The Balloon Farm, an American musical act from New Jersey, took its name from a New York City nightclub. It is best known for its sole hit song, "A Question of Temperature," which made the ''Billboard'' charts in February 1968, peaking in the top 40. Two members of the band, Don Henny and Ed Schnug first played together in a band called Adam, which made one single for the Mala label entitled "Eve" in 1966. Adam's gimmick was that all four members of the group adopted the first name "Adam". They were probably not the first to use this idea, but they were far from the last; a similar ruse would be used by other bands, including

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. After Adam disbanded, Henny and Schnug were joined by

Mike Appel Mike Appel (born October 27, 1942)Eliot and Appel, ''Down Thunder Road'', p. 45. is an American music industry manager and record producer, best known for his role in both capacities in the early career of Bruce Springsteen. Appel was born in Fl ...

and Jay Saks and adopted the name "The Balloon Farm". The band's first single was "A Question of Temperature", which was released in October 1967. First pressings of the 45 rpm single contained a typographical error that rendered the title as "A Question of ". Another typo, which was never fixed, was the name of the song's producer, Peter Schekeryk, which was spelled "Shekeryk", even after the title of the song was fixed. The single reached a peak of #37 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and in the years since has become something of a garage-psych classic. It has appeared on numerous thematic compilations, including the

Rhino A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

box set

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and Acid Dreams. The follow-up single "Hurry Up Sundown" flopped, and the Balloon Farm was dropped by Laurie before it was able to record an entire album. However, one of the band's unreleased songs, "Sunshine Rides on a Trolley" (also known as "Sunshine Rides on a Trolley Car"), was recorded in Australia by Robbie Snowden, who had a moderate hit with it in 1967. Later in 1968, the Balloon Farm resurfaced with yet another new name, Huck Finn, and one single on the Kapp label, "Two of a Kind". After that, the band broke up. Three people involved with the hit "A Question of Temperature" gained greater fame in the 1970s. Schekeryk would become

Melanie Melanie is a feminine given name derived from the Greek μελανία (melania), "blackness" and that from μέλας (melas), meaning "dark".3D audio effect 3D audio effects are a group of sound effects that manipulate the sound produced by stereo speakers, surround-sound speakers, speaker-arrays, or headphones. This frequently involves the virtual placement of sound sources anywhere in three-dimensio ...

. Appel, after cowriting "Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted" and several LP cuts for

The Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from Se ...

, would become the first manager of

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

Band members

– guitar, vocals * Ed Schnug – guitar * Jay Saks – bass * Don Henny – drums * John Castinovo – keyboards (recordings only)

Notable covers

"A Question of Temperature" was recorded by

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on its 1973 album '' Yeah!'', the same LP on which "Smokin' in the Boy's Room" appears. It was recorded in 1974 by TNT, a Harrisburg PA area garage band led by Erik Lindgren, and appears on their CD "Mod Psych Power Pop from Central PA." It was recorded by several artists in the 1980s, including

The Lords of the New Church The Lords of the New Church were an English/American supergroup with a line-up originally consisting of four musicians from 1970s punk bands. This line-up comprised vocalist Stiv Bators (ex- the Dead Boys), guitarist Brian James (ex- the Da ...

on their debut album, Mindflux, Human Sexual Response,

Julian Cope Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side proj ...

as a B-side to "Charlotte Anne" in 1988, and the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

-based punk band The Young Canadians.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balloon Farm, The Musical groups from New Jersey Laurie Records artists