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September 28, 2025 10:06 am  #1


The Zombies and their bumpy road to rock 'n' roll immortality

From CBS News comes this story on how an unlikely group of musicians became immortal with two singles and an album that everybody rejected - at first. 

As the tale goes, the group had a huge hit with the Beatles-influenced "She's Not There"  in the 60s. But touring didn't produce the huge following and sales they'd anticipated, so they decided to record one last LP.

"The session produced what became their signature album, "Odessey and Oracle," now considered one of rock 'n' roll's greats. But not then. Then, it sank without a trace. "There was no real interest in us," Rod Argent said.

Colin Blunstone said, "I thought we had a chance, but it became fairly clear fairly quickly that the industry pretty much ignored it, really."

The Zombies thought it was all over and broke up. Blunstone took a job in insurance. Grundy sold cars. White and Argent wrote songs for other people, including...Argent's new band: "Hold Your Head Up."

But "Odessey and Oracle" wouldn't die. More than a year later, one of the tracks, "Time of the Season," started to get some play."


And the rest is rock history. Even if it took a while. 

The Zombies and their bumpy road to rock 'n' roll immortality

 

September 30, 2025 9:50 pm  #2


Re: The Zombies and their bumpy road to rock 'n' roll immortality

Not many U.S. fans knew a lot about the U.K. group nor knew what they looked like. They had disbanded in late ‘67 and were not immediately aware about “Time Of the Season” climbing the ‘68 charts here in the U.S. (zilch in U.K.).  So, enter a fake Zombies band from Texas that included two future ZZ Top members. Their successful U.S. tour, milked to the fullest by unscrupulous promoters, led to what some call the greatest scam in rock history. 

 

October 1, 2025 8:00 pm  #3


Re: The Zombies and their bumpy road to rock 'n' roll immortality

My brother saw that fake band when they opened for Eric Burdon & The Animals in Duluth MN.  He said they were actually better than The Animals.

 

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