Spazz
The Real Story Behind the Song
By David Cortopassi
Well to begin with, I was just 18 at the time and the rest of the band members were even younger… my cousin, Russell (on piano) was only 15. We didn’t know what we couldn’t or shouldn’t do. So nothing was off limits. Luckily we had an exceptional A&R person, Hank Donig (also our manager and booking agent at the time), who had the audacity to tap into our youth and simply let us go with anything we thought was fun or cool.
To tell you the truth, I don’t know what the heck I was trying to do with the vocal on “SPAZZ” other than just get the words out. It was the first vocal I ever did in a real studio and didn’t know what to expect. The song wasn’t melodic so I knew I wasn’t going to sound like Frank Sinatra. I just went for it. “SPAZZ” was kind of a fluke. But heck, I was pretty young and wrote some weird stuff.
Recorded at Action Records, an acetate of it was brought to New York by the studio engineer who just happened to meet Jerry Wexler in the elevator of Atlantic Records (Wexler produced many of the biggest acts at the time including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield and Bob Dylan).
Released on ATCO/Atlantic in late 1967, “SPAZZ” was thought to be the single that would launch The Elastik Band. Picked up by a radio station in the band’s hometown of San Francisco, the song got a HUGE response. So huge in fact that, everyone thought the band had staged a mass call-in requesting the DJ to play it again… we hadn’t. We were too young to even think of that kind of stuff.
Donig quickly organized a European promotional tour to push the single released on EMI’s “Stateside” label. Then a not-so-funny thing happened. We were told not to go to Europe if we knew what was good for us. Audiences had misinterpreted the song’s lyrics, thinking that “SPAZZ” ridiculed the developmentally disabled. Evidently people were ready to stone the group as soon as we got off the plane. The “SPAZZ” was even pulled off the air in Australia and the DJ apologized to listeners for playing it. The tour was cancelled.
Truth is, as a teenager living in California during the mid-Sixties, there was considerable peer pressure to try the new hallucinogens. Though drugs were prevalent at the time, I was straight when it came to marijuana or psychedelics. But it was difficult to avoid, and most everyone was trying to get me high… which made me feel kind of like an outsider, and even more rebellious about it. So, while everyone seemed to be dropping acid and eating magic mushrooms, I wrote ‘Spazz’. It was written as an anti-drug statement. I never thought it would be interpreted as anything other than an anti-drug song – but in retrospect, I doubt that anyone other than me knew what it was really about.
Today, over 50 years later, “SPAZZ” has unexpectedly become a cult favorite with a big following among garage-rock and psychedelic rock music collectors worldwide. After its inclusion in the Pebbles album series and the 1998 Rhino Nuggets collection, “SPAZZ” usually comes out ahead as the defining song of my entire repertoire.
I’ve had bands that were far better, written music I’m prouder to have done, released albums having more meaning with something to say, but “SPAZZ” continually bubbles to the top and grabs attention… so much so that in lieu of a copyright lawsuit over the song “Throw It On Me” from his Shock Value album, Timothy (Timbaland) Mosely and I reached a settlement agreement regarding his use of “SPAZZ”. Terms of the settlement are undisclosed.
“Throw It On Me”, recorded by Timbaland in collaboration with Randy Fitzsimmons of The Hives and Timothy Clayton (a.k.a. rapper Attitude) did well on the charts selling well over one million units and was certified platinum in multiple countries by the RIAA. Justin Francis directed a DVD music video of Timbaland’s recording that premiered during WWE Raw featuring the World Wrestling Entertainment Divas. The recording was also used as theme music for a Verizon’s Voyager Phone Commercial as well as three movies; Drillbit Taylor (2008), Horrible Bosses 2 (2014), and The Boss (2016).
