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Garage-Maniawith Robby and the NurseTop 25 Garage Bands of All TimesHi everyone. Garage Rock lives at GARAGE-MANIA on www.wpmd.org from Cerritos College, Ca. with your hosts Robby Russell and his side kick Nurse Cheril. For the next 3 columns we will pick our favorite Top 25 Garage Bands of all times. This Nurse Cheril and Robby Russell issue, we count down from #25 to #18. Our selections are, of course, subjective and are partially based on airplay on Garage-Mania, and Robby and Cheryl’s personal taste. Several bands are included on the strength of 1 or 2 songs but the top bands have at least 3 to 5 outstanding garage rock classics. We welcome you to agree or not to agree with what we think. The era we cover is from 1965 - 1972. #25 BARRY AND THE REMAINS - “WHY I CRY” - “DON’T LOOK BACK” Barry (Tashian) and The Remains from Boston are famous for being the opening act for the Beatles on their 1966 U.S. tour. I had recently bought a DVD of garage rock bands and it included 2 Remains appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. I was blown away with their energy and showmanship - they should have been a lot bigger then they were. They are still performing even today and remain the pride of Boston. #24 - GONN - “BREAKOUT OF GRETELY” In January 1967 from Keouk, Iowa the band Gonn came on the scene with possibly the first heavy metal song of all time, “Breakout of Gretely.” Last year with the help of Brian Jenkins from the PSPOT web site, Robby and Nurse Cheril helped get Gunn into the Iowa Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame. Craig Moore and Gonn have been very kind to record promos for Garage Mania and are currently touring Europe and Russia. You can find “Breakout of Gretely” on Rhino’s box set Nuggets, Vol .1. #23 - COUNT 5 - “PYSCHOTIC REACTION” From San Jose, CA, the Count Five had a number 6 hit in the pop charts in June 1966.This song features crude , repetitive fuzz guitar riffs and strange almost alien vocals with double time guitars which were ripped off from the Lyrebirds “I’m A Man .“ We at Garage-Mania think this one-hit-wonder band actually topped the Yardbirds on this masterpiece. Supposedly the band turned down a million dollars in bookings and turned down a tour to remain in school ?not to mention to retain their draft status. #22 - SONICS- “PSYCHO” (other songs we play areS “THE WITCH,” “STRYCHNINE.”) Who was the first real garage punk band? We think it was the Sonics from Tacoma, Washington. It could be debated that The Monks, a more Devo sounding band stationed in Germany in 1965 and .1966 was the first (which is Nurse Cheril’s opinion.) The Jeep commercial uses the Sonics song “Have Love Will Travel” in their TV ads. #21 - WE THE PEOPLE - “YOU BRING ME UP AND DOWN” (other songs we play: “THE MIRROR OF MY MIND,” “WHEN I ARRIVE”) We The People hailed from Orlando, Florida. Despite their lack of national success, they are now very highly regarded in the same league as the Chocolate Watch Band, Standells, Seeds, etc. Nurse Cheril’s favorite cut is “My Brother The Man,” a song they wrote while very stoned watching the TV Show, My Mother The Car, which starred Jerry Van Dyke. #20 - MOVING SIDEWALK - “99TH FLOOR” Billy Gibbons’ first rock-psychedelic band before he formed ZZ Top hailed from Houston. This was a number one hit in Texas for 5 weeks but never broke nationally. On the Tonite show Jimi Hendrix called Gibbons the best American guitarist he has heard. The Moving Sidewalk opened for The Jimi Hendrix Experience on a tour of Texas. #19 - KENNY & THE KASUALS “JOURNEY TO TYME,” We don’t think it gets much better than this, this is garage rock at it best. With its cryptic allusions to drugs and its hard edged fuzz drenched sound, this is pure Texas prairie psychosis. Kenny Daniels ? vocalist, and guitarist Jerry Smith it was a journey to Nam as they both got drafted and the band broke up. According to Goidmine magazine, a 45 of “Journey to Tyme” is worth up to $1,000 making it one of the most collectible records in the garage category. 18- THE HAUNTED - “1-2-5” The Haunted from Montreal was one of the top 3 garage bands from Canada in the late ‘60s - the others being the Ugly Ducklings from Toronto and The Painted Ship from Vancouver. “1-2-5” was about prostitution and censorship and has been covered by The Chesterfield Kings. I just received a copy of the Haunted’s first album from a listener of mine, Cindy Cinnamon, and there are a lot of good cuts, including a French version of “Talk Talk.” (by the Music Machine.)
Part 2GAGRAGE-MANIA LIVE SATURDAYS -1 TO 3 PM PACIFIC TIME - REPLAYS 5AM, 9PM, 1AM EVERYDAY. Just go to www.wpmd.org and click on the alternative stream site: www.robbyrussellshow.com |