One of the group's biggest hits was Kicks, a song with an anti-drug lyric, which in the rapidly polarizing popular culture of the day was an AM radio hit at nearly the same time as Bob Dylan's Rainy Day Women #12 and 35 ("everybody must get stoned.")

To view a video of Paul Revere and Raiders performing in costume (in glorious black and white) click below. (The accompanying dancers are wonderful; the set is ridiculous; the first few music bars are upcut.) Paul Revere played keyboards off to the side; he wasn't the lead singer, who was Mark Lindsay. The song was meant to be heard on AM radio from stations using lots of audio compression; turn it up loud to re-create this. (If you grew up back east with stations like WABC in NYC, you probably recall it with lots of echo; try to find an old junkyard car with reverb.)

Paul Revere and the Raiders were a fixture on "Where the Action Is," a show Dick Clark sold to ABC that sought to out-do local TV afternoon dance shows (a format he pioneered in Philadelphia) by featuring videotaped (pre-satellite) segments of rock groups from locations across the country. This was way ahead of its time, predating MTV by roughly 15 years. One of the frequent appearing bands was Paul Revere and the Raiders...and one of the frequent videotaping venues was Pacific Ocean Park, a once-snazzy but by the mid-60s decaying amusement pier on the Santa Monica-Venice border.

Back in the day, I was an inquisitive electronics and radio geek who during smoggy L.A. summers often hung out at Santa Monica beach (south of Pico was a favored spot) and on an otherwise ordinary day, someone mentioned that "Where the Action Is" was at POP. I abandoned the sand and took a short walk south to see what was going on (costing me "a $1.91 for a whole day's fun.") Paul Revere and the Raiders were in costume, wearing bright red revolutionary war attire with three cornered hats. They were surrounded by lots of oh-so-friendly girls in bikinis who said they wanted autographs.

As a geeky guy with glasses, the best action I could hope for was at the video van. Inside were multiple small screen video monitors, a compact camera switcher and an audio mixer next to a turntable with a 45 rpm record on it.

Dick Clark was outside the van, overseeing and directing things, trying very hard to get the video segment started and finished. Crewmembers positioned the Raiders near the "Diving Bell" ride (a rusting contraption that descended into a water tank, then yanked upward spraying everyone nearby with bad smelling water.) The cameras shot from north to south using the roller coaster as a backdrop (pained puke green supposedly to resemble a sea serpent.) None of the colors were visible on the show, which was shot in black and white.

Crewmembers positioned the best looking kids on both sides of the band, told them to applaud when the music started, clap on the beats during the song...and cautioned everyone not to lean against or shake the video truck as the 45 rpm record might skip. Videotape rolling. Needle in the 45 rpm groove. Three, two, one. Kids, applaud! Record spins. Kicks comes on the speakers. Paul Revere and the Raiders lip synched enthusiastically for the cameras and had a few dance steps too. In less than three minutes, the song was over. Mr. Clark brushed by me, leaned in the back door of the van, watched a bit of playback, nodded and said, "it's a keeper" and gave instructions for the next segment.

Girls collected more autographs, older guys tried to collect girls and the crew asked me to step away from the van.

As the song said, "Kicks just keep gettin' harder to find..."