• Question Mark And The Mysterians Biography
• Question Mark The Mysterians Albums
• Youtube Question Mark Mysterians 96
• Question Mark The Mysterians Rare

• In 1992, Question Mark collaborated with rap artist Saltine aka The Mad Rapper on a remake of '96 Tears'. The single was released on following a huge industry buzz on radio. Gave the single a thumbs up. In 1997, Question Mark and the Mysterians reformed again.
• Question Mark + the Mysterians’ 96 Tears: The Riff by Best Classic Bands Staff. Share This: In the beginning, there was the riff: a mere eight blues-infused notes, one of the most memorable in the history of riffs, played on a Vox Continental organ. Then came the melody line, so giddily repetitious, so simple a child could play it, so.
• Bobby Balderrama is a wonderful guy who started one of the greatest punk bands ever: Question Mark & the Mysterians, otherwise known as the humans who wrote and performed “96 Tears” back in 1966. The piercing organ riff, bare-bones vocal track, and low-fidelity production make it a safe candidate for first punk rock song ever.

Question Mark and the Mysterians, Saginaw, Michigan. 12,899 likes 17 talking about this. The first band to be described as punk rock,? And the Mysterians are the legendary band behind the #1 hit. Although they are often wrongly thought of as “one hit wonders”,? (Question Mark) & The Mysterians actually placed five singles on the Billboard charts and released two classic albums of their own original brand of garage rock in an incredible fifteen-month period that ended with the collapse of the Cameo-Parkway record label.

In the beginning, there was the riff: a mere eight blues-infused notes, one of the most memorable in the history of riffs, played on a Vox Continental organ. Then came the melody line, so giddily repetitious, so simple a child could play it, so hypnotic, so beautiful in its utter lack of pretense.

And then…the voice:

“Too many teardrops for one heart to be cryin’, too many teardrops for one heart to carry on.”

The tale that follows is one that’s been told a million times before and since: You did me wrong, but you will get yours yet. Oh, will you get yours! The chorus:

“And when the sun comes up I’ll be on top
You’ll be right down there looking up
I’m gonna get to you but I know now
You’re gonna cry 96 tears
You’re gonna cry 96 tears”

But had it ever been told in quite this way? By a group quite like this? No. Never. Not then, not since.

This ad for “96 Tears” appeared in the Sept. 3, 1966 issue of Record World

In the summer of 1966, when all of the rules were being broken—Pet Sounds, Revolver, Blonde on Blonde—there was something so primal about ? and the Mysterians’ “96 Tears.” Like many other tunes that year by fellow one- or two-hit garage-incubated wonders—the Seeds, the Count Five, the Syndicate of Sound, the Standells, the Shadows of Knight—it was tough and direct. It hit you in the gut; it didn’t ask you to interpret: “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” this was not. Instead, it asked you to surrender to the beat, to dance, to revel in its pure rock ’n’ roll heart.

And millions did, even if they had no idea who they were listening to. Who were these mysterious Mysterians? And who the #%*@ was ? Someone really called himself Question Mark? What kind of crazy person dared use a punctuation mark as his name?

Rudy Martinez, that’s who—not that he’d ever confess to that moniker ever having belonged to him. Their leader, their singer, dark shades omnipresent, swears not only that ? is his real name but that he was born on Mars, that he’s been around since the dinosaur days, that he converses regularly with people from the future. This band that he had, says the main Mysterian, “came together out of the clear blue sky.” He says all this not in an ironic way but knowing that it is true. Disbelieve him if you want, but that’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

The single reached #1 on Oct. 22, 1966 on Record World

Maybe they did come together out of the blue. Maybe not. Who can be sure? Some say they were from Bay City, Michigan. And the others, they had names that didn’t end inquisitive sentences, so at least some of the musicians were from our world: Larry Borjas (bass), Robert Martinez (drums) and Bobby Balderrama (guitar) were original 1962 members. ? (yes, it is his legal name, although sometimes he will allow you to call him Q) showed up around 1964. At some point. Frank Rodriguez joined on keyboards. Robert and Larry left, replaced by Eddie Serrato on drums and Frank Lugo on bass.

