The Nerves
Singer/songwriter Jack Lee formed The Nerves with fellow San
Francisco street musicians Peter Case and Paul Collins. He had
moved to LA but the Sunset Strip was now a shadow of its former
self, and the band were something of a West Coast anomaly with
their short hair, suits and skinny ties.
They survived, though, to become influential fellow-outcasts on
a club scene that nurtured LA punks The Weirdos and The Germs.
After releasing a self-titled EP in 1976, The Nerves grew apart.
It was in the summer of 1978 - when Jack Lee had hit rock
bottom - that his phone rang and a voice said "This is
Deborah Harry. I'm in a band called Blondie and we really
like your song Hanging On The Telephone and we want to
record it on our album".
He had written and acetated the song back in 1974, inspired by
an illustration in Alan Aldridge's book, The Beatles
Illustrated Lyrics. He now had mixed feelings about its
inclusion on Blondie's Parallel Lines: Grateful for
the financial fillip, and disappointed that it was not the version
by The Nerves that hit big all around the world.
Peter Case went on to bigger things with The Plimsouls
while Paul Collins headed up his own successful power pop band,
The Beat.
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