A young recording artist was driving to Los Angeles. As he was driving through the desert, he noticed that he was almost out of gas. He pulled into a gas station. The gas station was manned by two young men. The young men liked to write songs and happened to have guitars with them. The recording artist had achieved enough success that the two young men recognized him. They asked if they could play some songs for him. It was in this way that the recording artist was introduced to a song he would later record.
In Los Angeles, the recording artist’s roommate arranged for the him to meet the owner of a small independent record label. The owner liked the song written by one of the young men at the gas station, as well as the artist’s own arrangement of the song. He booked a recording studio and recorded the song with various studio musicians, the two young men and hangers-on. The song was a hit—reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles, for two weeks in a row.
The small record label shared some talent and personnel with another small independent record label. That label had a young producer who decided to make a recording of the same song, but with a different group. Although his version of the song wasn’t as popular as the original, it generated enough cash to help the young producer go out on his own and make records.
He made his first record in his garage. It not only became a hit, but it spawned a series of hits for the group that was born from it. The young producer then went on to build one of the largest independent labels in the history of the music business.
The year was 1960. The song written by the young man at the gas station was “Alley-Oop” (recorded by the Hollywood Argyles). The owner of the small independent label was my father, Al Kavelin. The other group that recorded “Alley-Oop” was Dante and the Evergreens. The young producer who made that version was Herb Alpert. The first song he recorded in his garage was “The Lonely Bull” by the nascent Tijuana Brass. The label he started was A&M Records.
What if the young recording artist hadn’t needed gas when driving through the desert? What if he pulled into the gas station before the two young men had begun their shift? Or after? What if they didn’t have their guitars with them? What if he had pulled into a different gas station?
Possibly, some of what is described above would have happened anyhow, because all the ingredients existed. Other things would not have happened, however, and pop culture as it exists today would certainly be different.
Personally, this one blind chance occurrence in the desert had great impact on my life. It led to my growing up in a nice neighborhood, a better education, and growing up around the people I did. It made it possible for my mother to live comfortably for 24 years after my father died. Today, it makes it a little easier for my family to get by as well.
On a much higher level, doesn’t it get you thinking about how important blind chance must have been to the development of the natural world (the Butterfly Effect and all that), not to mention our universe?