"Me and you, and you and me,
No matter how they toss the dice, it had to be..."

Many people consider The Turtles to fall under the category of one-hit wonder, since it is their biggest hit, “Happy Together” that they are best known for. But a closer look proves them to be a rather prolific band, one that courageously explored numerous genres in their short career and influenced numerous artists along the way.

The soul of the band was their two founding members, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman – two Southern California surfers who met in a high school chorus group and went on to form a local band called the Crossfires from the Planet Mars. After eventually being signed to White Whale Records in 1965, they changed the name of the band to The Turtyles (an homage to the purposefully misspelled The Byrds.) but later dropped the “y” to become simply The Turtles. They found immediate success by recording a cover of the Bob Dylan song, “It Ain’t Me Babe” which rose to the Top-10 on the Billboard charts. Their second release, “Let Me Be” charted in the Top-30, and their third release, “You Baby” charted in the Top-20 in 1966.

In 1967, they made a few lineup changes to the band, including the addition of bassist Chip Douglas, who had already made his name as a successful songwriter in the business. He would help the band deliver their best known song, a romantic little ditty called “Happy Together.” The song would push The Beatles’ “Penny Lane” from the #1 spot on the charts in 1967 and retain that lofty position for three weeks. Unfortunately, this unexpected success would ultimately lead to Chip leaving the band. During a performance at Hollywood’s famed Whisky A GoGo, Douglas was approached by Mike Nesmith of The Monkees, who offered him a job as the band’s producer. Douglas accepted the offer, quit The Turtles, and went on to produce some of their biggest hits, including “Daydream Believer” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”

This loss did little to slow The Turtles at the time. Soon after the departure of Douglas, they returned to the charts with three successive Top-20 hits, “She’d Rather Be With Me,” “You Know What I Mean” and “She’s My Girl.”  And by 1968, Chip Douglas had returned, to work with the band on their next album, The Turtles Present The Battle Of The Bands. An ambitious concept album, each song featured the band taking on an entirely different musical persona, giving the impression that it was actually a compilation album. For their efforts, the band scored a pair of Top-10 singles, “Elenore” and “You Showed Me.”

In 1970, Ray Davies of The Kinks stepped in as producer of their newest album, titled Turtle Soup. Although critically acclaimed, it would fail to achieve the success of their earlier offerings, and soon after, the band would call it quits. It didn’t spell the end for the two founding members though. They would re-invent themselves with a whole new persona, that of Flo and Eddie, and join forces with Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention for a number of recordings. They also offered their services as background vocalists for a number of artists, including T. Rex on their hit, “Get It On (Bang a Gong,) and Bruce Springsteen on “Hungry Heart.” In the 80s, they began recording music for children’s television shows such as Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake, while also embarking on an entirely new career, as hosts of their own radio show, syndicated across the country.

Sure, history may give the illusion that The Turtles were a one-hit wonder, but that description falls apart in light of all of the music the band actually released in a short 5-year period. And in that time, they proved themselves to be the chameleons of rock, ever-exploring and ever-changing, and their impact during those early days of rock and roll remains undeniable.