During the 1960s and early 1970s, the golden era of American popular music, a crew of Los Angeles session musicians referred to as “The Wrecking Crew“, were part of many very successful records.

Their names have been mostly unknown to the public, but their talent and versatility made them the undercover agents behind several of the largest songs in music history.

Who are the wrecking crew

The core of The Wrecking Crew was drummer Hal Blaine, bassist Carol Kaye, guitarists Tommy Tedesco and Glen Campbell, keyboardist Leon Russell and countless other excellent players.

Campbell went on to greater individual success but almost always used the Crew in the production of his songs. The group’s distinctive talent lay in their ability to adjust to different nuances and produce the final product in the least amount of time; sometimes with only four or five takes.

This was a huge improvement when compared to the skill set of some of the popular rock bands of that era, where mid double digits would be the norm.

With studio time being so costly, the reduction in recording time was a huge savings, not to mention the increased quality of the recording.

Wrecking crew musicians

The nickname “The Wrecking Crew” allegedly arose from more mature session musicians who feared these younger players would “wreck” the music business with their modern sound and studio clothes. In fact, they revolutionized it.

Artists using The Wrecking Crew reads like a Who’s Who of 1960s popular music. Brian Wilson utilized the band on many songs, in particular Pet Sounds.

In fact, Wilson preferred working with the professional musicians over his family members who were far from the level of professionalism illustrated by the Crew. Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound productions was tied to the group since many of his performers were solo, duos, trios and quartets of just “singers”.

Other entertainers would have been obvious choices to use the Crew, as they would always appear with a single guitar or no instruments at all.

This list included Frank Sinatra, The Righteous Brothers, Elvis Presley, Simon and Garfunkel, The Mamas and the Papas, Sonny and Cher, The Monkees, Tijuana Brass, Ricky Nelson, Johnny Rivers and Sam Cooke.

wrecking crew songs

The sheer number of songs played on is immense. Hal Blaine played on over 35,000 recorded tracks, of which 150 were Top Ten hits along with forty #1 singles.

The group’s work consists of rock and pop, TV themes and film soundtracks. Songs like “Be My Baby,” “California Dreamin’,” ”Good Vibrations”, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and many others have the Crew’s musical footprints. A more comprehensive list of hits follows this narrative.

Their contributions included more than playing the music given to them. Often, they would make changes in the arrangements, converting song demos into full length recordings.

Hal Blaine’s drum work set the rhythm of an era and Carol Kaye’s bass lines supplied the basis for scores of hits including Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walking” where she conceived the simple but classic bass introduction; a sequence that was used at the end of each chorus.

The Wrecking Crew remained essentially anonymous despite their immense contribution to the popular music of the day.

These wrecking crew band artists played in the background during a time when bands were marketed as stand-alone units.

The music of the wrecking crew might record with the Beach Boys in the early morning, Frank Sinatra in the afternoon and The Righteous Brothers in the evening – all the while being completely unknown to the fans who purchased the hits of those artists.

These unrecognized heroes finally received acknowledgement; albeit 40 years later. The 2008 documentary “The Wrecking Crew” elaborated on their story, many times with the words coming directly from one of the actual members.

The entire group were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007. The era of “The Wrecking Crew” slowly waned so that by the mid 1970s they were not used at all.

The demand for session musicians decreased as music styles changed and artists started playing their own instruments on recordings; mainly so they could also play in the large concert events that had become the norm in the industry.

However, the Crew’s legacy is seen in the timeless recordings they helped produce.

Top wrecking crew songs by musicians

The story of the Wrecking Crew shows us that at times the greatest contributions to art are from those behind the scenes.

Their musicianship, inventiveness and professionalism were the backbone of numerous hit records and defined the sounds of an entire generation.

They might have appeared to be session musicians, but they were much more than that in the history of Rock n Roll music.

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