Last week the focus was on funk, today it's on another of my favorite genres - mid 60s freakbeat and garage. Big hat tip to my hot rod and drinking pal Cratedigger, whose encyclopedic knowledge of garage music borders on psychotic.
Hey hey they're the Monks, five US Air Force guys who formed a band while stationed in Germany in 1965. They had two trademarks: monks' tonsures, and some of the most primal beat music ever. Here they are on a 1966 German teen dance program.
Also from 1966: the 13th Floor Elevators, the seminal psychedelic Texans performing their hit "You're Gonna Miss Me" on Dick Clark's Bandstand spinoff "Where the Action Is" in 1966. Tommy Hall on the electric jug. Epilogue: singer Roky Erickson fell into mental illness and drug abuse, eventually becoming homeless in Austin; when I lived there I occasionally gave him spare change and cigarettes. Happily, he is now on the road to recovery.
The greatest frat rocker of all time: Portland Oregon's own Kingsmen performing Louie Louie, sober, rendering the lyrics strangely intelligible.
From Minneapolis: the Castaways and the Farfisa & Falsetto classic "Liar Liar". Complete with go go gal and Kix commercial!
Midwest sweatervest fest - Michigan's Tommy James and the Shondells with the classic "Hanky Panky."
The British kings of foppish big beat - The Kinks (featuring Ray Davies) on "Hullabaloo" 1965. Intro by ex-Mousketeer Annette Funicello!
Maybe the snottiest song ever: The Seeds' "Pushin' Too Hard."
Before Guns 'N' Roses, before Motley Crue, even before Jim Morrison and the Doors, they were the original superstars of LA's Sunset Strip - the Standells. Speaking of Mousketeers, the Standell's singer/drummer Dick Dodd was, like Annette, one of the original cast members on the Mickey Mouse Club.
Great little '67 nugget from Down Under: Australia's The Atlantics and "Come On."
Finally, a taste of local cooking: straight outta Arlington Heights, Illinois, rulers of the Chicagoland '65 teen dance scene, the Shadows of Knight. Here they are on "Where the Action Is" performing their classic cover of Van Morrison's "Gloria."
