Listen: Walk Like A Man / The 4 Seasons
Walk Like A Man / The 4 Seasons
Once upon a time, The 4 Seasons were unavoidable on radio. Top 40 right through the early ’80′s, then the oldies stations. Now I don’t think many, almost literally, any of their records get played at all. Mind you, other than hearing those oldies stations in the occasional diner, I never cross paths with them. Our kids hate the radio, and just try sitting through the local NYC version of oldies radio in the car. It’s unbearable, repeating a very, very short list of titles ad nauseam.
Suddenly The 4 Seasons popped into my head, catching a snippet by them coming out of the TV downstairs, apparently being used in some commercial. Wow. Did it sound good.
They had a bunch of slick but class singles on Philips just after their initial run on Vee Jay. But those first several, something about them just shimmers with the innocence of street corner teenagers from the 60′s. Not sloppy in any way, but not polished.
‘Walk Like A Man’, despite being a huge single (#1), usually got overlooked even on the oldies airwaves in their heyday.