Artist Flashback: Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts

Today, I'm going to take you back to the 1960's, where the music scene all over the world was at one of its greatest peaks in history. These were the years of soul and rock & roll, not to mention the British Invasion. Although they didn't get as much attention as The Stones, there was a little Carborro R&B/rock group that did pretty well for themselves. They were called Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts.

These guys were known for being the life of the party and at times...a little raunchy. The group actually formulated under the name of "The Tops" in 1955, according to Southern Garage Bands. Known for their humorous songs, they actually made a name for themselves at local Chapel Hill fraternity parties. According to Endless Groove, these guys developed into a pretty hot commodity and reached a point where they were touring the east coast and getting praised for their performances at all the black clubs in Durham, NC. This was in addition to their popularity with the Greek organizations at UNC (which were all primarily white at the time). Take a listen to see why the group was such a huge hit with all the local party-goers:

It seems that the band provided their fans with many, many great memories. The writer from Southern Garage Bands shares a funny memory of his own from his college days. When a fraternity Social Chair hired the group for a party, they had to fill out a questionnaire and answer how "gross" they wanted the party to be. The Social Chair conservatively chose "mixed gross" as his option since dates would be present, but the Hot Nuts showed up in nothing but green jock straps.

Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts certainly did make their mark on the NC music scene, and established themselves as a mini-legend in out music history. The front man, Doug Clark, passed away in 2002. Endless Groove accounts an interview with Doug Clark shortly before his death where he remembers, "we didn't make any money, but we had a million dollars worth of fun."