Tamrons: Wild Man

Inasane 1960's garage punk from North Carolina. Check it out...one of my favorite songs from the era.

THE STOOGES

I've always loved The Stooges. They came out with three incredibly solid albums plus a plethora of odds and ends in their times. Their best album in my opinion though is their debut, simply titled "The Stooges", released in 1969. The band is at their most primitive, sleazy, psychedelic, and viscous here. There are no holds barred. This is the perfect 1960's psychedelic garage punk album start to finish. Sure there are a few slow spots such as "We Will Fall", where the band may have imbibed a bit too much, but all in all a classic album. Ron Asheton's guitar playing will rip your brain apart. Of course, Iggy's vocals are as snide as ever. The production work of John Cale is brilliantly raw and organic. You can hear every instrument and all it's subtleties even at it's most deafening. This is the perfect American punk album filled with libido and alchohol/drug-fueled goodness, long before The Ramones would come onto the scene. Highly recommended.

THE FABS: THAT'S THE BAG I'M IN

Some twisted, sleazy 1960's garage punk. Can't get enough of it...don't know why. Here's one of my favorites of the genre, The Fabs' "That's the Bag I'm In". Sorry there's no decent video for this.

MOVING SIDEWALKS: 99TH FLOOR

Another 1960's garage punk gem, this time from Houston, Texas. The Moving Sidewalks...three members of this band would later move on to form ZZ Top. Here's "99th Floor", one of my favorite songs of the genre.

THE HAUNTED: 1-2-5

I just discovered this gem. Some killer late 1960's garage punk from Canada...THE HAUNTED. Love this song...these guys are dead on. Wonder if they have any other material out there.

THE NOVAS: "THE CRUSHER"

One of my favorite, raunchy, 1960's garage punk wrestling songs of all time, if there is such a genre. The Cramps are famous for covering this song, but nothing can beat the intensity of the original, written and performed by The Novas from Dallas, Texas. Enjoy.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

Here's a delectable slice of mid 1960's cheese and sleaze. It's Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs' "Little Red Riding Hood". It's a bit corny at first listen, but this song has a great sleazy, sinister, predatory 1960's garage punk vibe to it. My favorite Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs song. Enjoy.

THE SPIDERS: NO PRICE TAG

Here's another piece of obscure 1960's garage rock. The Spiders are classic, seedy, grimy, and snotty 1960's garage punk. Here's "No Price Tag", one of my favorites of the genre. Enjoy.

Spiders - No Price Tag - Back From The Grave

TROUBLED HORSE

Troubled Horse is an incredible, sinister sounding retro 1960's and 1970's psych rock band from Sweden. They remind me of a cross between Pentagram, Black Sabbath, The Kinks, and Roky Erickson. They have a distinctive 1960's garage punk edge combined with an excellent ear for doom. Their music is at times akin to the impeccable retro psych doom rock of Witchcraft. Highly recommended. They do not have an album available that I know of, but you can hear two of their songs, "Bring My Horses Home" and "Shirleen" here.

VOID: DEHUMANIZED

Void is an intensely heavy punk band formed in 1979. Their sound is high speed, high octane, violently aggressive punk and hardcore. They remind me of an even heavier Black Flag spinning wildly out of control. The atonal guitar solos are reminiscent of Greg Ginn's guitar playing from Black Flag as well. Give the song "Dehumanized" a listen...it is a short, unsettling burst of energy, and one of my favorite punk songs. It was released in 1982 on the Dischord Records compilation album "Flex Your Head". Enjoy.

GREEN FUZZ

Ok. I posted about The Groupies' "Primitive" about a week ago, and here's another obscure 1960's garage punk song and band made famous by The Cramps. It's "Green Fuzz"(1969), by Randy Alvey and The Green Fuzz. A grungy, filthy sounding gem of stoned out 1960's punk. It's hard to believe, but I find the original much sleazier than The Cramps' version. Compare the two versions and let me know what you think. One of my favorite songs of all time.
Here's the original:

Green Fuz/Green Fuz - Track Artist

And here's The Cramps' version:

THEE HEADCOATS: "BEACHED EARLS"

Thee Headcoats are 1960's garage punk revivalist band hailing from Britain and led by Billy Childish. Their output is extremely prolific yet somewhat uneven. The best work I have heard so far of theirs is "Beached Earls" (1990). This is a brilliant piece of fiery, drug-induced sleaze, very grimy retro 1960's punk. While their music is primitive, Billy Childish's lyrics are not...they are very dark, violent, surreal, and poetic. Childish's vocals are sneering, melodic, and charged with sex and violence. This is how The Cramps would have probably sounded if they came out in the 1960's and went to art school. "Beached Earls" is an exhaustive release with thirty tracks. The only complaint I have about this one is that it could have been a little shorter. Fifteen or twenty tracks of Thee Headcoats is all you really need to hear in one sitting. Still, I highly recommend this one. It can be a bit hard to track down at the moment (currently out of print) but it is worth the hunt. This CD is also available as "Beach Bums Must Die", but it is missing the last ten tracks. It too is out of print, but friendlier on the wallet.

