The Wrecking Crew (music)

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The Wrecking Crew (also known as the Clique and the First Call Gang) was a loose collective of American session musicians based in Los Angeles who played on many studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including hundreds of top 40 hits, but rarely credited at the time. They had no official name during their period of activity; drummer Hal Blaine attributed the later moniker to older musicians who felt the group's embrace of rock and roll would "wreck" the music industry, although his account is disputed by bassist Carol Kaye. The musicians, most of whom had formal backgrounds in jazz or classical music, initially coalesced in 1962 as the de facto house band for Phil Spector's Wall of Sound productions. After their work with Spector, they became the most requested session musicians in Los Angeles, playing behind recording artists who included Jan and Dean, Sonny & Cher, the Mamas and the Papas, the Carpenters, Frank Sinatra, and Nancy Sinatra. The musicians were sometimes used as "ghost...

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