1960s' Garage Rock barely dented the UK charts - a shame, because it was terrific

As I have a posse of hefty Irishmen thumping around just above my head, fixing the roof, I’m not even going to try to write about anything taxing. So, American Garage Rock  is today’s subject – you know, the sort of stuff that was featured on Lenny Kaye's 1972 Nuggets compilation album, and which is generally reckoned to have been kickstarted by The Kingsmen’s 1963 version of Richard Berry’s “Louie Louie”.

Apart from a handful of UK hits – Tommy James & the Shondells’ “Mony Mony” and “Hanky Panky”, Question Mark and the Mysterians’ sublime “96 Tears” and The McCoys “Hang On Sloopy” - It was largely ignored here in Britain, mainly because, during the its heyday (roughly 1963-1968 – the music started out on soda pop, progressed to speed and  ended up on LSD) we had more than enough beat combos of our own to be getting on with, and when you’ve got The Pretty Things belting out “Don’t Bring Me Down”, do you really need The Choir doing “I’m Going Home”?

Nevertheless, there were plenty of abysmally crappy records in the UK pop charts during those years, and plenty of terrific hard-edged classic American teen rockers that more than deserved to reach the UK Top Ten – in some cases, No 1. Leaving aside the ones already mentioned, here’s my personal Top 10 US Garage Rock singles that should have made it onto Top of the Pops:

“Can’t Seem to Make You Mine” (1965, reissued 1967 when it reached 41 in the US), The Seeds. For years I only knew ex-Box Tops’ lead singer Alex Chilton's drugged-up version of this 1965 classic – but the original turns out to be much, much better. One of rock music’s all-time classics.

“Farmer John” (1964), The Premiers – Hispanic Surf music. This squeal-laden Californian teenage rock ‘n’ roll goodie was covered by lots of British groups, most notably The Searchers, who really speeded it up.

“Lies” (1965), The Knickerbockers – their name reveals them as a British invasion cash-in band, and the sound is pure Beatles. Excellent!

“Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)” (1967), The Hombres – this Memphis, Tennessee group managed to reach No. 12 in the States, and they’re so relaxedly cool-sounding and the song is so catchy, it should have been a smash in the UK. Truly great record.

“Nobody But Me” The Human Beinz  - this 1968 cover of an Isley Brothers’ 1962 number was this Ohio band’s only hit (No. 8 in the US), but, Lordy, it’s a hum-dinger. Should have been top of the charts around the globe. One of my all-time favourite records. 

“Dance Franny Dance” Floyd Dakil Combo – released in 1964, surely this Texan’s first release should made Top Five at least: what a stonking little masterpiece!

“Liar Liar” The Castaways – I don’t care what was in the UK charts in 1965 – there must have been room for this little gem from Minnesota. That falsetto, that moody organ, that scream heading into the guitar break! At least American record buyers had the sense to take it to No.12.

“Respect”, The Vagrants (1965) – fat guitarist Leslie West (later of Mountain) featured on this Long island group’s version of the Otis Redding classic, which was a hit-ette on the East Coast. A damn sight gutsier and less self-indulgent than most versions of the song.

“I Want Candy”, The Strangeloves – a version by Bow Wow Wow made it to No 9 in the UK, but this excellent 1965 original didn’t make a dent. Odd. The Americans had the good taste to take it to No. 11.

“Scarlet & Gold”, 13^th Floor Elevators – whoops, the acid just kicked in, big-time. I don’t know why this is my favourite Elevators’ song – it’s a barely-coherent mess and it isn’t their best track – but I just love the first minute or so. It was released as the B-side of their last single in 1969 and this time I’ll forgive british record-buyers for ignoring it – so did the Americans.

I got into Garage Rock retrospectively, via the Flamin Groovies’ 1971 album, Teenage Head, which harked back to early Rock ‘n’ Roll and Garage Rock, and looked ahead to Power Pop and late ‘70s Punk (I particularly loved the Neil Young homage, “Whiskey Woman”, which, this being the Groovies, morphs into a stomping rocker by the end). Then Nuggets came out and proved a real eye-opener – why hadn’t we heard most of this stuff before?

Well, now we have – and it’s terrific.