 18 in the Billboard Hot 100 and number 25 in the German single charts, also number 2 in France, number 4 in Belgium, number 6 in the Netherlands, number 8 in New Zealand, number 14 in Sweden, 17th in Australia and 23rd in Austria.
It was only after the single was released that Kasenetz and Katz put together the band Ram Jam. In addition to Bill Bartlett, who from then on only played guitar, the singer Myke Scavone, the bassist Howie Blauvelt and the drummer Peter Charles were hired. Frontman Scavone was still on the road with the band The Doughboys in the 1960s and was on drums with Sauce immediately before joining Ram Jam, Howie Blauvelt was previously active with Billy Idol in The Hassles. For the following studio album, more songs were selected - including four Bartlett compositions and five pieces by other songwriters. The recordings were made in the K&K Studios in New York. The debut album Ram Jam and the second single "Keep Your Hands on the Wheel" was released in 1977. However, it was not successful. Neither the album nor the second single could even begin to build on the success of "Black Betty". The following tour was not as promising as hoped either. Nevertheless, the producers motivated the musicians to continue working.
Second studio album and the breakup of the band (1978–1979)
The second studio album was named Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram , based on the novella A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce . Again the recordings were made in the K&K Studios in New York and produced by Kasenetz and Katz. The musical direction of the album should be much harder on the orders of the producers. A fact that particularly displeased Bill Bartlett. The producers therefore added guitarist Jimmy Santoro to the band, which had previously consisted of four musicians. Santoro then took over almost all of the guitar recordings on the album in Bartlett's place. Front man Scavone also played the drums for the song "The Kid Next Door", as Peter Charles was no longer available for the final recording sessions due to a car accident. “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram” together with the single “Pretty Poison” was released in the summer of 1978. This was followed by several live performances, especially on the east coast of the USA, again with the participation of drummer Peter Charles. A European tour failed because of the dwindling interest of the record company Epic Records and the scheduling obligations of singer Myke Scavone. Since these new projects could not build on the success of "Black Betty", the record company ended the cooperation with the band in 1979 and the band broke up.
Howie Blauvelt died of a heart attack in October 1993, drummer Peter Charles died in November 2002.
Further marketing of the name Ram Jam (from 1989)
In 1989, Epic Records released a "Black Betty" remix of DJ Ben Liebrand . This remix reached number 7 in the New Zealand single charts, number 13 in the British single charts and number 28 in the German single charts. Also in 1989 Epic released the EP Solid Gold with the songs "Black Betty", "Let It All Out", "High Steppin '" and "Hey Boogie Woman". The record company released a whole series of EPs called Solid Gold , among others. a. also from Toto , Europe or Boston .
A year later, the compilation The Very Best of appeared with the two studio albums Ram Jam and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram (except for the single B-side "I Should Have Known").
In 1991 Kasenetz and Katz released the single "We Rock the Mansion" under the name Ram Jam. The song appeared on this single in two different versions in a mixture of dance and rap music. In 1994 they released the studio album Nouvel Album 1994 under the name Ram Jam , which again contained more stylistic elements of rock music. This was also unsuccessful. In the same year the single "Ram Jam Thank You Mam" was released before the album was released in 1995 in a new edition with the title Thank You Mam by the German label Bud Music. This was followed by a second single with the remix "Black Betty '95". However, this did not change the low success of the album.
Two years after the Nouvel album in 1994 , the debut album Ram Jam was re-released under the name Golden Classics . The single B-side "I Should Have Known" was added as a bonus track this time. The first publication of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram took place only a decade later, the album was released in April 2006 on Rock Candy Records for the first time on CD.
In 2009, “Black Betty” was chosen for an advertising campaign by the Austrian mobile operator YESSS! used. As a result, the song was able to place in April 2009 in the Ö3 Austria Top 40 in 23rd place.
Discography
Studio albums
- 1977: Ram Jam (# 34 in the US charts)
- 1978: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1977 |
Black Betty Ram Jam |
DE25 (22 weeks) DE |
AT23 (6 weeks) AT |
- |
UK7th  (12 weeks)UK |
US18 (17 weeks) US |
First published: June 1977
|
| 1990 | Black Betty (Rough 'N Ready Remix-Edit) single track |
DE28 (13 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK13 (8 weeks) UK |
- |
First published: January 1990
|
More singles
- 1977: Keep Your Hands on the Wheel
- 1978: Hurricane Ride
- 1978: Pretty Poison
- 1991: We Rock the Mansion
- 1994: Ram Jam, Thank You Mam
- 1995: Black Betty '95
Split singles / EPs
- 1977: Heatwave : Too Hot to Handle , Ain't No Half Steppin ' , Super Soul Sister , All You Do Is Dial / Ram Jam: Let It All out , Right on the Money , All for the Love of Rock' n 'Roll ' 404 , High Steppin'
- 1977: Ram Jam: Black Betty / Paradise: Back to America
- 1982: Gun : Race with the Devil / Ram Jam: Black Betty
- 1984: Ram Jam: Black Betty / REO Speedwagon : Keep on Loving You
- 1997: Ram Jam: Black Betty (Ben Liebrand Remix), Black Betty / Wild Cherry : Play that Funky Music
Web links
- Band history ( memento from October 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) in the one-hit wonder archive of Bavaria 3
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Derek Oliver: Jukebox Heroes. In: Ram Jam: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram, CD booklet, p. 5
- ↑ a b c d e f g h buckeyebeat.com - Starstruck . Last accessed October 1, 2016.
- ↑ discogs.com - Leadbelly - Looky, Looky, Yonder . Retrieved September 30, 2016.
- ↑ headstuff.org - Black Betty (bam-ba-lam) . Retrieved September 30, 12016.
- ↑ Derek Oliver: Jukebox Heroes. In: Ram Jam: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram , CD-Booklet, p. 3
- ↑ a b hitparade.ch - Ram Jam - Black Betty . Last accessed on September 26, 2016.
- ↑ a b c d e Derek Oliver: Jukebox Heroes. In: Ram Jam: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram, CD-Booklet, p. 4
- ↑ a b c d Derek Oliver: Jukebox Heroes. In: Ram Jam: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram, CD-Booklet, p. 12
- ↑ findagrave.com - Howie Blauvelt . Retrieved October 6, 2016.
- ↑ hitparade.ch - Ram Jam - Black Betty (Remix) . Retrieved September 26, 2016.
- ↑ discogs.com - Ram Jam - Black Betty / Let It All Out / High Steppin '/ Hey Boogie Woman . Retrieved October 6, 2016.
- ↑ discogs.com - Solid Gold (7) . Retrieved October 6, 2016.
- ↑ thedeadrockstarsclub.com - 2002 July to December . Retrieved October 6, 2016.
- ↑ austriancharts.at - Ram Jam - Black Betty . Retrieved October 2, 2016.
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT UK US