Island Records impresario Chris Blackwell had brought his Jamaican Ska artist Wilfred "Jackie" Edwards over to England and introduced him to the band. Blackwell asked him if he had anything suitable for them to record. He played them a Ska record he had written, "Keep On Running," which Steve Winwood reworked to a more rock sound on the piano. Following Keith Richards' lead-in "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," the band's bass guitarist Muff Winwood used a fuzz guitar.
Spencer Davis: "No one had seen a picture of the group in America and in 1966, the radio was split into black and white stations. 'Keep On Running' was played on black stations in the States and when they saw a picture of these four shining white boys, the record was dropped from the playlists so the momentum was lost." (quote from 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh)
This was featured in the films Buster (1988) and Mr. Holland's Opus (1997).
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