Question Mark and the Mysterians

Time Is On My Side b/w Don't Play That Song

scum stats: no one wants this and no one can find it

I am in touch with very few people I went to grade school with. There is no blanket reason for this...I harbor no ill will, there are zero bad memories associated with it, I do not AVOID it by any means but if push came to shove, I'd guess that forever ago foregoing a Facebook account as someone born in 1982 probably has more to do with it than anything.

I get hollered at maybe once a decade, lately on Instagram, from someone just reaching out and saying "hi."

All good by me.

So when one such convo was struck up by Jeff a handful of years ago, I welcomed it. He and I had a brief moment of playing music together in the autumn of freshman year. Though we were attending different schools, that sort of gulf wouldn't widen to a "we stick with our own" mentality until roundabout junior year. 

More prominently, his tastes veered ever so slightly Metallica and Marilyn Manson at a time where that was starting to feel like a line in the sand for my Nirvana and Melvins identity. Age 14 is fueled by the narcissism of small differences. 

Respective of nothing, Jeff messaged last week asking if I just might have a copy of this Question Mark and the Mysterians single from 1988. He'd been digging into the band, was intrigued by a mention of this record, and was vaguely surprised that there was no audio of said record to be found on the internet. While not a request I would have ever expected from him, I love solving queries and curiosities of the "provide some information or media" type. Dare I say I live for it.

A rule I live by and you should too: buy any Question Mark record you see. The rate with which they are "good" or "enjoyable" is, scientifically, 99%. These are peer-reviewed facts. I don't have a stake in them. I’m just the messenger.

That being said..."Time Is On My Side" is arguably the worst thing Question Mark ever released. Seemingly the lone dud in an otherwise bullet-proof catalog.

Both songs here sound as perfect and uninteresting as you'd predict a 1966 garage band — a band who had a #1 Billboard hit with an average member age of 18 years old, a band that NEVER got anywhere near the brass ring again, a band whose understanding or grasp as to "why" that hit happened as unclear or repeatable as any legitimate miracle witnessed in a thousand lifetimes, a band certainly dismissive of said hit in a "we were just kids we had no idea what we were doing" sorta way, cresting into middle age experienced, seasoned and wisened – would lock into the cleanest, most professional-sounding recording of their career. 

One can certainly imagine these tunes played on a generic radio station in 1988, but one cannot imagine any station in the nation playing a self-released 7" with a Clio, Michigan address on the label save for, maybe, a broadcast out of Clio itself.

I cannot help but bewilder myself as no doubt the band thought “We got another hit on our hands! We’re finally skilled musicians and have the recording to prove it!” and such sentiment (and the recording itself) is so bereft of any of the joy or magic or charm that makes “96 Tears” an all-timer. And for a band so clearly besotted by the Rolling Stones since the beginning, to focus so hard and shoot so wide is…unfortunate.

But I’m happy to record these as voice memos for Jeff and send his way….just so he knows.

Thankfully this hiccup on Peacock Records would be rectified by subsequent efforts both cognizant and in the spirit of what made all Mysterians sixties records so beloved. Long may they live....and maybe someday that unreleased album recorded for Ray Charles' Tangerine label will finally see the light of day.