There is a moment in Have I The Right? when the universe seems to tilt. The track opens with a thundering stomp, a sound that is part primal heartbeat, part industrial accident, and then the guitars slice through with a metallic shriek. It is 1964, and pop music will never be quite this dangerous again.
Years later, I rediscovered this song through a pair of high-quality studio headphones. The effect was immediate and dizzying. The compression, the echo, the sheer claustrophobic pressure of the production made it feel like the band was playing inside my skull. This was the work of Joe Meek, a genius whose RGM Sound studio was not a pristine facility but a cramped flat at 304 Holloway Road in London.
Meek had already conquered the charts with The Tornados and their interstellar instrumental Telstar. For The Honeycombs, he created a sound that was radically different from the clean, amiable Merseybeat dominating the airwaves. The band’s name came from drummer Anne Honey Lantree, one of the few women to hold down the drum stool in a top-flight beat group. Her muscular, military beat anchors the entire record.
Legend has it that Meek recorded the band stamping their feet on the wooden staircase outside his control room, using microphones strapped to the steps with bicycle clips. The result was a percussive assault that sounded like a riot breaking out on a staircase. To push things further, he compressed the signal and sped up the tape slightly. That is why Denis D’Ell’s voice sounds so strained and anxious as he sings the immortal question Have I the right to hold you, darling, when I know you want to leave?
Songwriters Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley supplied the sturdy pop framework, but the arrangement is pure Meek. John Lantree’s bass is a deep, warm anchor. Alan Ward’s lead guitar cuts through like broken glass, all bright treble and aggressive fills. During the instrumental break, the guitar duels with a sharp keyboard sound, often described as an electric piano or clavioline. The moment is pure sonic anarchy, a pre-echo of post-punk delivered in 1964.
This is the sound of pop music being recorded not in a studio, but in an eccentric scientist’s laboratory.
The single, released on Pye Records, shot to number one in the UK and reached the top five in America. The self-titled debut album, issued in the US as Here Are the Honeycombs, followed in its wake. Yet despite the early success, the band never again captured the same raw energy. Later singles like Is It Because and Eyes lacked that thunderous edge. The original lineup, featuring rhythm guitarist Martin Murray, saw a change late in 1964, and the group ultimately disbanded by 1967. A poorly timed international tour had cost them crucial momentum at home.
What remains is a masterpiece of texture and tension. The song still sounds futuristic, partly because Meek pushed the dynamics into a narrow, loud band that translates beautifully to modern systems. It is perfect for a music streaming subscription, where the punchy production retains its bite. For a student taking guitar lessons, the riff is simple enough to learn, but the sound itself is an education in studio manipulation.
If you want to explore that same universe, start with Telstar, where Meek’s echo-drenched futurism first took shape. Then try Glad All Over by The Dave Clark Five, another song built on a thundering drum sound. Wild Thing by The Troggs shares the same raw, compressed energy, while Baby Come Back by The Equals offers a driving, female-drummer-fronted stomp. For a contrast, listen to You’ve Got Your Troubles by The Fortunes, a polished, harmony-rich counterpart to Meek’s controlled chaos.
In the end, Have I The Right? is a reminder that innovation often emerges from constraint. A tiny flat, a few microphones, a group of dedicated players, and one producer who heard music in dimensions nobody else could perceive. Put it on, turn it up, and let that massive stomping drum track pull you into the brilliant, bizarre mind of Joe Meek.