"As for the name, Kim Fowley and I were living in a $15-a-week room in Hollywood.... Since I was still under contract as 'Flip,' I couldn't put my name on 'Alley Oop.' Seeing that the studio was on the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Argyle Street, I decided on Hollywood Argyles... Richard Podolor's studio American Recording Company in the Hollywood Palladium building is where the song was recorded... Other than myself, there were no actual Hollywood Argyles. Everyone else on the track was either a friend or a studio musician who I paid $25 apiece for the session. When 'Alley Oop' suddenly took off and people wanted to book us for concerts, there was no such group."
The "Alley Oop" session was produced by Kim Fowley; He recalled that "all the participants were hopelessly drunk on cider by the time they recorded the song...." According to some reports, the lead vocalist on the track "Alley Oop" is Norm Davis, although the voiceon the record has been identified as a match with other recordings sung by Paxton from the same era, such as "Spookie Movies." According to an interview with Gary Paxton, The group consisted of Ronnie Silico on drums, Gaynel Hodge on piano, Harper Cosby as the bassist, and Sandy Nelson was the percussionist on the tambourine and a garbage can. He was also the vocal scream in the song. The background singers were Dallas Frazier, Buddy Mize, Scott Turner, and Diane "Alley Oop" was the first song played on WLS-AM Radio in Chicago on May 2, 1960, when it changed format from farm programming to rock and roll. The song sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.
Other versions
According to Jerry Osborne, two other groups, Dante and the Evergreens and the Dyna-Sores, had a version of "Alley Oop" on the charts at the same time.
Later activities
Frazier is perhaps best known for writing the song "There Goes My Everything", a hit song for Jack Greene in 1966 and Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967. Frazier also wrote and recorded "Elvira" which became a 1981 country hit for the Oak Ridge Boys. Paxton later formed Garpax Records and became a gospel artist. Fowley soon produced The Murmaids' 1963 hit "Popsicles and Icicles". He also helped bring together the Runaways in 1975, as well as The Orchids. Their 1980 album, The Orchids, was released on MCA Records as MCA-3235.
