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Stop Stop Stop (WORD)
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YOU CAN PLAY ALONG WITH THE RECORDING, BUT I'VE SHORTENED IT UP FOR GROUP PLAY!
Clarke and Nash founded the band as a Merseybeat-type group in Manchester, although some of the band members came from towns further north in East Lancashire. Nash left the group in 1968 to form Crosby, Stills & Nash, though he has reunited with the Hollies on occasion. "Stop Stop Stop" song was the band's first to credit Clarke, Nash and Hicks as songwriters, as all their previous original songs had been published under the collective pseudonym "L. Ransford" (or simply "Ransford"). The song was released as a single by the Parlophone label in October 1966 and was released around the same time in the United States by Imperial Records. It became a worldwide hit reaching the top 10 of the singles charts in 8 countries, including #1 in Canada.
"Stop Stop Stop" is notable for being one of the few recordings by the group that feature Tony Hicks playing the banjo, and was the only song with that instrument to be performed live by the group. The banjo was played through tape delay so that it sounds like a balalaika, while the tempo was similarly influenced by Middle Eastern and Greek music, which, combined with Bobby Elliott's vehement cymbal crashes, results in what critic Richie Unterberger describes as one of the most offbeat rock songs of 1966. The reception for the song in North America was so strong that the group's record labels in the United States (Imperial) and Canada (Capitol) released a studio album by the group titled Stop! Stop! Stop!, which was originally released in the United Kingdom as For Certain Because. The Hollies are one of the few UK groups of the early 1960s, along with the Rolling Stones, who have never disbanded and continue to record and perform. In recognition of their achievements, the Hollies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.