The Hullaballoos

Hailing from Hull, England (hence the name; no, they were not named after the TV show), The Hullaballoos enjoyed a brief splash of American success in 1965, charting with a lively cover of Buddy Holly's "I'm Gonna Love You Too". The band naturally appeared on the NBC TV series "Hullaballoo" miming their hit. The Hullaballoos, noted for, as one writer put it, their "wig-like helmets of bleached blonde hair", were signed to Roulette Records in the US and Columbia in the UK. They had 2 LPs (24 tracks in total) released on Roulette but only a couple of singles in the UK that went ignored. The group specialized in covering 1950s tunes including several other Buddy Holly numbers as well as the Buddy Knox hit "Party Doll" and Frankie Lymon's "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". Among the other tracks, "Can't You Tell", "My Heart Keeps Telling Me", and "Beware" stand out. Although their time in the spotlight was short, The Hullaballoos made a strong impression and were influential; Debbie Harry of Blondie dug them, influenced by both the look and the sound of The Hullaballoos, covering "I'm Gonna Love You Too" as one of the key tracks on Blondie's "Parallel Lines" LP, and The Police may have borrowed the group's bleached blond uniform look. The Hullaballoos delivered a good rocking sound with a strong teenage bent but, hampered by limited songwriting skills of their own (they only wrote two numbers out of 24) couldn't keep up with the changing times, and in 1966 disbanded.