Them

Them was a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in 1963, best known for the garage rock standard "Gloria" and launching singer Van Morrison's career. The band featured Van Morrison on vocals and harmonica, Billy Harrison on guitar, Eric Wrixen on piano and keyboards, Alan Henderson on bass, and Ronnie Millings on drums, with other musicians replacing or contributing during the life of the band. The group released its first single, "Don't Start Crying Now"/"One Two Brown Eyes", in August 1964. The single was a flop. The band's managers and producers then hired session players Jimmy Page, Peter Bardens, and drummer Bobby Graham to back Morrison on a cover of Big Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go". The single, which featured the now-legendary "Gloria" as a B-side, was a smash in the UK, sailing to #10 on the charts in December 1964. The band then released its biggest hit in the UK, "Here Comes the Night"/"All for Myself", which hit #2 in March 1965 (it went to #24 in the US that May). Later that year the instrumental "Mystic Eyes" reached #33 in the US. (The following year American band Shadows of Knight had a top ten US hit with their rendition of "Gloria".) The band released two albums on Decca, The Angry Young Them and Them Again, both of which failed to sell, and in mid-1966, Van Morrison left the group to pursue a solo career. The rest of the band continued on into the early '70's, releasing four albums and touring steadily after relocating to California around 1967. Two of these post-Morrison albums, Now And Them and Time Out! Time In For Them, found the band experimenting with psychedelia. Van Morrison went on to greater success and fame as a solo artist, but Them's combination of garage rock, blues, and soul proved a major influence on the next generation of rock musicians, and the group's best-known singles have become staples of rock and roll. Them reunited briefly in 1979 without Morrison.