The Song That Put Rod Argent’s Post-Zombies Band on the Map in 1971

The prog-rock craze of the early 70s included many bands who didn’t think often in terms of singles. But occasionally, they’d record something catchy enough that radio found the song anyway, even if the band didn’t intend for it to happen.

Argent’s “Hold Your Head Up” served as a prime example of this phenomenon. When radio shaved the song, originally six minutes in length, in half in 1972, the British band ended up with a Top 5 hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

Zombies Fallout

Argent takes its name from Rod Argent, the band’s founder and keyboard player. When he started the group, he was licking his wounds from the flameout of The Zombies, his previous outfit. That band dissolved in 1968, not long after the commercial failure of the album Odessey And Oracle and a few singles from it.

A funny thing then happened as Argent was pressing on with his new outfit, which also included guitarist Glen Ballard, bassist Jim Rodford, and drummer Bob Henrit. “Time Of The Season”, a song from Odessey And Oracle, became a huge belated hit in 1969.

Industry folks wanted The Zombies to get back together and capitalize on the success. There were even some fake versions of the group going around on tour making money off the name. But Argent stayed true to the band he formed under his own name. It took them a few years and albums before that decision really started to pay off.

Success On “Hold”

The first two albums by Argent, released in 1970 and 1971, couldn’t crack the Top 100 in either the UK or US. On their third LP, All Together Now from 1972, Chris White, another former member of The Zombies who also helped Argent write material for his new band, penned “Hold Your Head Up”.

On the record, the song, over six minutes long, features a thrilling organ solo from Rod Argent. But the radio edit for the song barely condensed the song to three minutes. That was the version that made it to the chart stratosphere in ’72.

Argent concocted a few more minor UK hits before the momentum faded. They called it quits following their sixth album in 1975. Russ Ballard, who sang lead on “Hold Your Head Up”, went solo and eventually turned into one of the 80s top writers for hire. Rod Argent eventually revved up The Zombies again, leaving the band Argent as a former entity revived only for an occasional reunion concert.

Behind the Lyrics of “Hold Your Head Up”

“Hold Your Head Up” recommends a kind of mind-over-matter approach to any adversity. “And if it’s bad,” Ballard belts near the top of his register at the beginning of the song. “Don’t let it get you down, you can take it.”

White’s lyrics continually espouse the power of positive thinking for the remainder of the admittedly minimal lyrics. He suggests a kind of magic can occur from ignoring the naysayers: “And if they stare/Just let them burn your eyes on you moving.”

“Hold Your Head Up” lumbers about at a measured pace, kind of stalking around the listener before exploding in the anthemic choruses. Rod Argent’s second-act band was decidedly different from The Zombies. But at least Argent didn’t have to wait until they were defunct to enjoy their biggest hit.

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