Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels scorched up the charts circa 1965-1967. Their brand of rock-pop craziness could yank you out of your seat and throw you into a frenzy. They specialized in revved-up re-tellings of old rocker songs. Their signature song and biggest hit was the wild and crazy “Devil With A Blue Dress On.” The song is a classic.
Billy Levise Jr. (Mitch Ryder) was born in Hamtramck, Michigan in 1945. The Motown influence was all over him. His version of soul, however, was pepped up a few notches and helped hatch the other Detroit raucous rock sounds of Ted Nugent, Iggy Pop, and MC5.
Billy started by fronting a black quartet called The Peps. It was an intriguing and adventurous combination for the early 60s, but he eventually had to quit due to harassment. He then formed a group with future Wheelers– Jim McCarty, John Badanjek, Joe Cubert and Earl Elliot. Their name was Billy Lee & The Rivieras. Their strong live act caught on with such force locally that they were hired to open for The Dave Clark Five in 1965. Bob Crewe (producer of rock superstars The Four Seasons) was in the audience and immediately signed them, moving the band to New York City.
Crewe wanted a name change for the group. The new moniker “Mitch Ryder” was found by leafing through the Manhattan phone book, and soon “Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels” were set into motion. Their first try was “I Need Help” and it did. The song hadn’t quite captured their essence. But “Jenny Take A Ride” took off in late 1965. This also cemented a formula that they would use frequently: hooking two different songs together and cementing them into a frenzied medley, with Ryder wailing over the frenzy. “Jenny Take A Ride” combined Little Richard’s “Jenny, Jenny” with Chuck Willis’s “C. C. Rider.” The song peaked at #10 in the winter of 1966.
Their beat was the perfect fit for discotheques in the mid-60s. The debut album “Take A Ride” captured the fun with other danceable numbers, “Shake A Tail-Feather” and “Sticks and Stones.” Their rockin’ remake of “Little Latin Lupe Lu” followed and landed at #17 in the Spring. Mitch and the Wheels toured extensively and appeared in the appropriate television shows (Hullaballoo, Where the Action Is, American Bandstand). He was the rock maniac with soul.
The competitive summer of 1966 kept Mitch from any serious charting with the two trys, “Breakout” and the slower “Takin’ All I Can Get.” But then late in ’66, they hit it big-time with their signature song, the smokin’ combo-tune “Devil With A Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly.” It epitomized the soul yell of Ryder over the speed music of the Wheels. The song was pure energy. It made it all the way up to #4.
The follow-up song was big too. The fun “Sock it To Me, Baby” traveled up to #6 in the Winter of ’67. The fact that the term was soon becoming a huge catch phrase from “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” also didn’t hurt. Though there was a bit of a controversy, as some radio stations would not play a song with such suggestive lyrics.
Mitch and the Wheels revved it up one more time for medley “Too Many Fish in the Sea/Three Little Fishes.” This was to be the last real Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels” hit. It peaked at #24 mid-1967. Their next 45, “Joy”/ “I’d Rather Go to Jail” was a miss. Three other singles failed to ignite. This marked the end of the Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels heyday.
Bob Crewe, who was still managing the group, convinced Mitch to go solo. But this just erased the magic. The resulting album “What Now My Love” produced one song on the charts. “What Now My Love” (the single) was released by Mitch Ryder and climbed briefly to #30. In 1969, he partnered with Booker T and the MGs to record one album, “The Detroit/Memphis Experiment.” In 1971, he re-teamed with Wheels drummer, John Badanjek, to record under the new name “Detroit featuring Mitch Ryder.” Their one album featured a classic version of Lou Reed’s “Rock and Roll.”
Ryder temporarily retired in the early 70s. But in 1978 he came back to record the critically respected LP “How I Spent My Vacation.” Even though the album was not a commercial success in America, it did spark interest in Europe. Ryder followed up with three more albums through 1981 amidst successful European tours. But it was in 1983 when Mitch made somewhat of a U.S. comeback with the John Cougar Mellencamp-produced LP “Never Kick a Sleeping Dog.” The album yielded a modest hit with the gritty cover version of Prince’s “When You Were Mine.” He continued to record intermittently through the 90s.
Mitch Ryder still tours. He remains immensely popular in Europe and is currently riding another resurgence in popularity in the U.S. The energy and the fun are still there for everyone to enjoy! But it is baby-boomers who remember first-hand the classic heat of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels!