Talk:The Drifters

message: where is it?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.66.5.31 (talk) 14:48, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: discography

message: I'm writing a novel that takes place in the '60s. I want to include a little part about a friend of mine who was in the Five Crowns and then briefly in the Drifters. His name is James (Poppa) Clark(e). His brother was John (Sonny) Clark(e), who was also in the Five Crowns. (I'm not sure if there was a final "e" in Clark.) James Clarke moved on to the Drifters, but was kicked off the band "just before they hit," Poppa told me, due to his drug use.
You have an excellent page on the Drifters! But unfortunately Poppa didn't make the cut, even in your page. I would like to find out when Poppa was cut from the group, and what they had been singing up to that point. I know he toured with them, and I believe was with them when they cut some sides, though as he said, he was fired before their first big hit. I also need some lyrics from that time. Poppa would sing them, and I want to put him in a scene in the book, drawn from life, where Poppa sang and reminisced. I would really appreciate any help you all could give. Thanks. I am Joe Bryak, justnufjoe@aol.com
:I just added some info, and there's a little bit on James Clark in there, hope that helps a little. JeremyMcCracken 17:13, 10 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: QUERY JAMES (POPPA) CLARKE

message: I removed some statements from the "Splinters" section which seemed POV to me. First, the Hemmings-Lewis group was called fake, however there is much debate about what groups are authentic or not (for example, Hemmings and Lewis claim to be authentic because they were in the group back into the 1970s; Is Beary Hobbs' group fake because he is no longer alive?; Can any group, even with original members (e.g. Charley Thomas) be considered authentic?) I left the backing tapes statement, since it's very possible, although it should be noted that many groups, authentic or not, don't use live musicians on recordings or at shows. I also removed the "inaccurate" part about Hendricks' website- if it was in reference to the history of the group, most splinter groups stretch the history to appear to be the "real" group (take for instance the bio page of the Hemmings-Lewis group, which says the group split and these two returned to the US with Faye Treadwell forming a new lineup- in reality, Ray Lewis was out over a decade before Hemmings left).  JeremyMcCracken 17:25, 30 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Removed statements

message: I added a small paragraph about the current court case. It might be worth while considering to expand this to a seperate heading if further issues emerge.  It might require a 'current' stub? Article reference: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1968631,00.html
(Karst 21:05, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Court case 

message: this article, while a noble effort at chronological facts is a mess. a better organization might be to include a list of hits/singles/albums by year and who the members were at that time.
for example, even though this was by far the most comprehensive article on the Drifters that i found on the web...it does not mention "On Broadway" and who was the lead vocalist on the tune.
a list of hits categorized by year detailing who lead vocalist was and who backing members were at the given time would be a lot more useful that the non-stop blathering on the turnover rate of this great group that the current article is.
example:
1963
"On Broadway"  [a] lead vocalist, [b,c,d,e] backing vocalists
------------------------
This is certainly a problem with this article, though it is a bit uncharitable to call it blathering. Someone obviously went to a lot of work to assemble the facts necessary to give us the genealogy that appears in this article. I am just not certain whether this could be better presented, or if it just doesn't have a place in an encyclopedia. I thought the information might be presented as a chronological chart of the membership in each lineup, but after I analyzed the data, I had a list of over sixty lineups. As much as I would hate to lose this data, which could be invaluable for anyone doing research, I am afraid that the best thing to do may be to use the approach of the cited Rolling Stone article which simply states, 
"Yet for all their fantastic records, the Drifters had the least stable lineup of any of the great vocal groups. They were in essence a group of hired guns, overseen by their management." 
This is quite common in the recording industry where the name is a legally owned brand name rather than the artists known and loved by the public. The artists have notability. When it is not the same as the brand, the brand is not usually notable.
A good place to start with a rewrite of this article would be to use the Vocal Group Hall of Fame writeups and the Rolling Stone article as a foundation of research. There is a lot of good information there.
I thought about tackling this task, but I really did not want to do a major revision without a consensus. My comments on NPOV in the NPOV section below contain additional ideas for the rewrite.Jkolak (talk) 09:35, 30 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Non-Stop Blathering 

message: :Image:Drifters - The Christmas Song (1964).ogg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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BetacommandBot 21:04, 29 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Drifters - The Christmas Song (1964).ogg

message: See Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags Nhl4hamilton (talk) 04:34, 1 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Citations & References

message: Certainly "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" by Buddy Holly predates "There Goes My Baby".  "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" was written by Paul Anka and recorded by Buddy Holly at the Pythian Temple Studios (Decca) using the Dick Jacobs Orchestra on October 21, 1958.  It was on the Billboard chart for 14 weeks.  It's highest position was #30.  For reference, see  Remembering Buddy: The Definitive Biography of Buddy Holly by John Goldrosen and John Beecher, ISBN-10: 0306807157 and ISBN-13: 978-0306807152, Da Capo Press (January 9, 2001).I suppose it could be argued that "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" wasn't a Rock and Roll recording.  If so, it can also be argued that "There Goes My Baby" was not one either.  In late 1958, popular music was changing rapidly from the early 1955-57 sound into what many would call "Bubble Gum" music.  Whatever one's perspective, they are all subjective as to categorization.  Music is music in the eye (ear) of the beholder, so these things are probably moot.  I feel it is inappropriate to list things as facts when they are merely opinion.  If they are opinion, they should be stated as such.
Also, there is controversy over who the co-writers were.  On the CD, "The Drifters 1959-1965: All-Time Greatest Hits", Leiber and Stoller do not receive credit.  The co-writers were listed as Lover Patterson and George Treadwell.  King used his real name of Benjamin Nelson as writer on this song.  For reference, see the aforementioned CD notes, ASIN: B000002INL.Cscj01 (talk) 17:25, 2 August 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Right. The Vocal Group Hall of Fame uses more conventional wording: "A song Nelson (still performing under his given name) co-wrote called "There Goes My Baby" became his first lead vocal and the lush backing arrangement made highly unorthodox (in fact, virtually unheard-of) use of a string section."Jkolak (talk) 06:45, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  First commercial Rock and Roll recording to employ strings/orchestra 

message: In the UK, "Saturday Night At The Movies" reached #3 in the charts, but not until 1972. This song should probably have its own entry for that year in the table - was it a re-recording with Johnny Moore singing the lead? It didnt chart at all in 1964 in the UK.
Also "C'mon Over To My Place" only reached #40 in UK in 1965 - it wasnt until a re-released version in 1972 that it made #9. Again, perhaps this song should have its own entry under 1972. 
So the table doesnt look quite right to me at the moment.
Gloveman (talk)  —Preceding undated comment added 08:18, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Re-issues

message: A reader wrote in to Wikimedia to ask about a person who may have been a former member of the Drifters. His name is Bobby Lee Harris. I'll invite them to contribute to this section with more information, in the hope that a knowledgeable editor can help look into whether that individual should be in the article.--S Philbrick(Talk) 21:40, 28 December 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Possible former member 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Can someone please do a summary of their studio albums down on the discography section of this article, thanks?--twentyoverninety69 (talk) 1:34 28 February (UTC)
:I'm not sure what you mean by that request. There's a link to a separate article, The Drifters discography, that includes a list of studio albums. But, until the group's stint at Bell/Arista in the 1970s, the "studio albums" were just compilations of previously issued singles. So, there's nothing much to say about those beyond the track listings. The Drifters were fundamentally a singles-oriented group, not an album group. Pstoller (talk) 08:24, 1 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Studio Albums 

message: Was there a drummer by the name of Larry Duff that ever played with the  drifters Eldesgirl (talk) 23:36, 8 January 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Drummer