The Wrecking Crew

(The) Wrecking Crew may refer to:

Film

Literature

Music

The Wrecking Crew (music)

"The Wrecking Crew" (sometimes called "the Clique" and "the First Call Gang") was a loose-knit circle of Los Angeles' top studio session musicians whose services were constantly in demand during their heyday in the 1960s and early 1970s. In varying configurations, often anonymously, they backed dozens of popular acts on numerous top-selling hits of the era. They are considered one of the most successful session recording units in music history. The group's ranks began to materialize in the late 1950s, but in the early 1960s they fully coalesced into what became their most recognizable form when they became the de facto house band for Phil Spector, sometimes credited as the Phil Spector Wall of Sound Orchestra, playing on many of the hits that he produced at the time, and contributing to the development of his Wall of Sound production methods.

After the initial success of Spector's records, they became the most requested session musicians in Los Angeles, playing behind many popular recording artists such as Jan & Dean, Sonny & Cher, Barry McGuire, the Mamas & the Papas, Frank Sinatra, and Nancy Sinatra. They sometimes were even used as "ghost players" on recordings credited to rock groups, such as the first two albums by the Monkees and the Byrds' cover version of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" (1965). The unit supplied the backing tracks on many of the Brian Wilson-produced Beach Boys' recordings of the 1960s, including the album Pet Sounds (1966).

Wrecking Crew (video game)

Wrecking Crew (レッキングクルー, Rekkingu Kurū) is a 1985 action game developed and published by Nintendo. It was designed by Yoshio Sakamoto and released as a launch title for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Gameplay

The player controls Mario (or Luigi in two-player mode) and attempts to destroy all of a certain set of objects with a large hammer on each of 100 levels. Mario cannot jump because of the hammer's weight. The player can select any level to start on from the title screen. Each level takes place on a playfield divided into an invisible grid, each space of which can contain one object. Objects include destructible walls, pillars, and ladders, indestructible barrels and ladders, bombs that destroy all connected destructible objects, and various enemies that Mario must avoid. Doors may also exist, which can be opened to cause enemies to move harmlessly into the background. The game also introduced a new character, a construction foreman named Spike (believed to be an early version of Wario), who chases Mario and attempts to disrupt him by knocking down objects and causing him to fall to the bottom of the playfield. The player starts the game with five lives and loses a life whenever Mario comes in contact with an enemy or fireball. The game is over when all lives are lost. The game can also be aborted at any time, and must be aborted if Mario becomes trapped in a barrel.