Long Beach Acts Changed the Rock and Funk Lexicon

In 1975, fifty years past, Long Beach / Compton funk band War’s “Low Rider” hit Billboard #1, one of a trio of titles that influenced public taste and language usage; three disparate concepts had little in common until they became titles of hit records. “Tequila,” “Boss” and “Low Rider” each became important parts of our lexicon while hitting the pop charts. In each case, these titles took on new meanings. Ground zero for these hits was Long Beach.

‘Low Rider’ by War

Before the #1 hit, the term “Low Rider” was not common parlance for custom car culture and cruisers. “Low rider” or “lowrider” had several meanings, not just to a “low and slow” state of mind. “Lowrider” also had usage in the gay community.

According to War keyboard player Jordan, the band recorded as the Creators. Formed in Long Beach of relatives out of Poly and Compton High School. They played sock hops at the Rec Center in 1962 and at the Cozy Tavern on Alamitos. Then came the Romeos and Senor Soul, basically the band that became War.

The first War hit, “Spill the Wine” in 1970 featured ex-Animals lead singer Eric Burdon and Lee Oskar, whom Burdon added to the band, on harmonica with Burdon’s girlfriend on heavy breathing.

“Charles Miller sang ‘Low Rider,’” said Jordan. “He came in with the attitude of the song, the low voice. He had a bottle of tequila and lemon, sat down on a bench at Crystal studios, began to sing with this low voice, we looked at each other, how much has he been drinking?” as War played cruising’s best anthem. “Low Rider” soon topped the Billboard pop charts; Miller’s own low rider car was on the picture sleeve, “a 1949 Chevy or ’47 Chevy, it was pretty low,” said Jordan. “Low Rider” charted #1 on Billboard in September 1975, locally, #7 on KHJ, #3 on KGFJ and KDAY.

On June 4, 1980, Miller was stabbed to death in Los Angeles, a still-unsolved crime.

‘Tequila’ by the Champs

Though tequila had been in existence well before this 1958 hit record, it was an obscure Mexican libation, usually not available in most retail outlets.

Danny Flores, who performed with his 3-D Boys at Hollywood On the Pike in Long Beach was signed by Gene Autry’s Challenge label to record a rock instrumental, “Train To Nowhere” as the Champs.

As the flip side to “Train To Nowhere,” Flores cut “Tequila,” a nightclub break tune. “I’d been using this as a little riff before we’d take an intermission at the club. We’d have a ‘dum dum dum, we’ll be right back, we’re taking a short break’ and that became a song so we decided ‘let’s use that.’

“The way I wrote it is the way we used to do in the 40s, we called it mutuno, which means ‘jam, get lost, do your own thing.’ All stay in the same key and we’ll all jam, the trumpet players, the piano player, the sax player all take a solo, all in one key.

“We were going to spell it ‘Tekila.’ We didn’t want to spell it like the alcohol because we thought parents wouldn’t let kids buy the record. The parents would say ‘what do you want to buy that record for?’” asked Flores. “The people from Young’s Market said ‘thank you’, they said sales of tequila increased by 96 percent.”

In February 1958, a “Tequila” shot to #1 on border radio’s Mighty 690, KDAY, KFWB, KXLA, Billboard, earning Flores the first Grammy as best R&B song of 1958.

Various lawsuits over recording contracts and alleged plagiarism ensued, while Flores persisted with a local nightclub career with the requisite use of tequila as a prop.

‘Boss’ by the Rumblers

The term “boss” had roots in surf culture, relatively unknown until a local band called the Rumblers hit the national charts with an appealing instrumental, “Boss.””

In 1966, Boss became a major catch phrase in L.A. media, especially the dominant Boss Radio KHJ, a use not lost on Adrian Lloyd, drummer and leader of the Rumblers.

“I came to America from England at age 15,” said Lloyd, leader of the Rumblers. “Went to Franklin Jr. High, really easy, honor society, breezed through it. My grandmother’s brothers lived out here in 1956, he was always after her to come out here. I wanted to meet Roy Rogers, which I did. My grandmother lived on Stanbridge Avenue, right off Wardlow. I attended Long Beach Poly High School, class of 1963, but didn’t graduate.”

After Poly, “I worked for Cal Store concessions, would drive up to Pico and all the distributors, would pick up all his orders. I worked at Record Room near the Palace Theater near the Panama Bar downtown.

Then came the Rumblers, named after Link Wray’s hit, “Rumble” from ’58. “I met the band at a rehearsal in Norwalk.

We were all green at that time.”

After one failed recording, Rumblers’ member “Bob Jones thought up ‘Boss.’ Bob was into the surfing scene. We wanted a title that was something real good in surfer terms, Bob said ‘how about ‘Boss?’”

“Boss” charted #2 on KRLA and #8 on KFWB, #87 on Billboard. After this success, Lloyd recalled, “I was tired of not getting paid,” so he left the band. “While ‘Boss’ was out, I was washing dishes at Woolworths. I threw a fit.” Lloyd was locked in a recording studio. “They said, ‘you’re not leaving until you record.’” Soon after, Lloyd formed Adrian & the Sunsets, but without the hits.