Psychedelic pop-rock band The Strawberry Alarm Clock’s memorable single “Incense and Peppermints” reached the highest heights of the Billboard Hot 100 on November 25, 1967. The song displaced Lulu’s “To Sir with Love” at No. 1 on the chart. “Incense and Peppermints” spent one week atop the Hot 100 before being supplanted by The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer.”
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“Incense and Peppermints” was The Strawberry Alarm Clock’s first single, released in May 1967. The track also was included on the Los Angeles-area band’s self-titled debut album, which arrived that October.
[RELATED: Behind the Band Name: Strawberry Alarm Clock]
There is some debate over the songwriting credits for “Incense and Peppermints.” The tune is credited with being co-written by producer/songwriter John S. Carter and Tim Gilbert, a singer/guitarist for the Colorado-based psychedelic pop outfit The Rainy Daze.
The song was first recorded by the L.A. band Thee Sixpence, which eventually changed its name to The Strawberry Alarm Clock. Thee Sixpence (and later Strawberry Alarm Clock) guitarist Ed King and keyboardist Mark Weitz came up with an instrumental idea on which “Incense and Peppermints” was based, but received no writing credit for the tune.
More About “Incense and Peppermints” and The Strawberry Alarm Clock
Interestingly, “Incense and Peppermints” was sung by Greg Munford, who was not a member of The Strawberry Alarm Clock. The 16-year-old Munford, who was singing in a group called The Shapes at the time, was invited to the “Incense and Peppermints” recording session to sing backing vocals by the producer, Frank Slay. In the studio, Slay and the band decided that Munford’s voice was better suited for the tune than that of The Strawberry Alarm Clock’s lead vocalist.
“Incense and Peppermints” wasn’t The Strawberry Alarm Clock’s only Top-40 hit on the Hot 100. In 1968, “Tomorrow,” a song from the band’s second album, Wake Up…It’s Tomorrow, reached No. 23 on the chart.
The Strawberry Alarm Clock went on to appear in a couple of noteworthy films. In 1968, they were featured in Psych-Out, a hippie-themed drama that starred Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, and Susan Strasberg. The band also appeared in the 1970 satirical rock melodrama Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. The over-the-top Russ Meyer flick featured a screenplay written by famous film critic Roger Ebert.
King Went On to Greater Fame with Another Rock Band
Perhaps one of the most interesting tidbits associated with The Strawberry Alarm Clock is that lead guitarist Ed King went on to play with Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1973 to 1975, and again from 1987 to 1996. King co-wrote several well-known songs for the band, including “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Saturday Night Special.”
He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the group in 2006. He died in 2018 at age 68.
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