Garage-Mania

with Robby and the Nurse

Top 25 Garage Bands of All Times

Part 2

#17 - THE LORDS - “FIRE”, “THE WORLD IS FALLING”.The Lords were from Germany and like the Beatles, they started as a skiffle band and outside of The Rattles was one of the biggest garage bands in Germany in the 60’s.
      Their version of” Shaking All Over” took them to the top of the German charts in 1965. Nurse Cheril’s favorite cut is “Fire”, a demented song about driving like a wild man on the autobahn. This song is more punked out than most of their others songs with haunting organ cords and a 15 second spoken word portion in Latin. The lyrics are strange too “when I drive a hundred miles an hour I feel better, if somebody has a wreck it really doesn’t matter?Fire, Fire, Fire.”
      The World Is Falling Down”, from 1968, is their answer to “Sergeant Pepper”. This is in a completely different vein and is very psychedelic .Their song “5 or 6” is about waiting for a date at a bar and losing count of how many drinks. This was actually for a Pepsi commercial in Germany.
      On a sad note, while playing on their 40th anniversary tour a few years ago, lead singer Lord Ulli Gunther fell off stage and cracked his head. He died a few days later. Their “best of’ CD, Singles, Hits and Raritaten, is worth seeking and comes with a 56 page booklet. Unfortunately, it is written in German. If you can read German, you can figure out more about the band than us.

#16 - MC 5- “LOOKING AT YOU”. The MC5 have been called the first Seventies band of the Sixties. This Detroit rock ‘n roll band’s musical and political stance helped to sow the British punk movement of the seventies. Originally known as The Motor City 5, they started to gain a local fanatical following for their loud, aggressive and exciting live shows at Detroit’s Grand Ballroom. Their manager, John Sinclair, of the White Panther Party, got them signed to Elektra and they recorded their first live album Kick Out the Jams. This album was a soundtrack of the late 60’s student’s riots, starting off with censor baiting lyrics, “Kick out the jams mother fu**kers” (which was later changed to brothers and sisters). However, troubles with the album’s lyrical content and Sinclair’s convictions on drug charges saw the band tone down its image for their second album Back in the USA. It is from that album we chose “Looking at You” as one of the best heavy garage rock tunes of all times. Wayne Kramer’s fiery guitar work on that cut is truly mind blowing! We had the pleasure of meeting Kramer on the Mike Stark Show on our station about a year ago and he was really cool.
       Guitarist Fred Sonic Smith, it should be mentioned, was married to punk singer and poet Patti Smith. Fred unfortunately passed away in 1994. Sadly for The MC5 fame, acclaim came too late and their reputation for pioneers in punk only grew after their demise.

#15 - THE STOOGES - “1969”, “NO FUN”. Perhaps no band from the sixties had a more important influence on the punk rock phenomena of the late seventies than that of The Stooges.
       James Jewel Osterberg was in a band called The Iguana. He changed his name to Iggy Pop. (Iggy after the Iguanas and Pop after Jim Popp, a local junkie.) Iggy Pop is well known for his outrageous and at times dangerous stage antics. He would rub peanut butter and raw steaks over his body and gouge his skin with broken glass. The Stooges sound was raw, basic rock, almost primitive. In the seventies lggy Pop’s career was resurrected by David Bowie and produced Pop’s album Raw Power. We think 1969 is one of the best examples of the Stooges sound.

#14 - HUMAN EXPRESSION - “OPTICAL SOUND”, “LOVE AT HIGH VELOCITY” The Human Expression were formed in the Tustin­Westminster area, south of L.A. and were part of the swinging Sunset Strip music scene. “Optical Sound” is unique in that it uses reverb and fuzz-tone effect to create a bizarre, haunting atmosphere. Singer Jim Quarles injects cryptic lyrics that a bear a strong Sky Saxon influence. “Love at High Velocity” is a punk rock classic slowing down and speeding up to frenzy. It resonates of The Vogue’s “Five O’clock World”, as if the band had been recorded on acid. Interesting to note both songs were engineered by Wally Heider, who also worked with the Grateful Dead. Funny.
       The Human Expression are maybe best known for turning down a song called “Born To Be Wild”, which of course became a major hit for Steppenwolf. “Optical Sound” can be heard on Rhino’s Nuggets Vol. 1 Box

#13 - CHOCOLATE WATCH BAND - “SWEET YOUNG THING”, “DON’T NEED YOUR LOVIN”, “ARE YOU GONNA BE THERE (AT THE LOVE- IN)” This San Jose band formed in the summer of love in 1965. Heavily influenced by bands such as The Stones and The Yardbirds, we recommend you get a chance to rent or buy the movie Riot On Sunset Strip and watch the band perform at Pandora’s Box. Lead singer David Aguilar’s performance nearly matches the excitement of Mick Jagger. Once you view it, you too will agree they are worthy of being rated so high on our list.
       Aguilar later became an astronomy professor at Colorado University, doing research for the aerospace industry.

#12 - NEW YORK DOLLS - “PERSONALITY CRISIS”, “LOOKING FOR A KISS” One of Nurse Cheril’s all time favorite trash, punk, glam bands with an insane pop energy. They are credited for spawning the likes of the Sex Pistols and the admiration of a young Morrisey, who wrote a book about the Dolls.
       Malcolm Mclaren notoriously took advantage of the Dolls persona, causing disruption to the band. That, coupled with increased drug usage by a few of the Doll’s members, caused their eventual demise.
Cheril’s heartthrob, Johnny Thunders, formed the Heartbreakers in 1975. The famous singer David Johansson, A.K.A Buster Poindexter, continues to sing and act in movies to this day. Tragically, Thunders, Jerry Nolan, and the original drummer Billy Murcia all died from drug over dosages. Guitarist Arthur Kane passed away just recently about a year ago.

 

Part 3

GAGRAGE-MANIA

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