Johnny Kidd & The Pirates

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Johnny Kidd & The Pirates · Johnny Kidd & the Pirates were an English rock band built around the singer and songwriter Johnny Kidd. They signed to His Master's Voice in 1959 under the producer Walter J. Ridley. Their first single, the raw Please Don't Touch, which Kidd wrote himself, reached number 25 in the British charts in 1959. Their stage show was theatrical, in the vein of contemporaries such as Screaming Lord Sutch & the Savages.

Music and breakthrough

Their most famous song is Shakin' All Over, which topped the British chart in 1960. It is known above all for its opening guitars and Joe Moretti's solo. The group played as a kind of early power trio, which impressed The Who, who put the song on Live at Leeds in 1970. The Canadian band The Guess Who took it to number one in Canada in 1965. After that the line-up changed, and when a new line-up arrived with Mick Green on guitar, the sound of A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues emerged, in which Green alternated lead and rhythm. That 1962 record is seen in retrospect as a link between British rock 'n' roll and British beat. Kidd later performed in a nineteenth-century costume with a large pirate ship as backdrop, and brandished a cutlass.

Influence

The group broke up when Kidd was killed in a car accident in 1966. Former members later performed as The Pirates, until the end of the 2000s. According to the CD sleeve of Live at Leeds, Shakin' All Over is the best British rock record from before The Beatles.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• ?Shakin’ All Over