Pushin' Too Hard
Encyclopedia
"Pushin' Too Hard", originally titled "(You're) Pushin' Too Hard", is a song by American
rock
group The Seeds
, written by vocalist Sky Saxon
and produced by Saxon with Marcus Tybalt. It was released as a single in 1965, re-issued the following year, and peaked at number 36 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
chart in February 1967.
The song is part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
's exhibit showcasing "The 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". The Seeds performed "Pushin' Too Hard" in 1968 on the television sitcom The Mothers-in-Law
. Saxon revisited the song on his 2008 album The King of Garage Rock.
The lyrics can be interpreted as the protagonist warning his girlfriend against controlling him,
or as a rant against society as a whole.
The song contains two chords which alternate throughout, as well as instrumental breaks featuring an electric piano solo—played by Daryl Hooper—and a guitar solo played by Jan Savage.
Though the song did not chart initially, a Los Angeles disc jockey
began playing it extensively following the release of the band's self-titled debut album in April 1966.
With the title changed to "Pushin' Too Hard", a new single was issued in November, and the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100
chart a month later.
It peaked at number 36 in February
and spent 11 weeks on the chart.
wrote that "'Pushin' Too Hard' is one of the songs most commonly cited when people are trying to celebrate or denigrate 1960s garage rock
, and sometimes championed for precisely the same reasons as others put it down, though in time the critical balance tended toward praising the tune rather than dumping on it."
The song was included on 1972's Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968, a compilation double album
of American garage rock singles that helped influence the development of 1970s punk rock
.
In 1994, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
's curatorial staff, along with rock critics and historians, selected "Pushin' Too Hard" to the Hall of Fame exhibit featuring "The 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".
Dave Marsh
selected the song to his 1989 book, The Heart Of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.
In 2003, a special edition issue of Q
magazine, titled "1001 Best Songs Ever", ranked "Pushin' Too Hard" at number 486.
.
The song is featured on the soundtracks to the films Air America
(1990),
Wild America
(1997),
and Easy Rider
(2004; expanded edition).
In the second-season episode of Lost
titled "The Whole Truth
", Jack
and Locke
listen to the song while Ana Lucia
interrogates Henry.
parodies the chorus of "Pushin' Too Hard" in his song "Sy Borg," off of his 1979 rock opera Joe's Garage
, in which a XQJ-37 Nuclear-Powered Pansexual Roto-Plooker (sex-machine) called Sy Borg cries before breaking down: "You are plooking to hard, plooking on me, to hard, to hard, plooking to hard on me."
singer Paul Parker
released his rendition of "Pushin' Too Hard" as the B-side
to his 1982 single "Right On Target".
Experimental rock
group Pere Ubu
included a live version of the song on their 1996 box set Datapanik in Year Zero
.
A cover version
by American rock band The Makers
appears on their 1997 compilation album Shout On!/Hip-Notic.
Garage rockers The Embarrassment
released a version the song on their 2001 album Blister Pop.
The Bangles
performed "Pushin' Too Hard" for their 2007 live DVD
Return to Bangleonia - Live in Concert.
A 1978 live version of the song by power pop
group The Rubinoos
appears on their 2007 compilation album Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Rubinoos.
Sky Saxon re-recorded the song on his 2008 album The King of Garage Rock.
7" Vinyl (1966)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
group The Seeds
The Seeds
The Seeds were an American rock band. The group, whose repertoire spread between garage rock and acid rock, are considered one of the pioneers of punk rock.-History:...
, written by vocalist Sky Saxon
Sky Saxon
Sky "Sunlight" Saxon was an American rock and roll musician who was best known as the leader and singer of the 1960s Los Angeles psychedelic garage rock band The Seeds.-Biography:...
and produced by Saxon with Marcus Tybalt. It was released as a single in 1965, re-issued the following year, and peaked at number 36 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart in February 1967.
The song is part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
's exhibit showcasing "The 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". The Seeds performed "Pushin' Too Hard" in 1968 on the television sitcom The Mothers-in-Law
The Mothers-in-Law
The Mothers-in-Law is an American sitcom starring Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard as two matriarchs who were friends and next-door neighbors whose children's elopement rendered them in-laws. The show aired on NBC from September 1967 to April 1969; it was produced by Desi Arnaz after the dissolutions...
. Saxon revisited the song on his 2008 album The King of Garage Rock.
Composition
Sky Saxon wrote "Pushin' Too Hard" in 15 minutes while sitting in the front seat of a car waiting for his girlfriend to finish grocery shopping at a supermarket.The lyrics can be interpreted as the protagonist warning his girlfriend against controlling him,
or as a rant against society as a whole.
The song contains two chords which alternate throughout, as well as instrumental breaks featuring an electric piano solo—played by Daryl Hooper—and a guitar solo played by Jan Savage.
Release
The Seeds released "(You're) Pushin' Too Hard" as a single in November 1965.Though the song did not chart initially, a Los Angeles disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
began playing it extensively following the release of the band's self-titled debut album in April 1966.
With the title changed to "Pushin' Too Hard", a new single was issued in November, and the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart a month later.
It peaked at number 36 in February
and spent 11 weeks on the chart.
Critical reception
Allmusic's Richie UnterbergerRichie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
wrote that "'Pushin' Too Hard' is one of the songs most commonly cited when people are trying to celebrate or denigrate 1960s garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
, and sometimes championed for precisely the same reasons as others put it down, though in time the critical balance tended toward praising the tune rather than dumping on it."
