Arrows

The Arrows were a band based in London, England. The group, which formed in 1974 and disbanded in 1977, included American singer/bassist Alan Merrill, American guitarist Jake Hooker and English drummer Paul Varley (original drummer Clive Williams was replaced by Paul Varley). They had UK chart hit singles in 1974 and 1975 with "Touch Too Much" and "My Last Night with You", produced by Mickie Most on RAK Records. They wrote and recorded the original version of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", later covered by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. Career The Arrows had two 14-week television shows in the UK called Arrows in 1976 and 1977, which were broadcast on Granada Television and produced by Muriel Young. They are the only band to have two weekly TV series and no records released during the run of either series; a result of a conflict between the band's manager Ian Wright of the M.A.M. Agency, and the group's mentor/producer Mickie Most. Each series consisted of 14 shows, 30 minutes in length. There were 28 shows broadcast in total. Their final single, "Once Upon a Time", was released one month before the first show of their first series in 1976. Joan Jett became aware of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" while on tour with her band the Runaways in England in 1976 and saw the group perform the song on their weekly show. The band's only US TV appearance was on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert in February 1975. They played their UK hits, "Touch Too Much" and "Toughen Up". The first manager of The Arrows was Peter Meaden, who had also managed The Who in the early 1960s. He came up with the band's name, which originates from The Who's logo, with the arrow pointing up.