History Music / TheTurtles

The Turtles are a pop-rock and folk-rock band from UsefulNotes/LosAngeles that formed in 1963 as a surf-rock band called The Crossfires, switched to their familiar sound and name in 1965, and originally ran through 1970. They were headed by Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (later known as Flo & Eddie) and are best known for their hit songs including "Happy Together", "She'd Rather Be With Me", "You Showed Me", "Elenore", and a {{Cover|Version}} of Music/BobDylan's "It Ain't Me Babe".

** After building a following in Southern California as The Crossfires, when they signed a record contract their manager told them to become The Turtles, since it was close to Music/TheBeatles and would make people think they were British instead of American, which didn't hurt back in 1965.

[[TropeNamer So happy together]]''"

The Turtles are a folk-rock band from UsefulNotes/LosAngeles that formed in 1963 as a surf-rock band called The Crossfires, switched to their familiar sound and name in 1965, and originally ran through 1970. They were headed by Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (later known as Flo & Eddie) and are best known for their hit songs including "Happy Together", "She'd Rather Be With Me", "You Showed Me", "Elenore", and a {{Cover|Version}} of Music/BobDylan's "It Ain't Me Babe".

* NerdGlasses: Favored by Volman.

* BrokenPedestal: According to Howard Kaylan, Jim Tucker left the group after they had an unpleasant encounter with Music/JohnLennon, who he idolized, at a London nightclub in 1967. Amusingly, however, Tucker himself actually denies this and claims that he simply left due to burnout from constantly touring and recording new material.

* LongTitle: "Who Would Ever Think That I Would Marry Margaret".

* Chip Douglas - bass (1966–67)

* Jim Pons (1967–70)

* '''Jim Tucker''' - guitar (1965–67; died 2020)

** Music/RayDavies of Music/TheKinks produced ''Turtle Soup''.

* TurtlePower: It's in the band's name. Their last original studio album was titled ''Turtle Soup.''

** The Turtles' first two albums, ''It Ain't Me Babe'' and ''You, Baby'', were the first major producing efforts of Bones Howe, who had already gained some recognition in the music industry for engineering several hits by artists such as Music/TheMamasAndThePapas, Music/JanAndDean, Johnny Rivers, and Gary Lewis & the Playboys. Howe would later reap greater success producing for The Association and The Fifth Dimension. (Technically, on ''It Ain't Me Babe'', Howe was credited for "studio direction", with the actual producer credits going to Ted Feigin and Lee Lasseff, the label heads of White Whale Records, The Turtles' record label. Howe would finally get full producer credit on ''You, Baby'', again sharing producer credits with Feigin and Lasseff.)

* '''Don Murray''' - drums (1965–66)

* '''Jim Tucker''' - guitar (1965–67)

As usual, you can find the basics at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turtles The Other Wiki]].

* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Original members Howard Kaylan, Al Nichol, and Chuck Portz all graduated from Westchester High School's class of 1964. Mark Volman attended the same school but graduated a year later. Meanwhile, Jim Tucker and Don Murray studied at nearby Torrance and Inglewood, respectively.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Essentially why Portz and Murray left the band in early 1966 -- they didn't exactly leave on bad terms but felt they were drifting apart from the rest of the guys, especially when offstage.

* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Original members Howard Kaylan, Al Nichol, Chuck Portz, Jim Tucker, and Don Murray all graduated from Westchester High School's class of 1964. Mark Volman attended the same school but graduated a year later.

The Turtles are a folk-rock band from UsefulNotes/LosAngeles that formed in 1965 and originally ran through 1970. They were headed by Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (later known as Flo & Eddie) and are best known for their hit songs including "Happy Together", "She'd Rather Be With Me", "You Showed Me", "Elenore", and a {{Cover|Version}} of Music/BobDylan's "It Ain't Me Babe".

* MoneySong: "Gas Money"

* YoungerThanTheyLook: When "Happy Together" hit #1, Kaylan and Volman were both 19, but Kaylan could've passed for 30 and Volman for mid-20s.

* FunnyAfro: Volman began sporting one in the late '60s, and at one point was reported to have gotten it insured for $100,000.

** They famously CoveredUp Music/BobDylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" for their first hit.

* BreakupBreakout: Kaylan and Volman renamed themselves Flo & Eddie and would join Music/FrankZappa's the Mothers of Invention (they can be heard on the albums ''Music/ChungasRevenge'' (1970), ''Music/FillmoreEastJune1971'' (1971), ''Film/TwoHundredMotels'' (1971) and ''Music/JustAnotherBandFromLA'' (1972) and work with everyone from [[Music/MarcBolan T. Rex]] to Music/AliceCooper to Music/DuranDuran and MANY OTHERS. Mark and Howie also lent their voices to the X-rated animated cartoon ''WesternAnimation/DownAndDirtyDuck''. Drummer John Barbata would also move on to Music/JeffersonAirplane, which would become Music/JeffersonStarship not long after he joined.

* BrokenPedestal: According to Howard Kaylan, Jim Tucker left the group after they had an unpleasant encounter with Music/JohnLennon, who he idolized, at a London nightclub in 1967. Amusingly, however, Tucker himself claims that he simply left due to burnout from constantly touring and recording new material.

** Inverted with "Eve of Destruction". While Barry [=McGuire=]'s version was a bigger hit and is much better known now, the Turtles actually recorded and released the song first. (Its composer, P.F. Sloan, penned several other songs for them, including the hits "You Baby" and "Let Me Be", the former with longtime writing partner Steve Barri. Amusingly, "You Baby" is itself a cover. It was originally first recorded as an unreleased track by The Vogues, before Music/TheMamasAndThePapas and The Grass Roots recorded it as an album track on their respective debut albums, both groups using the original instrumental track and recording a new vocal track over The Vogues.)