Lovin’ Spoonful

Induction Year: 2000

Induction Category: Performer

"The good-time sounds of the Lovin’ Spoonful made the quartet a fixture during the golden age of Top Forty radio. Over a period of two years in the mid-Sixties, the New York-based group charted a string of ten Top Forty hits, seven of which placed inside the Top Ten at a time when the competition included Motown, and countless British Invasion bands. The Lovin’ Spoonful’s tuneful, poppy singles have stood the test of time and at least one of them, “Do You Believe in Magic,” remains a defining rock and roll anthem.

The four original members--singer/guitarist John Sebastian, guitarist Zal Yanovsky, bassist Steve Boone and drummer Joe Butler--came together in Greenwich Village. The folk-music scene was in full swing, but the electrified sounds of and the other pop bands of the day had also caught their attention. Retaining their folkie roots while exploring new directions, the Lovin’ Spoonful adapted folk-style fingerpicking to electric instruments. Their folk-rock hybrid was particularly evident in the unusual combination of autoharp and electric guitar on “Do You Believe in Magic.” What really set the Lovin’ Spoonful apart from the mid-Sixties pack of one-hit wonders was their daring eclecticism. No two singles were written in the same style. Between 1965 and 1968, they tackled jug-band music ("Good Time Music"), ragtime ("Daydream"), country ("Nashville Cats"), folk-pop ("You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice"), hard rock ("Summer in the City") and orchestrated pop ("She Is Still a Mystery").

The consequences of a 1966 arrest of two band members for marijuana possession led to the band’s gradual dissolution, with Yanovsky leaving in 1967. Sebastian, the group’s founder and leader, quit in 1968. The group’s final album featured only Joe Butler from the original group. John Sebastian launched a successful solo career that found him giving one of the more memorable performances at Woodstock in August 1969. Many years later, in 1980, the Lovin’ Spoonful came together one more time to perform a cameo in film One-Trick Pony.

TIMELINE

February 9, 1964: Cass Elliot, later of , introduces John Sebastian to Zal Yanovsky at her New York apartment, where friends have gathered to watch ’ first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

January 1, 1965: Sebastian and Yanovsky team up to form an electric folk-rock band in Greenwich Village. The group is joined by Steve Boone and Joe Butler., whose rock backgrounds complements the others’ folk and blues origins.

June 1, 1965: The Lovin’ Spoonful gets signed to Kama-Sutra Records on the strength of their live performances at the Night Owl Cafe in Greenwich Village.

August 21, 1965: “Do You Believe in Magic,” the Lovin’ Spoonful’s rock and roll anthem, debuts in the Top Hundred. Reaching #9, it is the first of ten Top Forty singles, including an amazing string of seven consecutive Top Ten hits.

April 9, 1966: “Daydream” reaches #2, held back from the top only by the Righteous Brothers’ “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration.

June 1, 1966: Elektra Records issues What’s Shakin’, a various-artists sampler that includes four early Lovin’ Spoonful tracks. Among them is “Good Time Music,” a song that neatly summarizes the band’s musical philosophy.

June 11, 1966: “Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind” reaches #2, held back from the top only by the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It, Black.”

August 13, 1966: “Summer in the City” tops the charts for three weeks, displacing “Wild Thing,” by the Troggs.

March 18, 1967: The Best of the Lovin’ Spoonful, drawn from three albums and numerous singles, enters the album chart. It charts for a full year, peaking at #3.

June 1, 1967: Zal Yanovsky quits the group and is replaced by Jerry Yester.

October 1, 1968: John Sebastian quits the group. The final Lovin’ Spoonful album, Revelation: Revolution ‘69 appears a month later. Only Joe Butler from among the original foursome is present, and the band name is retired shortly thereafter.

October 1, 1980: The four original members of the Lovin’ Spoonful reunite for an appearance in film One-Trick Pony.

March 6, 2000: The Lovin’ Spoonful is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the fifteenth annual induction dinner. John Mellencamp is their presenter.

December 13, 2002: Lovin’ Spoonful guitarist Zal Yanovsky died of a heart attack in his Ontario home, just six days before his fifty-eighth birthday.

Essential Recordings

Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind
Rain on the Roof
Younger Girl
Daydream
Nashville Cats
Darling Be Home Soon
Good Time Music
You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice
Do You Believe in Magic
Summer in the City

Recommended Reading

Anthology
Lovin’ Spoonful. Rhino Records, 1990. (Note: The booklet included with this anthology contains biographical and discographical information.)

John Sebastian Teaches Blues Harmonica for Beginners
John . New York: Hal Leonard, 1996.