Here's the leering, snide, and vicious opening track "Youngblood"...

Youngblood - Thee Headcoats

and here's the brilliantly surreal and poetic "A Town Named Squaresville".

A Town Named Squaresville - Thee Headcoats

THE GROUPIES

The Groupies were an somewhat obscure 1960's garage rock band made famous by The Cramps' cover of their classic "Primitive". Their sound is unadulturated, drug addled, sleazy 1960's garage punk at it's finest. Their stuff is hard to come by. Here's the original "Primitive" for your enjoyment.

THE CRAWDADDYS

The Crawdaddys were a band from California fronted by Steve Potterfand and Ron Silva that came out in the late 1970's. They specialized in playing scorching 1950's R&B and blues with a 1960's garage punk aesthetic. Their sound does not fit their time. Their music is blazing, energetic, soulful, yet straightforward and unprententious. They remind me a bit of The Yardbirds, but they really have their own sound that is instantly recognizable. Check out their album "The Crawdaddy Expreess". You can listen to many full tracks from it here. A few of my favorites are 'Rainin' In My Heart" and "Crawdaddy Express". HIghly recommended.

THE SONICS

The Sonics are an insanely heavy and loud 1960's garage rock band whose peak was around 1965/1966. Their music is fast, intense, and amped up to the point of horrifying distortion. The Sonics have a ferocious, untouchable energy, predating punk by many years. Picture Little Richard even more hopped up than he already is with guitars amplified until your ears bleed with hooks so irresistible you have to keep coming back for more...this is The Sonics. Joyfully and mindlessly intense and brutal 1960's punk. Some of their best songs are "Strychnine", "The Witch", and 'Psycho". The two albums pictured above, "Here Are the Soinics" and "Boom" I highly recommend. Listen to the three songs below, and if you like what you hear hunt down these two albums. They aren't too hard to find.

Strychnine - Sonics, The

Psycho - The Sonics

The Witch - The Sonics

THE RED CRAYOLA: PARABLE OF ARABLE LAND"

The Red Crayola's "The Parable of Arable Land" is a free form, psychedelic, noise art masterpiece from 1967. Guitar, bass, and drums carry the music, but it is surrounded and enveloped in a cacophony of other noises and instruments played in a somewhat haphazard fashion. This album in a way is a do it yourself incursion into free jazz and psychedelia, with an underlying 1960's garage punk feel throughout. This album consists of several free from instrumental tracks, or "free form freak outs", with hooky, trippy, and sleazy 1960's garage punk classics embedded between the freak outs. The actual songs on this album and bring to mind early Cramps, especially with the vocals. A few of my favorite tracks are "Hurricane Fighter Plane" and "Pink Stainless Tail". Truly brilliant, or misguided noise where the musicians are too stoned out to even play their instruments properly...which one best describes The Red Crayola? I personally think they are brilliant, but listen to the two tracks below and decide for yourself.

Let me know what you think. "Parable of Arable Land" is an album that's not too expensive and fairly easy to find. Highly recommended.

THE MUMMIES

The Mummies are an insane retro-1960's garage rock/surf punk revivalist band that came out in the early 1990's. Their sound is brutal and primitive, like the 1960's garage punk legends The Sonics even more hopped up on speed and flooded with distortion. The Mummies' music is pure and unbridled 1960's punk with a Farsifa organ, delivered with a energy that most punk bands wish they could have. Of course The Mummies are a gimmick act of sorts...they perform live wrapped from head to toe in mummy bandages, bludgeoning their instruments. But so what? Performing both deadly instrumental tracks and songs with harsh acerbic voclas and lyrics, the Mummies are my favorite modern day 1960's punk act. Period.

There are numerous Mummies releases out there. Many are hard to find. My favorite is the album "Never Been Caught"(1992), which is out of print. If you can't find that one, pick up "Death By Unga Bunga!!", which is a compliation album of all their 45's. It is in print.
Here's "Stronger Than Dirt" from "Never Been Caught".

Stronger Than Dirt - Mummies

And here's a live performance of the instrumental "The Fly".