The Seeds — Not Pushing Hard Enough?

Calling a musical act a ‘one-hit wonder’ is a pretty common occurrence and one that is usually meant as a mild put-down, but there have been some musicians who achieve a measure of popularity without quite reaching even that plateau. They might hit the charts for several songs and have some solid record sales, but are never quite able to get into the Top Ten. A good example would be a very good Sixties’ group known as the Seeds, whose best-known song was “Pushin’ Too Hard.”

The LA-based group came together in the mid-sixties when lead vocalist Sky Saxon (real name; Richard Marsh) joined up with keyboardist Daryl Hooper, guitarist Jan Savage, and drummer Rick Andridge. The fledgling group soon managed to get a recording contract, and their first record — “Pushin’ Too Hard” — was released late in 1966.

The record gradually rose on the charts and broke into the Top 40 in 1967, and the group followed up with “Mr. Farmer” and “Can’t Seem to Make You Mine” (video below). Both pieces were similar to their earlier hit but didn’t quite reach the same heights on the charts.

The Seeds gradually shifted focus, trying for something closer to the kind of psychedelic sound being explored by the Beatles with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. They managed to sell some records with “A Thousand Shadows,” but the proverbial handwriting was on the wall. The group broke up by the close of the decade but — contrary to the title of their biggest seller — maybe they just didn’t push hard enough to make it in the tough world of pop music.