What I Like About You
Sometimes the rock ‘n roll myth-you know, a group of working class kids harness their passion for music and use it to escape factory jobs, Popov vodka and eviction notices-actually comes to pass. Today, when each tossed mane seems market tested, it may be hard to recall a time when everything about a band was an honest reflection of the environment that spawned them, the territory they were staking out, or both. In fact, by the late 1970’s, when a small herd of misfits formed a group in their hometown of Detroit, those days were on the way out. But The Romantics, strongly influenced by both the English invasion and the hard rock that sprung from the streets of Motor City, were able to summon some coming of age magic of their own and contribute to the era’s soundtrack with songs like “Talking In Your Sleep,” “One In a Million,” and this month’s classic track, ”What I Like About You.”
Valentine’s Day, 1977. You might not remember what you were doing at the time, but Wally Palmar, Jimmy Marinos, Mike Skill, and Rich Cole certainly do. They were becoming The Romantics. Skill, who churned out the catchy guitar refrain that’s one of the handful of hooks that makes “What I Like About You” as engaging to members of Generation X (+?) as it was to the band’s contemporaries when it was released in 1979, remembers those days well.
“People always make the Beatles comparison-the shouts, the harmonica solos, the catchy but not virtuoso guitar playing-but we were equally influenced by the Kinks and the Yardbirds. There were a lot of high end, top notch guitar players in Detroit at the time who could cover every lick that Jimmy Page recorded for Led Zeppelin. The way we saw it, those guys were over qualified for the sound we were looking to create.
“I played guitar and bass, and Wally was another simple, straight ahead guitar player. With us it was more of an attitude. We liked simple guitar chords and less solos, more attack and melody in the playing. George Harrison was definitely an influence in that way, but so was Chuck Berry.”
Their first recording was a single, both sides penned by the group, that The Romantics leveraged into a tour across the East coast. As they built a following the band began drew mostly positive notices from the press, who shepherded them into the New Wave category they were never completely comfortable with. After signing a contract with Nemperor Records The Romantics headed down to Miami, Florida to record their debut album.
“Everyone wanted to record in Criteria at the time, but we couldn’t get in there. I don’t remember who had it locked out. We were really excited about the record though. We’d done pre-production for a month in Detroit and were ready to go. Peter Solley, who was working out of Australia, produced that album. We wanted to have the pop edge covered and felt that Peter, who orchestrated television commercials and was a good piano player, could help us refine our harmonies. Growing up with the music of Detroit-the MC5 and Bob Seger, among others-in our ears, we had the raw side, the high energy attack, down. We knew that Peter could add something to the arrangements and make sure that the melodies and harmonies were right.
“‘What I Like About You’ was an idea that we developed as a band. I came up with the guitar part. We usually wrote songs using just three or four chords in a sparse, straight ahead, MC5 way. I wanted a guitar hook that was along the lines of “Gloria” (recorded in 1972 by Them, featuring the vocals of Van Morrison), or “Louie, Louie” (the Richard Berry song recorded by The Kingsman in 1963, now generally regarded-along with the Mozart Requiem-as one of the great works of Western music). I could always come up with something if Jimmy was playing the drums. We grew up together and started the group. Jimmy also sang the lead vocal on “What I Like About You.”
“We wanted to convey the simplicity of 50’s music, and also throw in the influence of the Animals, the Beatles, and the Stones. We were one of the first bands-along with Tom Petty-to use Rickenbocker and Gretsch guitars over here. When we got signed we switched to High Watt amplifiers, which have a sound that’s similar to Fenders.
“At any rate, after we developed the groove and I’d added the guitar intro, Jimmy came up with some lyrics. I wanted to add a few “Heys!” along the lines of the MC5, and as the Yardbirds had done in Over Under Sideways Through. I also liked the way Chuck Berry used “Uh, Huh” in “Livin’ In The USA,” so we threw that in there as well.
“By the time we went into Coconuts-the Miami Beach studio we booked when we couldn’t get into Criteria-we were ready to go. The entire album took about six weeks to track and mix. Studios were much simpler in 1979. Coconuts had an MCI board, an MCI 16 track recorder, the usual Neumann microphones, some UA72’s and a few reverb units. We eventually did work at Criteria when we recorded “Talking In Your Sleep” several years later and they had a similar set up.
“We tracked the band together, with Steve Brown at the board, in a large room. We all used 4 x 12, 100 watt High Watt amps, including our bass player. The drums were set up on a platform, and I remember that we made a drum booth out of 4 x 8 panels using gaffer tape to hold them together. Jimmy had to climb in and out to get to his drum set, but the sound was great.
“I was really influenced by Pete Townsend, and since I only heard one guitar on Who records I didn’t want to record any overdubs. I tracked with a John Lennon Rickenbacker and the sound was thin, so we tripled it. Before we knew it the album was out and “What I Like About You” was a huge hit.”
Steve Brown (www.stevebrown.com) was mixing an album by the new British rock band Vibration White Finger when he took some time to reminisce about The Romantics. “I was engineering quite a lot of cool stuff in London at the time, mainly guitar bands, which got me noticed. One day I received a call from the newly recruited Romantics producer Pete Solley, who wanted me to fly into Miami to record and work on their first album.
“The guys were a great deal of fun to work with and had a great sense of verve, style, commercialism and professionalism. Coconuts was run by Shirley Kaye. As per usual the whole band were stuck in the same room with the drums separated by a custom built Plexiglas booth, as Mike described. I think Wally did guide vocals although Jimmy did the finals. We recorded into a MCI desk. Not a great deal of overdub work on this one if I remember rightly-the mix was pretty straight forward. We used compression of course and pushed as much level onto 30 i.p.s. quarter inch tape as possible. “What I Like About You” stood out as being a hit instantly.
“On my return from this project I was offered the job of producing the British band ABC, and this attracted the attention of George Michael, who asked me to produce the first Wham! Album, which hit the British album charts at number two and stayed there for quite awhile. This record went on to be very successful worldwide and for a very long time it kept me from working with my beloved guitar bands. I took a short break to regroup and then discovered a band called the Southern Death Cult. We changed their name to The Cult, released “She Sells Sanctuary,” recorded the Love album and bingo, I was back in the band market again.”
Although they are spread across the country-Skill moved to Portland in 1997 so that his wife, a dancer who was working with the Tubes when they met, could be closer to her family-the Romantics still come together to make records and tour. “We do 250-200 shows a year,” says Mike Skill. “Stevie Van Zandt has a new label that we’re working with, and we’re also traveling with his Underground Garage tour.”
Skill has a Pro Tools studio in his home that he uses to develop new material. He’s also a parent who shoulders the responsibilities that come with that gig. But given the magic they were able to catch in a glass, and the evidence of the continuing spell cast by“What I Like About You,” which can be found today in commercials, soundtracks, and even a Warner Brothers television show of the same name, it’s easy for the Romantics to shed a quarter century and travel back to a time when a three chord song catapulted them out of Detroit and into the hearts of millions of rock and roll fans.
