A lot of youngsters these days see their parents and grandparents being nostalgic about the music they used to listen to in their childhood and adolescence. The older generation often discusses how the music of their times was different from the music of contemporary times and complains about how the era of good music has passed and that there is no good music these days for them to enjoy. Such remarks leave a lot of younger people in deep thought. Younger people keep on wondering what features the music of our era is missing.
Many younger people even start listening to the music of the 1960s and ‘70s just to get an idea of the music of that period and understand the concerns of their grandparents and parents. While a few youngsters make an effort to bring back the best of the past, most of them do not have the time or courage to do this in today’s fast-paced world and decide to take the opinions of the older generation at face value. However, such sentiments about music have been gauged and addressed by the band ‘The Cherry Drops’.
The Cherry Drops beautifully combines both the Retro and Pop genres. The band has intricately crafted their tunes which reaches the heart of the older generation and gives them a taste of the music of their own time. At the same time, it introduces the popular pop and garage rock genre to the younger generation. The carefully crafted symphonies strike the correct chords in the hearts of both the younger and older generation while simultaneously introducing the music of the ‘60s and ‘70s to the former and helping the latter to relive the music of their times.
The Cherry Drops band is the product of four innovative minds, Vern Shank- the founder and lead singer of the band, Josh Cobb, Jimmy Mason, and Jamie Markowski. Founded in 2011, the band’s name is inspired by the popular bands of the 1960s and the 1970s, particularly, The Lemon Pipers, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and Raspberries. Similarly, the band’s music is inspired by the music of leading bands of the 1960s and ‘70s such as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Archies, The Buckinghams, The Grass Roots, Raspberries, Cheap Trick, Big Star, Bad Finger, and others.
The band assimilates the garage rock genre and the power of the ‘60s and ‘70s into their music releases and started off by playing covers of first-generation garage rock songs. Some of these covers include Syndicate of Sound’s 1966 monster classic “Little Girl,” The Sweet’s “Wig-Wam Bam,” and Raspberries’ “I Wanna Be with You.”
The Cherry Drops released their original songs with their debut album Everything’s Groovy, which includes songs “Outta Sight,” inspired by Stevie Wonder’s, “Uptight (Everything’s all right),” “Pop, Pop (Till You Drop),” Dean Martin’s “Let the Good Times In,” Johnny Rivers, The Plimsouls, Elvis Costello, The Attractions’ “Pump It Up,” “Love Is a Groovy Thing” and “Melvin’s on the Make” inspired by Marvin Gaye’s “Can I Get a Witness.” The other albums of the band are Life is a Bowl of Cherry Drops (2015) and Good to the Last Drop (2018).
The band’s songs “Outta’ Sight” and “Far Out” received recognition after they were praised by musician Stevie Van Zandt of the Bruce Springsteen band. Both songs were featured on his syndicated radio show, Little Steven’s Underground Garage. Van Zandt regarded both songs as “Coolest song in The World This Week,” which was one of the biggest appreciative remarks for the band. The band has remained successful in intricately weaving the retro and pop tunes of the ‘60s and ‘70s with contemporary music and presented a beautiful symphony. Such creativity in music not only enriches contemporary music but also keeps retro music alive for the audience.
