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Herman's Hermits were an integral part of the British Invasion of America. When their first record was released in October of 1964, The Beatles had already had nine records in the American top 10, the Dave Clark Five had produced four top ten singles, and The Animals had made a dent with their number one smash "House of The Rising Sun." When the biggest wave of British Invaders subsided, the time had come for an intermediate new wave, and for America to accept another "beat group," in this case Herman's Hermits. Why were Herman's Hermits so readily accepted by America's record buyers? Part of the reason is probably due to their predecessors, The Beatles. The Beatles' last three releases, ("And I Love Her," "I'll Cry Instead," and "Slow Down") had not been overwhelmingly received, as had their earlier records (none of the the three made top ten), and the surge in popularity of the British beat had died a little, the next uprising to nearly equal the first. Even the Hermits' first single, "I'm Into something Good," an easy-going Goffin-King composition, was not a huge success, but the group had established themselves this side of the Atlantic, and their next release, "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat," soared to number two. Concurrently, the Beatles scored their biggest two-sided hit to date, "I Feel Fine"/"She's A Woman." Radios blared out the battles of the bands, as the Beatles won one night and the Hermits the next. The Hermits' popularity was probably due as much to their image as their music. Herman (Peter Noone), the classic "little boy" image, was accepted as such, just as McCartney had previously been tagged. The Hermits were all young, and as their records became hits, they continued to live at home with their respective parents. This was certainly not a rebellious attitude, as their current competition, the new hit-making Rolling Stones, built so much of their image on. The Hermits were more of a goodtime group, with their easy-rocking beat songs and British Music Hall songs, and their zany stage antics should not be left out, either. Beatlemania was countered with "Hermania" (wasn't that clever?), and many teenyboppers who had not already pleged their hearts to one of the earlier British groups, chose the Hermits as their idols. The Hermits weren't as musically talented as the Beatles, but who cared? They had cute records and a cute act and were British, and that was enough to sell them. The Hermits were originally The Heartbeats before Noone joined them. They played at various youth functions and were quite popular, but Noone's addition to the group was the clincher. Reputedly, Herman got his nickname from a cartoon character, Sherman of The Bullwinkle Show and Mr. Peabody, and because of his similarity to the character (again, the little boy image). No one is really sure just why Herman became Herman, but it's not really that important (only the stuff that teeny magazines are made of). So The Heartbeats were christened Herman and His Hermits, later shortened to Herman's Hermits. Continuing the Hermits' story, their next records were to be their biggest. "Silhouettes" and "Wonderful World" reached top five and "Mrs. Brown" and "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" both reached number one. "Listen People" got up to number three, Ray Davies' "Dandy", which was never a hit for the Kinks, went to number five, and "There's A Kind of Hush", their last big hit and now a gold standard, reached number four. These singles were the key to the success of the Hermits; without these hits, the group would have gone nowhere. None of the Hermits' albums sold extremely well, (except The Best of Herman's Hermits). They weren't writing any of their own material until the Hush album in 1967 (one original song). The next album, Blaze, contained three songs written by the group, but the album story ends there. No more Hermits albums were ever released. The Hermits recorded (on) 11 albums; 2 were parts of soundtracks shared with other groups, 1 was the soundtrack of their big movie, Hold On (not as big as MGM would have liked, however), 3 were greatest hits compendiums, and there were 5 others. The earlier albums relied solely on the hit singles for support, but the later albums had looser structure. Parts of On Tour are almost sickening, but the Hush album was well done, diversified and performed well. The last album, Blaze, was weaker, if only in the selection of material. Graham Gouldman, who had written hit songs for them as well as other English groups ("Bus Stop" for The Hollies, The Yardbirds' "For Your Love" and the Hermits' "No Milk Today" and "Listen People") continued to write songs for the Hermits, and Geoff Stephens, co-composer of "There's A Kind of Hush", was still contributing to the group, but something had happened to change the success of the Hermits. The fading of the British aristocracy in American music was due to the steady upsurge in American talent which culminated in the acid-underground explosion in 1968; the last year, 1967, was the last in which the Hermits were really popular. With Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead around, where could Herman and Co. fit in? This demise of the group's popularity was not a one-of-a-kind thing, either. It also cost The Dave Clark Five their large following as well as the popularity of many other mid-sixties groups. The Beatles' genius and style-setting put them through this period as though it didn't exist, but not so for the Hermits. Their music had not changed substantially and America had grown tired of The Merseybeat, not to be revived until 1971 with the advent of Badfinger. The group did stay together and keep recording through 1970, though, outdistancing many other groups in longevity if nothing else. Their last single, "Bet Yer Life I Do," was never released in America, and despite the availablity of material for a final album, it was never released. Some of the group's best songs came out during this period, though none were hits. "Sunshine Girl" was their last stab at a British beat hit, and their next single, a splendid rendition of the often recorded, "Here Comes The Star," backed by a Peter Noone compositon, "It's Alright Now," was a real rocker, finally had people asking, "Who is that?" And so the Hermits had broken away from their earlier image, but it was too late. Billboard predicted "The Star" to reach the top 60, but it never made the charts. Their last American single was another beautiful Stephens-Reed song (earlier they wrote "There's A Kind of Hush"), called "My Sentimental Friend". Herman's voice fit the song perfectly, but no sales action. The flip was another ballad, "My Lady," which featured a piano part unlike any ever used by the Hermits before. "Bet Yer Life I Do" was the group's last single, never released here. Apparently the Hermits thought they could score with this offbeat rocker, more in their earlier style, but it was only a medium hit in England and America never had the chance. When the group finally broke up, Noone signed with Bell and recorded a David Bowie song, "Oh, You Pretty Thing", which made the charts in England but missed here. The rest of the group went their separate ways. The Hermits' reign lasted from 1964-67, and they remained together throughout 1970, quite an impressive record for a British beat group. But in spite of their shortcomings and later lack of success, these guys put out a lot of good music. They were no Beatles and no comparrison should even be made (although it might appear I have tried to do this in places), but they will always be remembered. Put simply, they were a damn good British group. |