Incredible Bongo Band

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The Incredible Bongo Band, also known as Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band, was a project started by Michael Viner, a record artist manager and executive at MGM Records. The band's output consisted of instrumental music in the funk genre, characterised by the prominence of bongo drums and conga drums.

1 History
2 Discography
3 External links

[edit] History

The band released two albums, 1973's Bongo Rock and 1974's Return of the Incredible Bongo Band. The song "Bongo Rock", co-written by Art Laboe and Preston Epps and released by Epps as a Top 40 hit in 1959, was covered by the Incredible Bongo Band as "Bongo Rock '73", and became a minor US hit for them in 1973, and a substatial hit in Canada.

However, the band is best known these days for its often-sampled cover of "Apache", an instrumental tune written by Jerry Lordan and originally made popular in the UK by The Shadows, and in North America by Jørgen Ingmann. The group's version of "Apache" (produced by Perry Botkin, Jr.) was not a hit upon release, and languished in relative obscurity until the late 1970s, when it was adopted by early hip-hop artists, including pioneering DJs Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash, for the uncommonly long percussion break in the middle of the song. Subsequently, many of the Incredible Bongo Band's other releases were sampled by hip-hop producers, and the "Apache" break remains a staple of many producers in drum and bass. The song received popular attention again in 2001 when it was featured in an ad for an Acura SUV. Recently, music critic Will Hermes did an article on Apache and the Incredible Bongo Band for the New York Times.^{[citation needed]}

As well, the band's cover of "Let There Be Drums," which was made famous by Sandy Nelson and also performed by The Ventures, was used as the theme song for the long running television show "Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling" during the 1980s.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Bongo Rock

"Dueling Bongos"
"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"
"Raunchy '73"
"Bongo Rock '73"
"Let There Be Drums"
"Apache"
"Bongolia"
"Last Bongo In Belgium"

[edit] Return of the Incredible Bongo Band

"Kiburi"
"When The Bed Breaks Down, I'll Meet You In The Spring"
"Sing, Sing, Sing"
"Pipeline"
"Wipe Out" (Cover of The Surfari's 'Wipeout')
"Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, Your Tie's Caught In Your Zipper"
"Topsey" (Parts 1-3)
"Sharp Nine"
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
"Got The Sun In The Morning And The Daughter At Night"
"Ohkey Dokey"

[edit] Bongo Rock (2006 Compilation)

[edit] LP Release

A1. "Apache"
A2. "Let There Be Drums"
A3. "Bongolia"
A4. "Wipe Out"
B1. "Dueling Bongos"
B2. "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"
B3. "Raunchy '73"
C1. "Last Bongo In Belgium"
C2. "Bongo Rock '73"
C3. "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, Your Tie's Caught In Your Zipper"
C4. "Sharp Nine"
D1. "Kiburi"
D2. "Sing, Sing, Sing"
D3. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
D4. "Ohkey Dokey"
D5. "When The Bed Breaks Down, I'll Meet You In The Spring"