Three O’Clock – With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend

Great up tempo power pop song. Three O’Clock came from the Paisley Underground movement in the 80s. They were a mixture of 60s psychedelia and early 80s pop sensibilities.

The Three O’Clock was a rock group associated with Los Angeles’ Paisley Underground scene in the early 1980s. Lead singer and bassist Michael Quercio is credited with coining the term “Paisley Underground” to describe bands such as Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, Green On Red and the Bangles from the area. The Three O’Clock was originally formed under the name The Salvation Army in 1981 but then changed it’s name to Three O’Clock when legal problems with the actual Salvation Army forced the band to change their name.

This song was on the EP called Baroque Hoedown released in 1982. They later had a college hit with a song called Jet Fighter.

After signing with I.R.S. Records they got MTV play with a song called Her Head’s Revolving. After that Prince signed them to his own Paisley Park Records and they made one album and vanished. They did record a song Prince wrote for them called Neon Phone.

They had a reunion of the classic line-up, Michael Quercio (vocals/bass), Louis Gutierrez (guitars) & Danny Benair (drums) — were joined by new member Adam Merrin (keyboards). The group played both weekends of the Coachella festival, and also played on Conan on April 10, 2013.

They later embarked on a mini-tour, and released several archival recordings that same year. The final show at the time was at a record store in Long Beach California in June of 2013.

As of 2018 they reunited band remained active touring around California.

With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend

Sorry I could not find the lyrics

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball fan, old movie and tv show fan... and a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

34 thoughts on “Three O’Clock – With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend”

  1. I saw them open for someone in the mid 80’s- I am thinking it was for R.E.M. I was impressed enough to buy their album that was out at the time- Arrive Without Travelling which was very good as I remember.

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    1. You are kidding…that is awesome. You can’t forget their name…that is one thing they had going. I like what I’ve heard by them…and apparently Prince did also.

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  4. another nice jangly power-pop tune from a band I’ve not really heard of ! How do you keep finding them? I think I may have come across the name in passing recently when reading about MAzzy Star, but I don’t recall hearing anything of them back in the day. Good sound, like CCC says, they sound more British 60s than LA ’80s.

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    1. Yes they do sound like that. Hans actually saw them open up for maybe REM. Sharon knew them also…which is really cool.
      Oh I look at the Children of Nuggets collection…some great bands. I learned about the Paisley movement from Green on Red which CB recommended.

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    1. I love finding these bands…some really good songs slipped by in the 80s from different parts of the world that wasn’t heard by the masses.

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    1. Yes I like that also…I know you are tired of hearing this but I’m not the biggest fan of 80s popular music…I could have used this style back then!

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      2. It sounds thin to me…my problem Christian is that I compared everything I heard to the Beatles…guess what? You cant do that lol.

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  8. Never heard of them Max but great find!. I appreciate you finding these bands. High water mark I would think having Prince want to record you. This song at least parts of reminded me of the Bsngles. Which I guess makes sense. Like the bass line

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      1. I’ve heard of Green on Red but yeah will check it out. Btw my upcoming 9th pick will be a power pop one – just trying to narrow down which one I want to feature.

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      2. My 9th pick…not tomorrow…will be my ultimate power pop pick…what I think personally is the best power pop song. I’m looking forward to your pick.

        Liked by 1 person

  10. If I hadn’t seen the name of this band and had to guess who they were based on the sound, I would have said without hesitation that it’s the Go Go’s. The drums, guitars and voices are so close to their sound.

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      1. I went to Youtube and listened to ‘Skidmarks on my Heart’ to see if I was right, and yes, the sound is very similar. It’s funny that I noticed it instantly. I haven’t listened to the Go Go’s in a long time.

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      2. Oh my goodness….I had that album when it was released and I got it from Columbia House. I haven’t heard that song in so long!

        Liked by 1 person

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