Hilton Valentine

The "Eggman" went on to continued fame as a long haired leaping gnome, singing about Sky Pilots, San Franciscan Nights and Spilled Wine. Alan Price - the primary instrumentalist - was a solo artist of note in the UK. Chas Chandler discovered Jimi Hendrix. The drummer, John Steel, continues to tour with some form of the Animals.

Hilton Valentine, guitarist and founding member, who died late last week, labored in obscurity.

He wasn't a flashy player, and he didn't write a lot of material. The band had 5 hits that remain in rotation of classic rock and oldies stations, all written by Brill Building types. Unlike the Yardbirds, none of the songs feature guitar solos, but unlike, say, the Zombies, the guitar is always doing something.

His playing was most prominent on the last of these, "Don't Bring Me Down". After a bass, drums, and organ intro he comes in with heavy, distorted chords that weren't common in early '66. It wasn't the first example of distorted chords, not by a long shot, but their integration as a running part of the song was something that was uncommon before 1967. It was a major step in the evolution of the power chord. The production values don't give it a dated sound either. When I first heard it - around 1980 or so - I thought it was a new release.

It wasn't long after that I started a band with some friends. Like I said, Hilton wasn't a flashy player, so I learned that song and convinced the band to play it. We played it over and over again...all night long, sometimes. Of course, we'd play at the drummer's house, in the garage. That is, until his dad got mad and his mom yelled at us to turn it down. We had to move into the basement, which had more sound proofing.

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