The Merton Parkas were an English

mod revival The mod revival was a subculture that started in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and later spread to other countries (to a lesser degree). The mod revival's mainstream popularity was relatively short, although its influence lasted for deca ...

band, formed in the Merton area of

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

in the mid-1970s, by Danny Talbot (vocals and guitar), his brother,

Mick Talbot Michael Talbot (born 11 September 1958) is an English keyboardist. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Talbot is probably best known as co-founder of the Style Council. He has been a member of Dexys Midnight Runners, the Merton Parkas and ...

(keyboards), Neil Hurrell (bass) and Simon Smith (drums). The group was discovered playing in a pub in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history T ...

, South London, by Alan Anger, a punk journalist, and signed with the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

record label,

Beggars Banquet ''Beggars Banquet'' is the 7th British and 9th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 6 December 1968 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records in the United States. It was the first Ro ...

. They originally called themselves "The Sneekers", and were one of a group of

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...

bands that included

The Pleasers The Pleasers are an English power pop group, founded in 1977 in West London/Surrey, England, consisting of Stephen Benham, Steve McNerney, Nick Powell and Dave Rotchelle. They released five singles; one on Solid Gold Records (released on Ariol ...

. The Merton Parkas released a few moderately successful

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

, such as: "You Need Wheels", "Plastic Smile", "Give it to Me Now" and "Put Me in the Picture". They also released one album, ''Face in the Crowd''.

Rick Buckler Paul Richard Buckler (born 6 December 1955) is an English musician who is the former drummer of The Jam. Early years Buckler was born in the town of Woking in the county of Surrey, England. He received his education at Sheerwater Secondary Sch ...

The Jam The Jam were an English mod revival/ punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 198 ...

played with the band at

Ronnie Scotts Ronnie may refer to: *Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name * "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe *"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load'' *Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadium ...

, and Mick Talbot played on "

Heatwave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

", a

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

on The Jam's 1979 album ''

Setting Sons ''Setting Sons'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Jam, released on 16 November 1979 by Polydor Records. It reached No. 4 in the UK Albums Chart upon the first week of release, continuing the commercial (and critical) favou ...

''. The Merton Parkas also appeared at the Bridge House,

Canning Town Canning Town is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London. The district is located to the north of the Royal Victoria Dock, and has been described as the "Child of the Victoria Docks" as the timing and nature of its urbanisation ...

, but due to contractual disputes between record labels, did not feature on the 1979 album, ''Mods Mayday''. However the un-released recording of their set at the Bridge House can be found on YouTube. The band's most notable track was "You Need Wheels", which reached No. 40 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in the summer of 1979. As this was their only success in that

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

, they are regarded as

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder or viral hit is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music p ...

s in the UK. After The Merton Parkas disbanded in 1980, Mick Talbot went on to play with

Dexys Midnight Runners Dexys Midnight Runners (currently officially Dexys, their former nickname, styled without an apostrophe) are an English pop rock band from Birmingham, with soul influences, who achieved major commercial success in the early to mid-1980s. They a ...

, The Bureau, and

The Style Council The Style Council were a British musical ensemble, band formed in late 1982 by Paul Weller, the former singer, songwriter and guitarist with the punk rock/New wave music, new wave/mod revival band the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previousl ...

. Simon Smith joined the psychedelic revival band, Mood Six. Danny Talbot became a chemistry teacher and worked at

Clapham College Clapham College was a Roman Catholic secondary school for boys in South London. Background It opened in 1897 and closed in 1989. Its history falls into three phases: for half a century it was a private school, for three decades it was a publicl ...

School for Boys.

References

External links

* Merton Parkas biographyat the

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

website
Merton Parkas bio & info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merton Parkas, The English rock music groups Musical groups from London Media and communications in the London Borough of Merton British mod revival groups English new wave musical groups Musical groups disestablished in 1980

See also

References

External links