RICK DERRINGER - "ROCK AND ROLL HOOCHIE KOO" (1973) . . . . WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO RICK DERRINGER IS WHAT I ASKED MYSELF WHEN I RAN INTO THIS THE OTHER DAY . . . . HOOCHIE KOO WAS A REAL KILLER FOR ME AS A KID BACK IN '74 . . . . IT WAS THE SHIT THAT THE SENIOR BOYS WERE LISTENING TO, GROWN-UPS MUSIC . . . . I HAD "ALL AMERICAN BOY" UNTIL THE SUMMER OF 1980 WHEN I SOLD A STACK OF LP's TO FINANCE MY DRINKING REQUIREMENTS.

Yeah, 'All American Boy', I loved the shit from when I was thirteen or so, just prototypical, period rock and roll, awesome guitar lines, super tight playing, it kicked arse, the lineup of players on the album was a total hitlist of quality musos, among them Suzi Quatro, Edgar Winter, Joe Walsh and the one and only Patti Smith are just the ones I can remember, it was pretty much underground out here but it was way bigger in the States . . . . what I didn't know then was that he was the main man in the McCoys who had the major sixties bubblegum hit, 'Hang on Sloopy' and he also played guiter on one of my most loved Alice Cooper tracks, "Under My Wheels, he spent heaps of time throwing it down with both Winter freaks and many internationally famous stars to boot . . . . I vaguely recall reading back then he was also involved with Dan Hartman's mega huge disco hit, 'Instant Replay' at which time it gave me the subconscious okay to flog off his album . . . . I haven't heard anything of him for eons, if he's alive or gone to join the big jam in the sky, wherever he's at, he was definitely a big part of my musical palette in my formative years