Mysterians? A 1957 Japanese sci-fi movie in which alien Mysterians from the planet Mysteroid come down here looking for our women.

? didn’t write “96 Tears,” he swears. He channeled it—it came to him; it was just there. It was there long before there was a ? and the Mysterians, in fact, around for years before any of them had seen the inside of a recording studio. It was called “Too Many Teardrops” at first. Then “69 Tears.” Someone told the boys that radio stations wouldn’t play a song with 69 in the title. They flipped it. Their manager issued 750 copies on her own Pa-Go-Go label. Someone at Cameo-Parkway Records—where Bobby Rydell, Dee Dee Sharp and Chubby Checker all lived—heard it and thought, hmm, hit.

That someone was right. In August 1966, it was re-released on the larger label. It went to #1 on October 29 in Billboard, and one week earlier in Record World.

Related:See where the song ranked overall in 1966

Fifteen years later Garland Jeffreys had a top 10 hit with his version. U.K. prog punks the Stranglers covered it and so did blues singer Big Maybelle and R&B diva Thelma Houston.So did Aretha Franklin. Think about that before you watch this bonus video: “96 Tears,” by Aretha Franklin. We live in a wonderful, mysterious Mysterian world.

Bonus video: Aretha Franklin covers “96 Years”

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Like so many rock 'n' roll classics -'Satisfaction,' 'Layla,' 'Whole Lotta Love,' 'Purple Haze,' 'Johnny B. Goode'- ? and the Mysterians' 1966 smasheroo '96 Tears' begins with a riff that drills into your cranium and, once implanted, never, ever leaves. And why would you want it to? It's the perfect riff for the perfect three-minute, badass lock 'n' roll song.
But '96 Tears' isn't like those other riff-o-matics. For starters, the guitar sits this one out; this tadically radiant riff is dispensed via that most soulful of seemingly long-lost instruments, the venerable organ. And that opening burst of austere insanity- a staccato sputter of eighth notes, all two of them tepeated ad infinitum- is only the beginning. No sooner has it stunned you into instantaneous acceptance of its immortality than it morphs into another unbearably mind-numbing riff of equal enormity. The song could end right there and you'd die happier for having heard it.
Then comes that voice:
'Too many teardrops for one heart to be cryin'/Too many teardrops for one heart to catry on.' Whoa. This guy sounds desperate, vulnerable. He's hurting like hell since she left him; she's even laughing at him! You feel his pain and you're hooked. You've got to stay tuned to see if he's gonna crack.
Nope, he's tough, defiant; he's got himself together now—he's not so much singing as sneering He may be down but soon things will be different: 'And when the sun comes up/I'll be on top/You'll be way down there/Lookin' up.' Is that a threat or a mere prediction? No matter; she's gonna be the one bawling before this is all over, you just watch and see: 'Ninety-six tears, c'mon and lemme hear you cry, now/Ninety-six rears (whoo!)/I wanna hear you cry/Night and day, yeah, all night long.'
What is this? Who is this? '96 Tears'? What an odd name for a song, you're thinking. And the gtoup singing it is called—huh?—? and the Mysterians ? The singer is a punctuation mark ? You've gotta be kidding me. Is he a strange visitor from another planet or somethin' ? Well, since you asked... The man who calls himself?, you see, was born on Mars. He's been around since the dinosaurs and regularly has conversations with The People From The Future. He's been famous for several lifetimes and his band, he once said, 'came together out of the clear blue sky.'
Not buying it? Try this earthly version then: He may or may not have been born Rudy Martinez circa 1945, in Texas. And he probably did his growing up in the Saginaw, Michigan area where the band -most of them transplanted Chicano Texans- really formed.
There are two sides to every story, after all. But ? -and yes, that's his legal name- ain't giving anything away. That's part of the mystique, like the perma-shades that blot out the King of Attitude's eyes. If he told you more about himself, he wouldn't be much of a questionmark, now, would he?
So we'll be the designated bean-spillers. The nucleus of the original band –bassist Larry Borjas, drummer Robert Martinez and guitarist Bobby Balderrama- took up rockin' circa 1962. Keyboard player Frank Rodriguez was soon added and before long the band was cranking out tunes by the Ventures and the like.
They named themselves after a 1957 Japanese sci-fi movie in which alien Mysterians from the planet Mysteroid land on Earth looking to mate with our women. That's where ? comes in. Around '64, he just appeared, a dancing, snarling enigma, declaring himself the Mysterians' new vocalist and suggesting that the others take names like X, Y and Z to maintain their inscrutability (they passed on the offer). By then Robert (spies swear he's ?'s brother) and Larry had found new lives in the military, replaced by Eddie Serrato (?'s brother-in-law) on drums and Frank Lugo on bass.
