Rear-View Mirror: The short life and wild success of Bobby Fuller

Every week, Rich Terfry looks back in our Rear-view Mirror at a great song from the good ol’ days. This week, Bobby Fuller and "I Fought The Law."

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This is the story of the short life, wild success and mysterious death of Bobby Fuller.

Bobby Fuller grew up in West Texas in the '40s and '50s. He was a big music fan and idolized Buddy Holly. In his early teens he built a ramshackle recording studio in his back yard and began recording his own music. The results sounded great and soon musicians from all around were coming to Bobby's place to record.

By the mid-sixties, Bobby Fuller's name had grown. He had some regional hits and decided to take a shot at the big time by moving to Los Angeles.

Shortly after he arrived there he signed a big record deal and recorded his biggest hit. The song was called "I Fought The Law." It was released in 1965 at a time when the British Invasion and folk music were changing the sound of rock and roll. Fuller's song was very much in the spirit of the late-'50s sound that he loved, and so it was perhaps something of an unlikely hit at the time.

The song was written by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets just before Buddy Holly passed away. Fuller likely wanted to record the song as something of a tribute to his idol, who undoubtedly would have made the song a hit.

Just a few months after the song was released, Fuller was dead. His body was found in a car outside his apartment in Hollywood. On the coroner's report, the boxes for "accident" and "suicide" were both ticked. But next to each box, a question mark was drawn in. Many believe Fuller was murdered and there are several theories as to why that might have been the case. A bandmate of Fuller's believed Charles Manson may have had something to do with it. Other's have speculated the Los Angeles police department may have been involved because Fuller's girlfriend was mafia connected.

Was "I Fought The Law" a self-fulfilling prophecy? We'll probably never know. But what we do know for sure is that it was Bobby Fuller's biggest hit, cracking the top ten in 1966.

Here are some other great editions of Rear-view Mirror:

Big Star "September Gurls"

The Hollies "Bus Stop"

Joy Division "Love Will Tear Us Apart"

Booker T and the MGs "Green Onions"

Jimi Hendrix "Hey Joe"

Neil Young "Rockin' in the Free World"

Dolly Parton "Jolene"

The Left Banke "Walk Away Renee"

Lou Reed "Walk On The Wild Side"

James Taylor "Fire And Rain"

The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"

Marvin Gaye "Sexual Healing"

Radiohead "Paranoid Android"

M.I.A. "Paper Planes"

The Animals "We Gotta Get Out of this Place"

Dusty Springfield "Son of a Preacher Man"

Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I Put A Spell On You"

Cheap Trick "Surrender"

Mott The Hoople "All the Young Dudes"

Beach Boys "Sloop John B"

Amy Winehouse "Rehab"

New York Dolls "Personality Crisis"

Modern Lovers "Roadrunner"

George Jones "He Stopped Loving Her Today"

Bruce Springsteen "Born in the USA"

The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends"

Rolling Stones 'Miss You'

The Coasters 'Run Red Run'

Elvis Costello, 'Alison'

James Brown, 'Hot (I Need to be loved loved loved)'

Inner Circle, 'Tenement Yard'

Ray Charles, 'I Don't Need No Doctor'

Curtis Mayfield, 'Freddy's Dead'

Gang Starr, 'Beyond Comprehension'

Bo Diddley, 'Bo Diddley'

Aretha Franklin, 'Rocksteady'

CCR, 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain'

Howlin' Wolf, 'Smokestack Lightning'

Bobby Womack, 'Across 110th Street'

Roy Orbison, 'In Dreams'

Foggy Hogtown Boys, 'Man of Constant Sorrow'

Pink Floyd, 'Wish You Were Here'

Neil Young, 'Cortez The Killer'

Bob Dylan, 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'

Little Eva, 'Loco-Motion'

Elvis Costello, 'Watching the Detectives'

Jimmy Cliff, 'The Harder They Come'

The Verve, 'Bittersweet Symphony'

Roberta Flack, 'Killing Me Softly with his Song'

R.E.M., 'Radio Free Europe'

Radiohead, 'No Surprises'

Led Zeppelin, 'Ramble On'

Glen Campbell, 'Wichita Lineman'

John Cougar Mellencamp, 'Pink Houses'

Rolling Stones, 'Beast of Burden'