Today’s featured artist is one of the most mysterious frontmen you could ever meet. Legally changing his name to a symbol and he did it before Prince! He claimed to be a time traveler from another planet… And he also says that he’s lived a past life on prehistoric Earth, back when the dinosaurs were roaming around. So I guess it’s no surprise that the name of his band came from a cult classic 1950s Japanese science fiction film featuring aliens in capes. It’s one of the biggest one-hit wonders ever… Question Mark and the Mysterians with the 1966 classic 96 Tears. Lead singer Question Mark was always hidden behind dark sunglasses, he led his band out of nowhere to the top of the charts with one of the most unexpected songs of the rock era… Paving the way for an army of garage rockers ever after and even inspiring the phrase punk rock… This #1 hit has an inescapable organ riff that defined an era. No one knew who the singer really was for decades… Let's try to find out next on Professor of Rock.

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Brandon Fugal

Honorary Producers
Jeff Kolek, Steve, Anthony Fedora, Craig M, James Smith, Ardashir Lea

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Hey music junkies, Professor of Rock, always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. If you remember running around the house playing laser tag or photon. You’ll dig this channel of deep musical nostalgia. Make sure to subscribe below right now. Also, check out our patron.

It’s time for another edition of our series Bottled Lightening where we celebrate a song or album that was king for a day. Here we honor artists and bands and that rocketed up the charts… but for reasons unknown weren’t able to sustain that success. Called by some one-hit wonders, we celebrate them instead as lightning in a bottle. On previous episodes, we have covered In a Gadda Davida by Iron Butterfly, Incense and Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clock, and Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum.

For today’s episode, we’re headed back to a simpler time to experience. a bottled lightning moment that had a hit song at its center. And I don’t think anyone saw coming. It’s a hit with a hidden meaning that the song’s writer refuses to reveal and in fact, no one knew who the singer was because he didn’t have a name… He claimed to be a time traveler. He and his band were known as… from Question Mark And the Mysterians’ and the classic song was called 96 Tears. So I gotta be upfront with you on this one. There’s some strange and at times contradictory stories swirling around this band and this song. Some of which are completely intentional. Mystery was the name of the game for these. But we’re going to do our best here to sort it out. So who were they?

Originally formed in Saginaw, Michigan in 1962, the founding members of Question Mark and the Mysterians consisted of bassist Larry Borjas, guitarist Bobby Balderrama, and drummer Robert Martinez. They were a young group and first started playing together at Larry’s house in Saginaw in 1962. Brought together by their love of rock and roll, the trio jammed together for over a year before getting their first gig at a local Greek Orthodox Church. Needing a singer to take the band to the next level, Robert suggested his strange older brother… whose name I’ll keep confidential for now… We’ll just call him Question Mark. By the end of the story, we’ll try to find out his real identity. Who knows