Wolfman Jack - Wolfman Jack And The Wolfpack (1965)

With his trademark howls, distinctive gravelly voice (almost the personification of the R&B music he loved so well), and flamboyant but laid-back cool, radio personality Wolfman Jack tore up the airwaves of the 1960s with the dangerous, subversive sounds of black rhythm & blues, a new kind of ethnic music that had been thus far banned from mainstream AM radio. Broadcasting from the X, a shadowy but powerful radio station located just across the Mexican border, the Wolfman was an enigma to most of his audience. His voice, accent, and style revealed nothing of his origins, which turned out to be humble.

He was born Robert Weston Smith in Brooklyn and spent much of his time growing up trying to stay out of gangs and other forms of trouble, preferring instead to nurture his love of pop radio. A high school dropout who would later excel in broadcasting school, Smith started out as a gofer for the Paramount radio network, the home of his hero Alan Freed. This led to experience at a New Jersey station and then night classes at Virginia's National Academy of Broadcasting. Graduating at the top of his class, Smith found work at a station in Shreveport, LA. Though popular there, Smith had bigger goals and moved to Mexico, to work first at XERF-AM (where he began developing his new lycanthropic character) and then the powerful XERB-AM in 1965. It was there that Wolfman became a radio legend. At the height of his popularity, the identity of the mysterious W.J. was the subject of widespread media speculation and thanks largely to his influence, R&B music was making its way into the mainstream.

Track list

01.  Can't Sit Down  - 2:22  

02.  Money  - 2:21  

03.  I Need Your Lovin' - 1:39  

04.  Hand Jive  - 1:55  

05.  Wolfman Boogie, Pt 2  - 2:27  

06.  Don't You Just Know It - 2:06  

07.  New Orleans  - 3:05  

08.  Short Fat Fanny  - 1:50  

09.  Oo Poo Pah Doo  - 2:21  

10.  Wolfman Boogie, Pt 1  - 2:21 

Releases: 1965

Label:  Bread

Genre:  Pop, Comedy, Doo Wop, Novelty

Length:  22:27