The Royal Teens

The Royal Teens had a record called Harvey’s Got A Girl Friend. That was in 1958 and it was their follow-up to Short Shorts. I’ve never heard it. It’s not on YouTube (though check back in a month). Back in school, I knew two Harveys, and neither had a girlfriend at any time that I knew them. That someone would write a song about someone called Harvey is intriguing.

I have their other two hits. Short Shorts came from a K-Tel Loonie Tunes LP; the other I can’t remember. Al Kooper had some association with this band, and Bob Gaudio was a member; later he co-wrote many of The Four Seasons’ hits. All in all, the group is an early example of pop music marketing, the kind that’s normally associated with Bobby Vee, Backstreet Boys and that ilk.

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The Royal Teens:

• Short Shorts – Where rock and roll, such as it is, show what it is capable of. This deliberately brain-dead tribute to provocative clothing represents, for the most part, a road not taken, until the advent of hip hop. There is a totally suitable cover of this by Freddie & The Dreamers. From the winter of 1958.
• Believe Me – A kind of bleached doo-wop ballad. It’s a nice record, if you can get past the banal lyrics and cloying delivery. From the winter of 1959 / 1960.