The first stuff of his I heard was the original Blue Caps and I was totally floored by it. I was already a longtime Eddie Cochran fan. Cliff Gallup knocked me dead. Later, when I first encountered Johnny Meeks, I thought I wouldn't like him. No one could take Cliff's place in my mind. Nobody did but Meeks found his own way to get to me. He placed some damn nice stuff and a great songwriter. It's on those recordings that you hear the kind of backing vocals Vincent should have had on "Cat Man". Especially when Eddie joins the band.

Unfortunately, this stuff was coming out as rocknroll plummeted into mediocrity. As much of it has today. The public didn't appreciate it as they should have.

The guys liked him but not the girls. The girls saw him as the fast-moving badboy stud that moves in and sweeps 'em off their feet and then leaves them heart-broken. The guys liked him for exactly the same reason.

But the teen girls wanted guys cuter and cuddlier. They could either pretend to be bad like Fabian or be clean-cut like Pat--but no impoverished perpetually horny hillbilly 9th grade dropout motorcycle-riding one-legged greasy t-shirted ex-sailors with hair slicked into complex swirls and a cigarette dangling from their mouths and it's obvious they're not faking it.

I have that version of "Frankie & Johnny". I think that's off "Baby Blue". That's the one with "Flea Brain" on it. "Brand New Beat" also. Great album. Great, great album.

Most people think that Blue Oyster Cult came up with coming out onstage on a motorcycle with Judas Priest following suit, but the Blue Caps were the first to do it that I know of. At one point in their live shows, they drove motorcycles onto the stage. I saw some old footage of it. Forgot what it was called.

But I didn't see posting a thread about Gene Vincent to be all that out of place. After all, his direct musical roots were country and blues--basically what this forum claims to be dedicated to. So, I figured, why not? I'll bet Gene could've sat down with his guitar and sang you country tunes you never dreamed existed.