Stomping in Pop

The unfortunate death of Mike Smith, lead singer with the Dave Clark Five led me to ponder on an overlooked sub-genre of Stamping, Stomping and generally percussive use of the feet in the history of Popular music. The DC5 apparently pounded out the rythmn to their May 1964 number 2 UK hit ( number 4 US ) "Bits and Pieces" by stamping on an up turned door on the studio floor.
A recent documentary on the girl groups, for BBC Radio 4 - gave us an interesting revelation from ex-mod and PWL svengali Pete Waterman, now a showbiz pal of one of Motown writing team Holland, Dozier or Holland ( I can't remember which ). Barely credible it may seem, but the stamping which starts the Supremes 1964 classic ' Baby Love', ( credited elsewhere to teenager Mike Valvano ) relied for its uneven quality on the fact that the stompers drafted in to bolster the sound included the janitor, who had a wooden-leg!
Blondie's reworking of Randy and the Rainbows 'Denise'- Denis,Denis also features some welcome 'footsteps', as Debbie Harry politely describes them in her excellent book with Chris Stein 'Making Tracks: The Rise of Blondie'.
More recently Londoners ' The Flaming Stars ' appeared to employ a healthy smattering of stamping on their excellent " Spilled Your Pint " single ( Vinyl Japan 2004 ), and merit a mention on the strength of the cover which features a picture of the Stack-heeled silver platform boot of Sweet guitarist Andy Scott.
After this I'm afraid that the trail goes cold. Does Toe Rag Studios, home to all things analogue, own an old door for stamping on, or have we heard the last of the stompers?

• Bits and Pieces also sticks in the mind as the flanged-drum ( another genre? ) theme for the sonically confusing Radio One Roadshow competition of the 1970's, wherein contestants would have to guess the hits of the day from montage of short sound clips. Listened to on a medium wave transistor radio, this baffling 30 second burst of cut-up noise must surely have inspired some future laptop musician?