Updated February 2011
The Young Men were from Phoenix, Arizona. Members included:
Frank Lacey – lead vocals
Richard Adams – lead guitar
Pete Axtell – rhythm guitar
John Herwehe – bass
Dave Killingsworth – bass
Tony Boynton – drums
They were originally called the Metronomes and most were students at West Phoenix High School, playing the prom there in 1966. The Metronomes were Frank Lacey, guitar and vocals; Larry Edmonds, guitar; George Matthews, drums; and John Hesterman on bass, piano and vocals. A friend of the band remembered Frank Lacey being one of the first students at their high school to be sent home for having long hair.
The Young Men’s first 45, released on United World #6947 in January ’67 has a minor pop song “Too Many Times” on the A-side, written by ‘Howie’ and produced by Forest Higginbotham. It charted on KRUX 1360 AM, reaching #16 on March 16.
Much cooler is the catchy, upbeat “Go!”. The song writing credits list Axtell and Lacey, but as Mop Top Mike pointed out to me, it’s really a very close version of the Dave Clark Five’s “I’m Thinking”, the b-side of a ’65 single “Reelin’ and Rockin'”. The Dave Clark Five original has a great shout of “Oh!” before the first verse. The Young Men change this to a reverb-laden “Go!” and dub it in before each verse. They also speed up the tempo, drop the organ part and substitute an excellent dry guitar solo for the bridge in the DC5 version.
The label lists the time for “Go!” as 2:33, but when played the song clocks at 1:33. I’ve seen a second version of the label that lists the time correctly.
The Young Men had a second 45 United World #0001 in April of ’67, a very competent rendition of the Hollies’ “Baby That’s All” backed with “Love’s Time”, a good original by Axtell, Lacey and Froste.
As Dan Nowicki points out in his comment below, Frank Lacey and Dave Killingsworth later were in Thackeray Rocke, and that both records were recorded at Audio Recorders of Arizona.
Thanks also to Mop Top Mike for the dates of the 45s, to Richard Adams & John Hesterman for the photo at top and info on the Metronomes, to John L. for info on the group, and to Brian Kirschenbaum for the scans of “Baby That’s All” and “Love’s Time”.
