Do you remember Joey Dee and the Starliters? They had a number one, “The Peppermint Twist,” back in 1964. After “The Peppermint Twist,” Joey Dee left the group and opened a nightclub called The Starliter and the rest of the band was left to fend for themselves. So, they formed the Rascals. Felix Cavaliere, who played keyboards, was lead vocal on many songs, Gene Cornish was on guitar and Eddie Brigati who also sang vocals came from the Joey Dee group. They added a fourth member, Dino Dinelli, on drums. And, the Rascals were born.

At first, that’s what they called themselves, The Rascals, but when they tried to cut a record, their record company, Atlantic, was contacted by the group Johnny Puleo’s Harmonica Rascals and Puleo objected to the name Rascals, so the record label added the word “Young” to their name and they became The Young Rascals. Actually, the record company did that without even telling the guys and they did not like the name at all. But, they were under contract and stuck with it, for now. Later, they would be able to change back to just The Rascals.

Their first single was called “I Ain’t Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore.” The song did pretty well in Canada, but barely made the Hot 100 here in the United States. Eddie Brigati and Felix Cavaliere were the songwriters of the group and one day, they heard a record by the R&B group, The Olympics. The Olympics were famous for their Top 10 hit, “Western Movies” back in 1958. The guys heard The Olympics sing a song called “Good Lovin’” and liked it very much, although they felt it lacked excitement and energy. Although if you go to YouTube and listen to the Olympics version, I don’t know how they could add more energy. At any rate, they thought it would make a good second release for the group and so they recorded it.

They weren’t completely happy with their first version of the recording, but before they had a chance to re-record it, Atlantic released it anyway. They need not have worried. They had a big hit with the song. The Young Rascals would continue to record and perform throughout the rest of the Sixties, having two more number ones in 1967 and 1969.

“Good Lovin’” debuted on the pop charts March 12, 1966 and seven weeks weeks later, it went to number one where it stayed for one week, cementing the Rascals place in rock and roll history.

This is not a great video for this song, but I love the dancers and the Sixties feel. Hope you enjoy.