The song was included on 1972's Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968, a compilation double album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
of American garage rock singles that helped influence the development of 1970s punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
.
In 1994, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
's curatorial staff, along with rock critics and historians, selected "Pushin' Too Hard" to the Hall of Fame exhibit featuring "The 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
selected the song to his 1989 book, The Heart Of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.
In 2003, a special edition issue of Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine, titled "1001 Best Songs Ever", ranked "Pushin' Too Hard" at number 486.
Film and television appearances
The Seeds, appearing as fictional band The Warts, performed "Pushin' Too Hard" on a 1968 episode of the television sitcom The Mothers-in-LawThe Mothers-in-Law
The Mothers-in-Law is an American sitcom starring Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard as two matriarchs who were friends and next-door neighbors whose children's elopement rendered them in-laws. The show aired on NBC from September 1967 to April 1969; it was produced by Desi Arnaz after the dissolutions...
.
The song is featured on the soundtracks to the films Air America
Air America (film)
Air America is a 1990 American action comedy film directed by Roger Spottiswoode, starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. as Air America pilots, during the Vietnam War, flying missions in Laos...
(1990),
Wild America
Wild America (film)
Wild America is a 1997 adventure comedy film directed by William Dear, written by David Michael Wieger, and starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Devon Sawa and Scott Bairstow.-Plot:...
(1997),
and Easy Rider
Easy Rider
Easy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South with the aim of achieving freedom...
(2004; expanded edition).
In the second-season episode of Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
titled "The Whole Truth
The Whole Truth (Lost)
"The Whole Truth" is the 41st episode of Lost. It is the 16th episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Karen Gaviola, and written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Christina M. Kim. It first aired on March 22, 2006 on ABC...
", Jack
Jack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
and Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
listen to the song while Ana Lucia
Ana Lucia Cortez
Ana Lucia Cortez is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Michelle Rodriguez. Ana Lucia made her first appearance as a guest star in the first season finale, and became part of the main cast for season two. After Oceanic Flight 815 splits in mid-air, the tail section...
interrogates Henry.
In Pop-Culture
Frank ZappaFrank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
parodies the chorus of "Pushin' Too Hard" in his song "Sy Borg," off of his 1979 rock opera Joe's Garage
Joe's Garage
Joe's Garage is a 1979 rock opera by Frank Zappa. Zappa stated that along with Lumpy Gravy, this album was one of his finest achievements. It was originally released as two separate albums, the first comprising Act I, and the second part as a double-album which made up Acts II & III. All three...
, in which a XQJ-37 Nuclear-Powered Pansexual Roto-Plooker (sex-machine) called Sy Borg cries before breaking down: "You are plooking to hard, plooking on me, to hard, to hard, plooking to hard on me."
Other versions
DiscoDisco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
singer Paul Parker
Paul Parker (singer)
Paul Parker is a Hi-NRG and dance singer born in San Francisco, California. His biggest success came in the eighties, when he reached #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart twice: "Right on Target" in 1982, which was written and produced by Patrick Cowley, who also produced Parker's 1983 debut...
released his rendition of "Pushin' Too Hard" as the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
to his 1982 single "Right On Target".
Experimental rock
Experimental rock
Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique....
group Pere Ubu
Pere Ubu
Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group from Cleveland, Ohio.Père Ubu may also refer to:* Ubu, the enigmatic central figure of a series of French plays by Alfred Jarry, including Ubu Roi, and subsequent plays Ubu Cocu and Ubu Enchaîné...
included a live version of the song on their 1996 box set Datapanik in Year Zero
Datapanik in Year Zero
Datapanik in Year Zero is a 1996 box set by Pere Ubu, which catalogues their initial phase of existence up to their 1982 break-up . The title was first used by the band for a 1978 EP which compiled their first singles; the name was "recycled" for this release...
.
A cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by American rock band The Makers
The Makers (American band)
The Makers are a garage rock/rock-n-roll band from Spokane, Washington, formed in 1991 with releases on Estrus Records, Sub Pop Records and are currently on Kill Rock Stars Records.- History :...
appears on their 1997 compilation album Shout On!/Hip-Notic.
Garage rockers The Embarrassment
The Embarrassment
The Embarrassment was an American quartet formed in 1979 in Wichita, Kansas, that made several recordings before breaking up in 1983. The band consisted of guitarist Bill Goffrier, lead singer and organist John Nichols, bassist Ron Klaus and drummer Brent Giessmann.-History:Although some people...
released a version the song on their 2001 album Blister Pop.
The Bangles
The Bangles
The Bangles are an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s, scoring several hit singles during the decade.-Formation and early years :...
performed "Pushin' Too Hard" for their 2007 live DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
Return to Bangleonia - Live in Concert.
A 1978 live version of the song by power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
group The Rubinoos
The Rubinoos
The Rubinoos are an American power pop band that formed in 1970 in Berkeley, California. They are perhaps best known for their singles "I Think We're Alone Now" , "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" , and for the theme song to the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds...
appears on their 2007 compilation album Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Rubinoos.
Sky Saxon re-recorded the song on his 2008 album The King of Garage Rock.
Track listing
7" Vinyl (1965)7" Vinyl (1966)
Chart performance
| Chart (1967) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
36 |
| U.S. Cash Box Top 100 | 40 |
| Canada RPM Magazine RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
44 |
External links
- [ "Pushin' Too Hard"] at Allmusic