The now-solid lineup cut a couple of records that went nowhere. Then came '96 Tears,' which began its ascension to garage band eminence one day when Rodriguez began noodling on his keyboard. (And get this, trivia fans: Contrary to long-standing assumptions, Frank played the omnipotent riff on a Thomas organ, not a Farfisa, as is so often assumed.) ? once told this writer how the song materialized from the depths of his subconscious: 'As soon as Frank hit the first chord, I said, 'We can't use that because I've heard it before.' We were all trying to figure out where we'd heard it. Then I realized that I wrote the song a long time ago.' ? had called his composition, which he'd penned as much as four years earlier, 'Too Many Teardrops.'
Guitarist Bobby Balderrama picks up the story: '? started singing it, and then Eddie said, 'We should give it a number, like how many teardrops?' He said, 'Let's call it '69 Tears.' I was only 15 at the time, but I knew what that meant. So he said, 'Let's turn the numbers around.' And so we went with that.' In March of 1966, ? and the Mysterians shuffled into a makeshift studio in Bay City, Michigan, and cut '96 Tears' and its B-side, 'Midnight Hour.' The band's manager, Lilly Gonzales, issued approximately 750 copies on her own Pa-Go-Go Records label, and ? himself began promoting it, calling radio stations and visiting record shops all over Michigan.
After several months the single had stirred enough local buzz that Cameo-Parkway Records, a label that had logged dozens of hits by the likes of Bobby Rydell, Dee Dee Sharp and Chubby Checker earlier in the '60s, picked up the distribution, re-releasing the single on its Cameo imprint. (? claims he went with Cameo because the label was orange, his favorite color. More probably, Neil Bogart, then vice president of the company, cut a deal with Gonzales.)
Long story short: By the end of October, the quintet had laid claim to the number one single in America. Not to mention a bona fide rock 'n' roll anthem that forever raised the bar for rock 'n' roll anthems. '96 Tears' marked the last major hit for Cameo Parkway, certainly its last chart topper. It's also the only song that most people associate with ? and the Mysterians.
But that wasn't all, folks, and now, finally, all of the group's amazing slabs of pure teenage Tex-Mex bliss can be found in one place. What you've got here are 27 pristine examples of unadorned, unadulterated dementia: the entire contents of the two albums ? and the Mysterians spewed out for Cameo, 96 Tears and Action, the non-LP single 'Do Something To Me'V'Love Me Baby (Cherry July),' and two previously unreleased tracks, an early, slower and bluesier take of '96 Tears' and an outtake of 'Midnight Hour'—both in glamorous stereo!
? and the Mysterians did manage to place another three singles on the charts in '66-'67. 'I Need Somebody,' which led off that debut album and now christens our collection, made it to number 22 in Billboard. It's another cocky garageland masterwork, inexplicably inserted 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' funky organ lick and all. 'We weren't too far from Motown,' says Balderrama of the song, 'and I think we were trying to get that funky style.'
Following the opener, the group immediately struts its versatility, rolling through a set of incessantly hyper tunes like the boss '8 Teen' (no relation to the later Alice Cooper hit), 'You're Telling Me Lies' and 'Why Me' (with Tony Orlando singing background!). We're talking classic lusty, R&B-driven snot-nosed punk all the way here, yet there's an undetlying tenderness in ?'s vocals, belying his crusty demeanor. He's that kinda guy.
By the time the Mysterians recorded their second album, rock had grown fuzzier - heavier, as they said back then. ? was in the vanguard, as amply demonstrated in 'Girl (You Captivate Me),' the early '67 single that hinted at a proto-Detroit rock sound that would shortly be taken to extremes by the likes of the Stooges and the MC5. There's more upfront bass; louder, more depraved guitar; ?'s vocal is chewier- things are getting more mind-blowing by the minute. 'Can't Get Enough Of You, Baby,' which preceded 'Girl' by a few months, was virtually a '96 Tears' clone, although ?'s vocals swim in a sea of reverb.
There are nods to the soul and pop sounds of the day. 'Got To' borrows a page from the Otis Redding soul book, while the band's cover of the Isley Brothers' 'Shout' rivals any of the hundreds of other versions recorded back then. 'Do Something To Me' borders on bubblegum and preceded Tommy James' hit version by a year. ? and the Mysterians didn't hold on for long. Cameo-Parkway soon scaled back operations and although the band recorded for other labels in various guises, by 1968 they were through. Some of the musicians stayed active through the years but it wasn't until the late 1990s that the original members of? and the Mysterians returned to conquer the world for a second time, making new recordings and performing killer live shows.
The lucky ones who witnessed them reported that the band was every bit as nutso as it was in '66. It was, they said, enough to make a believer cry -cry, cry, cry. Whoo!- 96 tears.
by Jeff Tamarkin, 2005

