....
When Ron Stults was growing up in the fifties he listened to Elvis and Ricky
Nelson songs. He developed his vocal style
while singing along with the songs on
the radio. In 1963 while barely in high school he formed a group called The High
Tones. The band recorded three songs that were cut to acetates, but are now
missing in action. Their influences were instrumental sounds and vocal
arrangements. The group became popular enough around Michigan that they opened
for national bands such as The Four Seasons. In late 1963 though, the group
changed their style after listening to a Beatle album issued in Canada. One of
The High Tones members mother was a beautician who received the album from a
friend. This was months before The Beatles were known in America. At any rate
with their new style intact The High Tones lasted till the early 1965, when one
of the members(Ron Jennings) was drafted into the Navy.
Ron then joined The Village Beaus(the name was influenced by The Beau Brummels). Ron wasn't too happy with the groups name and worried someone might call them The Village Idiots. Rory Mack, a classmate of Ron, was also in the group. The band played lots of Beatles, Stones, and Them songs. Internal conflicts led to the break up of the group by September of 1966 and nothing was ever recorded. About two and a half months later Rory got hold of Ron because he was forming a new group with John Torock and they needed a lead singer. Ron joined up with the as yet un-named group. John Torock was the oldest member of the group(all the other members were still in high school) and was going to business college, taking a course in micro-economics. There was some theory about unrelated segments in his class and thus was born the name of the new group. John's father Louis was very helpful to the band and allowed them to use the Torock basement and garage for rehearsals. Louis would also become the group's official manager.
It was in Mr. Torocks basement that The Unrelated Segments greatest songs
were written, "Story Of My Life", "Where You Gonna Go", and "Its Unfair". In
fact The Segments had only been together for two practices when "Story Of My
Life" was written. "Its Unfair" was put together at the next days practice. Mr.
Torock was so excited about the bands productive output that he wanted Jack
Checkaway of SVR Records to hear their songs. Mr. Torok knew Jack since his son,
John, had played with another SVR band, The Tidal Waves when a group member was
hurt. The Tidal Waves already had a hit out in "Farmer John", which had made
number one locally and the top 100 nationally. At any rate after Jack heard The
Segments he was so impressed he booked them into United Sound studio right away.
The Segments were only together when their first single "The Story Of My Life"
b/w "Its Unfair"were recorded on November 26, 1966 in a total of three and a
half hours. Then the band packed up all their gear and played a show a few hours
later at a high school in Lincoln Park.
"Story Of My Life" and "Its Unfair" were released commercially in February of
1967. Ron says that the meaning behind "The Story Of My Life" is about how when
love is lost and disillusion sets in. As with all The Unrelated Segments song. Ron wrote the lyrics and Rory the music. The 13th Floor Elevator
influenced bass riffs were added by Barry after Ron and Rory had written the
song. In fact the new mix of the song has the bass more pronounced at the break
and end than previously released. The song was played heavily around the Detroit
area and went all the way to #9 on WKNR and at #15 on their "All Time Top 113"
list published in 1969. It also went to #3 at WTOLD in Toledo, Ohio
Jack Checkaway told Mr. Torock the week the song was to be played on the
radio but did not know exactly when it would be played. One day Ron and Rory are
getting into Ron's car. Ron had just turned on the ignition and started to play
the radio when all of a sudden "The Story Of My Life" came on the airwaves of
WKNR. Ron recalls that all time stopped for that moment when they first heard
it- "Its a weird feeling when you first hear it, you say to yourself that I wish
I could have done it this way or mixed it another way". The single earned The
Unrelated Segments more gigs and a few fan clubs in Wayne and Lincoln Park,
Michigan. The fan clubs would come out and support the band. Newsletters were
printed with the latest information about the group and where they would be
playing and with what other groups. WKNR in 1967 ran a contest for Michigan's
best band. The Segments beat out everyone like Bob Seeger's band but lost to The
Rationals because of their fan club. The members of The Rationals fan club
instead of mailing in the ballots to WKNR, went down to the station and stuffed
the boxes with over 5,000 cards! Thus The Rationals won.
In the first week in June of 1967, The Unrelated Segment headed to United
Studios to record "Where You Gonna Go", "Its Gonna Rain" and "Cry, Cry, Cry".
While on their way to the studio they were more interested in listening to the
radio than discussing their upcoming session. The reason for this was that WKNR
was playing the newly released Beatles album, "Sgt. Pepper's", in its entirety.
The Segments needless to say were blown away by the album. By the way the three
Segments songs were recorded in six hours, once again at United Sound Studio
Ron says "Where You Gonna Go" was about when everyone is going through the
paces and same thing is happening as the day before and nothing was getting
done. "Its Gonna Rain" was about the same theme as "Where You Gonna Go", the
theme of alienation, the idea that people try to cling onto something that
really isn't there and finally when they realize that everything they hoped for,
they have to face it to themselves that is really isn't there. "Where You Gonna
Go" was later re-done by a Detroit group, The Romantics, and issued as the hit
single "What I Like About You". Pretty impressive for a group whose members were
still in high school!
The next Segments single was "Where You Gonna Go" b/w "Its Gonna Rain". It was released the first week of September. It would peak at #14 on WKNR. Why did such a fantastic single fail to go higher? Ron says it was due to sheer bad timing. The racial riots in Detroit also occurred in September of 1967. As the single was moving up the charts, the riots shut down the whole city and caused slack sales.
