Paul Revere & the Raiders (also known as Raiders) were an American pop-rock band that saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s, with music veering from garage rock to psychedelic pop, but their early sound combined fast-paced, guitar-and-vocal-dominated rock and roll with an intimidating R&B flavor. The band was known for including Revolutionary War-style clothes in their attire. Originally an instrumental rock combo called the Downbeats, the Raiders were formed in 1958 by organist Paul Revere, and included singer Mark Lindsay. After charting a minor hit, "Like, Long Hair", and recording a version of "Louie Louie", the band was signed to Columbia Records, under the tutelage of producer Terry Melcher. The single "Just Like Me", propelled by Dick Clark's shows like Where The Action Is, was the Raiders's first top 20 hit in 1965. "Kicks" and "Hungry" followed, and made them national stars. Clark's shows establishing Lindsay as a teen idol and Revere as the "madman"of the group. Boosted by the singles, the albums Just Like Us, Midnight Ride, and The Spirit of '67 were gold-certified by the RIAA. However personnel changes and changing tastes made the band seem outdated to the public at the end of the decade. Mark Lindsay replaced Terry Melcher as the Raiders' producer and started to produce many records for the band around this time, most notably Alias Pink Puzz and the single "Let Me", but most of these didn't sell well, which led Lindsay to embark on a solo career while still a member of the band. The platinum-certified 1971 no.1 "Indian Reservation" acted as a (non-representative) comeback for the Raiders, selling two million copies and being platinum-certified, but their failure to continue the song's success led the band being dropped by Columbia in 1975. Lindsay left the band the same year and the band broke up the following year, after Paul Revere's retirement from the music industry. Revere's retirement was short-lived. In 1978 he went back to live performances with a new line-up of musicians that now includes Revere's son, Jamie, and lead vocalist Darren Dowler. After Revere died of cancer in 2014, the band's name was changed to Paul Revere's Raiders. The garage rock revival and grunge movements, and individual acts like the Paisley Underground, have cited the Raiders as an influence. Paul Revere & the Raiders and their manager Roger Hart were inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame on 13 October 2007. In 2010 the band was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

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