Garage bands

The British Invasion sparks a garage-band boom: most acts are brief, but they matter for punk later.

So far we have covered America’s reply to the Invasion and mid-1960s Beatles, Rolling Stones, and other British acts—focused on the industry and pros answering British chart raids. But when the Beatles first play Ed Sullivan on 9 February 1964, kids nationwide watch and want to be like them. Not everyone who wants to play ends up with hits and a career; most play for fun. That fuels 1960s scenes called garage bands or garage rock. Some kids already play guitar from folk-revival campfire Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary. When the Beatles arrive, many chords are familiar: with electric guitar, drums, and bass, why not form a band at once? “Garage” because the first rehearsal space is often a garage or basement. The word describes rough, raw, eager music—maybe not high technique, but energy that attracts. Garage bands sprout nationwide; some are excellent. Like doo-wop, many are one-shots: a strong local hit, then nothing. Records may be local only; collectors race to find obscure regional singles at swap meets.

In 1972 Lenny Kaye issues the double LP Nuggets—garage music, hard-to-find lesser-known bands. Not the Byrds or Paul Revere & the Raiders—obscurer names. Nuggets proves hugely influential on punk musicians, especially in New York—people who form the Ramones, Television, Talking Heads; Kaye later plays with Patti Smith. It also fuels later garage revival. On CD reissue, disc one holds the original album; more tracks fill out four CDs—so a modern Nuggets set covers a lot of 1964–67 garage.

The key garage band is Portland, Oregon’s the Kingsmen. In many ways the Pacific Northwest is a mid-1960s garage cradle. Their disputed smash is late 1963 / early 1964’s No. 2 “Louie Louie,” as the Beatles first hit America. Huge controversy: people claim dirty sexual lyrics, but no one can pin the words. Look up Richard Berry’s original—written 1957, recorded with the Flairs: calypso-tinged R&B of that year, clear lyrics. Know that text and you basically know the Kingsmen’s. Nobody bothers; they insist there are curses. The fight is big enough that FCC and FBI investigate. FBI uses top gear on the vocal and concludes it cannot tell. For the Kingsmen and “Louie Louie,” controversy helps sales. If you want a prototype controversy song, this is it. Dave Marsh wrote a whole book on “Louie Louie”—pranks, episodes, scandals. The Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” is in controversy a year later; the Byrds’ “Eight Miles High” is tagged as a drug song. The pattern repeats; “Louie Louie” is early. For the Kingsmen: 1964 hit “Money,” 1965’s “The Jolly Green Giant,” then little more.

Other interesting Nuggets originals: L.A.’s Electric Prunes, “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night),” No. 11 in 1966—lyric really a wink at “too much to drink,” but in the exciting pre-psychedelic stretch “too much to dream” sounds better. L.A.’s Standells, “Dirty Water,” No. 11 in 1965—about Boston’s Charles River. The band is from L.A., yet the song becomes a Boston sports anthem. New Jersey’s Knickerbockers cut the most Beatles-like non-Beatles record—“Lies,” No. 20 in 1966; for years I thought it was the Beatles and wondered which album. Worth noting: L.A.’s Seeds, “You’re Pushin’ Too Hard,” No. 36 in 1967 though issued earlier in 1965; the singer writes the whole song waiting for his girlfriend in a grocery store. Frank Zappa fans may know it—parodied on Joe’s Garage.

So garage bands are a curious scene; later punks are fans. Garage charts a little but cannot match other 1960s styles. Still, many 1970s musicians idolize it—wanting to escape overproduction for plainer, more “real,” less studio-heavy sound. Garage heroes, with Nuggets as a push. Next: TV—and TV rock.