Letters From Record Labels Regarding The Unrelated
Segments and The SVR Records Stationery, click thumbnails for original size.
VIEW EIGHT DIFFERENT RADIO SURVEY'S FOR "STORY OF MY LIFE" AND "CRY CRY CRY"
While many groups from the period were content to do cover songs for their
live shows, The Segments were different. They performed about 80% original songs
with a few covers thrown in. Many other songs that were never recorded were
played live. One of them has had a long reputation among Unrelated Segment fans
as existing-"Chocolate Graveyard". Unfortunately, the song was never recorded
because Jack was afraid that it would have racial overtones. Ron was just
writing a psychedelic song with a psychedelic title, influenced by bands with
such names as The Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Chocolate Watch Band, etc. A
couple of other problematical songs were "Its all right Mr. White"(which was
about the social upheavals in the 60's, but was not meant to have any racial
overtones) and "War In Vietnam"(obviously a protest song, very popular with the
crowds that came to see The Segments). Another unreleased song was "Mr.
Christopher" which was also a war protest song. It was about a man who was
misused by the establishment. The lyrics remain from November, 1968:
MR. CHRISTOPHER(1968)
From a window high above, he see's the whole world going down.
There's a story in his eyes, so much hurt inside, but he won't make a sound.
When the rain falls, he's pretending there's a message the sky's sending.
But we won't know until the ending.
MR. CHRISTOPHER
From a place inside, he could find himself, but he just couldn't see.
There's no reason anymore, makes no sense at all, so he just lets it be.
Let the rain mix with his crying, everyday we all are-dying.
Still inside, we keep on lying.
MR. CHRISTOPHER
We all become like him in so many ways, still we can't understand.
We just close our hearts, we don't wanna see until its over,..(thou)
When tomorrow comes, we're believing, still inside, we're deceiving
As we close, today we're leaving....
MR. CHRISTOPHER(words by Ron Stults)
The Unrelated Segments played such great 60's venues as The Grande Ballroom
on bills with Fever Tree, Spirit, Spencer Davis Group, Jeff Beck Group, The
Amboy Dukes, SRC, and Dick Wagner and The Frost. The Segments also played with
The MC at Oakland Community College after MC had their first album released. Ron
had know Wayne Kramer back in the days when he was in a band called The Nomads
in 1965. One of the most memorable gigs was at Southfield High School in 1968.
The Amboy Dukes opened the show, followed by The Unrelated Segments and then The
Who. There were about 4,000 students in the auditorium. The Segments also were fortunate enough to play on TV shows. They played once
on "Upbeat" performing "Where You Gonna Go" and "The Story Of My Life". Also on
the show were Lesley Gore, The Human Being, and Peaches and Herb. On local TV
station CKOW, Channel 9 there was Robin Seymor's "Swinging Time". The stations
signal was so strong it could be picked up as far away as Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The band played about ten different times on the show. It was broadcast daily
from 5:00-6:00, Monday to Saturday.
The Unrelated Segments final release was "Cry, Cry, Cry" b/w "Its Unfair"(Its
Not Fair). It was recorded at the same time as "Where You Gonna Go" and "Its
Gonna Rain"(in June, 1967)but not released until the summer of 1968. While "Cry,
Cry, Cry" is a recognized classic today, in 1968 it did not receive substantial
air-play. It did not chart on WKNR at all(the station was undergoing management
changes) and the only record of its status is on a radio survey by radio station
WTAC in Flint, at #30. The theme of "Cry, Cry, Cry" was similar to "Its Gonna
Rain", about disillusionment, love gone bad and where justice is blind, the
feeling that everything is in turmoil(not unusual for the 60's). Right after
"Cry, Cry, Cry" was released Andy was fired from the band over differences
between the manager, Mr. Torock. When this occurred the Segments whole chemistry
changed. Then Barry got drafted six month later and went to Vietnam. John who
originally played rhythm guitar switched over to bass guitar. Daryl Gore took
over for two months as rhythm guitar, but then left for California. Then The
Segments changed their name to simply U.S. at the end of the year. They also had
a new manager, Leo Finn.
In January of 1969 U.S. cut one song in the studio called "Hey Love", that remained unreleased until this compilation. It is done up in the typically fervent and inimitable Segments style. A few months after this recording Rory said he was leaving the music business for good and left the group. He was replaced by Craig Webb on lead guitar. With Craig, Ron would write one more song for US, "There's Gonna Be A Change", which would also remain unreleased till this compilation. With all the changes going on in less than a year it had a permanent fracturing effect on the band and before 1969 ended, there would be no more US. After so many highs and lows in the music business one of the best groups to ever emerge from Michigan in the 60's was no more. Ron recorded the other five songs on this cd after his stint with The Unrelated Segments in the 70's , but the Segment's magic is still there, albeit in a different tone.
Now over thirty years after their first release, the definitive collection of one of Michigan's finest groups is finally preserved for all future generations of music aficionados.
The
Unrelated Segments: Ron Stults (lead vocals) from Taylor, Michigan. Rory Mack (lead
guitar)from Taylor, Michigan. Barry Van Engelen (bass)from Lincoln Park,
Michigan. Andy Angellotti (drums) from Melvindale, Michigan. John Torock(rhythm
guitar) from Allen Park, Michigan
.
A Special Thanks To: Ronald Stults for the story of his life, music and The
Unrelated Segments. Compiled By: Michael Greisman.
LISTEN TO THE UNRELATED SEGMENTS