1. I Need Somebody - 2:15
2. Stormy Monday (B. Eckstine, E. Hines, R. Crowder) - 2:27
3. You're Telling Me Lies (B. Balderrama, E. Serrato, F. Lugo, F. Rodriguez, R. Martinez) - 2:31
4. Ten O'Clock (B. Balderrama, E. Serrato, F. Lugo, F. Rodriguez, R. Martinez) - 2:13
5. Set Aside (B. Balderrama, E. Serrato, F. Lugo, F. Rodriguez, R. Martinez) - 3:03
6. Up Side (B. Balderrama, E. Serrato, F. Lugo, F. Rodriguez, R. Martinez) - 2:53
7. '8' Teen (B. Balderrama, E. Serrato, F. Lugo, F. Rodriguez, R. Martinez) - 2:48
8. Don't Tease Me (B. Balderrama, E. Serrato, F. Lugo, F. Rodriguez, R. Martinez) - 1:41
9. Don't Break This Heart Of Mine (B. Balderrama, E. Serrato, F. Lugo, F. Rodriguez, R. Martinez) - 1:55
10.Why Me (B. Balderrama, E. Serrato, F. Lugo, F. Rodriguez, R. Martinez) - 1:38
11.Midnight Hour - 2:38
12.96 Tears - 2:58
13.Girl (You Captivate Me) (A. Dischel, J. Di Francesca) - 2:17
14.Can't Get Enough Of You, Baby (D. Randell, S. Linzer) - 1:57
15.Got To - 2:22
16.I'll Be Back - 2:02
17.Shout (Part 1 and 2) (Isley Brothers) - 5:31
18.Hangin' On A String (Gloria Shane, J. Darrow) - 2:15
19.Smokes - 1:52
20.It's Not Easy - 2:43
21.Don't Hold It Against Me (B. Ross, L. Crane) - 1:57
22.Just Like A Rose (Jason Darrow) - 2:10
23.Do You Feel It - 2:25
24.Do Something To Me (J. Calvert, N. Marzano, P. Naumann) - 2:37
25.Love Me Baby (Cherry July) (B. Balderrama, F. Lugo, F. Rodriguez, R. Martinez) - 3:03
26.Midnight Hour (Unreleased Version) - 2:30
27.96 Tears (Unreleased Version) - 3:03
All songs by Rudy Martinez except where stated.

*QuestionMark

Question Mark And The Mysterians Biography

- Lead Vocal
*Bobby Balderrama - Guitar
*Frank Lugo - Bass (except Tracks 11, 12, 26 - 27)
*Frank Rodriguez - Organ
*Eddie Serrato – Drums
With
*Tony Orlando On Harmony Vocal (Track 10)

Question Mark The Mysterians Albums

*Fernando Aguilar - Bass (Tracks 11 - 12)

Youtube Question Mark Mysterians 96

Question Mark The Mysterians Rare

**Enjoy**