The rock hit that was actually a recycled regional track by another band

Cultures · Published 10 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Ram Jam is remembered for their 1977 smash Black Betty, but the recording was not a new studio creation. It was a repurposed, edited version of a track originally recorded by Bill Bartlett’s previous group, Starstruck. The song sparked a national boycott, yet it still climbed the international charts.

The story of Ram Jam begins with Bill Bartlett, a former guitarist for the bubblegum group the Lemon Pipers. After leaving that band, Bartlett formed a group called Starstruck, which recorded a 59-second version of Lead Belly’s Black Betty on their own TruckStar label. When the song became a regional hit, New York producers assembled a new band around Bartlett, named Ram Jam, to capitalize on the momentum. The version that became a national hit was the original Starstruck recording, albeit significantly edited to alter its structure.

The song’s success was not without controversy. Despite being credited to Lead Belly, the NAACP and the Congress of Racial Equality called for a boycott of the track due to its lyrics. The protest ultimately failed to stop the song’s momentum. In 1977, Black Betty reached number 18 on the U.S. singles chart and achieved top-ten status in the UK and Australia. The band’s self-titled debut album also reached the U.S. top 40, though their follow-up, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram, failed to replicate this success.

The members of Ram Jam had diverse musical backgrounds. Bassist Howie Arthur Blauvelt had previously played with Billy Joel in several bands, including the Hassles. Following the band's dissolution, the members pursued various paths; Blauvelt passed away in 1993 at age 44, and drummer Pete Charles died in 2002 at age 49. Bartlett transitioned into a boogie-woogie piano player in the 1990s, while vocalist Myke Scavone eventually joined the Yardbirds in 2015. Despite later attempts by producers to revive the Ram Jam name in the 1990s with new lineups and hip-house remixes, the band remains defined by that singular, recycled 1977 hit.

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