Trivia / The Hollies

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• Black Sheep Hit: "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress", an homage to Creedence Clearwater Revival, is harder than their usual material. It also differs from the band's usual output in that Allan Clarke played the lead guitar instead of usual guitarist Tony Hicks, and it contains a solo vocal from Clarke instead of the group's trademark harmonies.
• Magnum Opus Dissonance: Graham Nash's big Sgt Pepper-style production, "King Midas in Reverse", made only a small dent on the UK singles charts. The band's next single, "Jennifer Eccles", a lightweight pop number they pretty much wrote as a joke, became a huge hit. Nash was not pleased. ^note  So it's good that "King Midas in Reverse" is nowadays considered, if not their finest moment, then certainly right up there .
  • According to interviews, this pattern was then repeated over and over, with the band alternating between releasing songs they worked hard on which bombed and slapdash ones which became hits. This naturally led to some disillusionment.
• No Export for You: The band's second album with Mikael Rikfors, Out on the Road, was originally released only in Germany. The band decided not to issue it in the UK or the US due to Allan Clarke's imminent return. To date, it hasn't been given a widespread release in either country, though fans who are keen to get it can purchase an imported version.
• Revival by Commercialization:
  • "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" reached No. 1 in the UK in 1988 (almost 20 years after its original release) after being featured prominently in an advert for Miller Lite beer.
  • "We're Through" was an early hit for the band but quickly faded into relative obscurity. In 2019, it gained unexpected fans upon being featured in the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy.
  • "Step Inside", an obscure album track from the Butterfly album, found a new audience when it was featured in a 2006 commercial for Planters nuts.
• Similarly Named Works: The band had multiple instances where two completely different songs bore extremely similar titles.
  • "Slow Down" from Romany and "Slow Down, Go Down" from Out on the Road
  • "I'm Down" from Another Night and "They Don't Realize I'm Down" from Out on the Road
  • "Lucy" from Another Night and "Rubber Lucy" from Hollies (1974)
  • "I'm Alive" (1965 non-LP single) and "We're Alive" (1967 non-LP single)
• What Could Have Been: Graham Nash wrote "Marrakesh Express" for the Hollies, but the others didn't think it could be a hit and rejected it. Nash soon left the group and brought it to Crosby, Stills & Nash.

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