411 Music Ten Deep 10.09.09: Top Ten Garage Rock Songs

Posted by Andrew Moll on 10.09.2009

From "Gloria" to "Louie, Louie" and from "Dirty Water" to "Wild Thing" check out the list of the Top Ten Garage Rock Songs in this week's edition of 411 Music Ten Deep!


(Disclaimer: All opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of 411 Music and its staff.)


Welcome to the twelfth edition of 411 Music Ten Deep, the site's weekly countdown of all things music in a handy and compact top ten list. I'll take a moment here to mention the 411 Movies/TV version of Ten Deep celebrating their fiftieth edition this week with Owain's list of the Top 50 Sci-Fi Movies. Numbers 50-41 were revealed yesterday so make sure to head over there to check that out and each week as that list gets counted down. In other completely unrelated news - go Red Sox. As you read this they're either still playing or have already played Game 1 against the Angels and hopefully Jon Lester turned into an ace-worthy performance.

But you came here for the music and we'll get to that right after we backtrack to last week and the list of the Top Ten Punk Rock Albums and your comments:





Wow. Not one Misfits mention, nor even Smash in the Honorable Mentions. Riiiiiiight...
Posted By: AndrewCrow (Guest) on October 01, 2009 at 10:31 PM

no misfits makes this incomplete. try again.
Posted By: marc (Guest) on October 02, 2009 at 03:27 AM

a lack of misfits, and minor threat in particular makes this list a bit suspect, to be honest. no dead kennedys or bad brains as well. also, i get why some "purists" wouldn't include refused on their list, but the shape of punk to come ended up being one of the most appropriate album titles ever, to say the least. but hey, to each their own. it was, however, nice to see gang of four get a mention, as well as the low ranking of the criminally overrated sex pistols.
Posted By: grantimus (Guest) on October 02, 2009 at 09:50 AM

I totally agree with everyone who has pointed out the lack of Dead Kennedys on this list. "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables" and "Frankenchrist" (along with the all the others) are amazing albums.
Posted By: Guest#6398 (Guest) on October 02, 2009 at 02:56 PM

No Dead Kennedys or Misfits? Boo-urns!
Posted By: Guest#5554 (Guest) on October 02, 2009 at 02:57 PM

When it comes to the Misfits, I've just had a hard time taking them seriously, but that was just my impression. The music itself is still pretty good but I just don't feel like it holds up to the music of the other bands mentioned on the list.

As far as the Dead Kennedys go, like I mentioned I haven't given a full listen to their supposed best album so there's no way I can give an opinion on them. I've liked what I've heard, but it just wasn't enough. My apologies.

Also, since it's on my mind: FUCK THE CLASH. I've yet to hear a band labelled "old-school punk" as fucking bland and overrated as The Clash. You want old-school punk that had musicianship, political messages, great lyrics, and a unique sound and style? Grab a fucking Dead Kennedys album. The Clash sucked. Get the motherfuck over it.
Posted By: AndrewCrow (Guest) on October 01, 2009 at 11:09 PM

Well then.

Nice list, except I wonder how Television would be considered a punk band other than their being a band of a time and place that many other bands identified with "punk" shared.
Posted By: SonOfSLJ (Guest) on October 01, 2009 at 10:27 PM

Shouldn't be one fucking person complaining about #1 on this list, and that's that.

Rocket to Russia and Clash self-titled should've at least been honorable mentions, if not on the list proper (although I see you went with the one album per band approach). I agree with others that Bollocks should be much higher, and though Marquee Moon is definitely a classic, I'm not sure it's punk rock.
Posted By: The REAL MP (Guest) on October 02, 2009 at 01:27 AM

As someone who's probably older than most of the posters here (and who's seen 7 of these 10 bands live), pretty good list overall.
I'd agree with the one earlier commenter that the first/eponymous Clash album is a better 'punk' album than London Calling - London Calling is a better overall record, but it's not punk in the way the first album was. London's Burning is still one of the greatest punk songs ever IMO.
I'd also probably drop the Stooges to make room for something by the DK's (who were the best punk band I ever saw live) - Iggy was punk before punk (proto-punk), but I don't think they belong on this list. You've got to narrow down the criteria someway - it's too large a potential group otherwise. If the Stooges, then why not the Dolls? Or the Modern Lovers? Actually, I might put them on the list right now as opposed to Television - Marquee Moon is an all-time great album, and Television were great live, but the Modern Lovers probably had a larger influence on more actual punk bands of the late 70's - everybody from the Talking Heads to the Pistols (or at least Malcolm) were influenced by Jonathan Richman and his songwriting.
Posted By: JeffS (Guest) on October 02, 2009 at 05:57 PM

The idea of what is to be considered punk rock is an interesting one to me. Obviously nobody would say The Clash weren't a punk band, but there seems to be a lot of people, (not just the ones that commented) that don't consider London Calling to be a punk record. Presumably because that doesn't fit some ideas of what punk rock should sound like or something to that effect. But for me that's why I ranked it number one since it pushed the limits of what punk rock was capable of and the same with Marquee Moon. I mainly considered the album to be more of the best albums by punk bands, rather than best punk albums, if that makes any sense. I realize that's kind of splitting hairs but to me it's a big difference.

Either way it's an interesting discussion where I easily understand where you guys are coming from.



Top Ten Garage Rock Songs



I like a little bit of imperfection in my rock and roll a lot of the time; just enough to remind me that what I'm hearing is being played by actual human beings who are more concerned with playing with just pure emotion as opposed to automatrons or something. Few variations of rock music have as successfully captured the spirit of kids picking up some instruments and having a blast than garage rock, a name which described the sound perfectly. Few of the garage bands achieved commercial success, but the influence of their sound was massive as it almost laid the foundation for punk rock. So this week we will be taking a look at the Top Ten Garage Rock Songs. And just so we're all on the same page, I didn't bother with garage revival songs; this is just old school stuff. Before the best though, let's look at some songs that just missed the cut.


Some Honorable Mentions: The D-Men - "I Just Don't Care"; The Music Explosion - "Little Bit O'Soul"; The Pleasure Seekers - "What a Way to Die"; The Seeds - "Pushin' Too Hard"; The Trashmen - "Surfin' Bird"; The Wailers - "Tall Cool One"




10. The Count Five - "Psychotic Reaction"


The Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction" is one of the most British of the garage rock songs that came out of America in the mid-1960s, and the major influence of bands like the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds is pretty clear. "Psychotic Reaction" works because it's much more than just a rip off of those other bands. Well, mostly. I mean, it's pretty clearly a takeoff of the Yardbird's "I'm a Man" with its repetitive groove and verses before speeding up and slowing back down again. But what works in the Count Five's favor is that you really do get the feeling of a psychotic reaction as things seem normal before getting completely out of control. It also helps that the main blues riff is a pretty damn good one that is just fuzzy and psychedelic enough to make in impact despite any stylistic similarities.





The lyrics are pretty sophomoric, with the first verse going, "I feel depressed, I feel so bad/'Cause you're the best girl that I ever had/I can't get your love, I can't get a fraction/Uh-oh, little girl, psychotic reaction." But in the face of any logic those lyrics actually seem to have a kitschy quality. In fact, the song is so rough around the edges and slightly amateurish that any poetic lyrics would just seem out of place. "Psychotic Reaction" is a song that makes sure pay homage to blues rock with a riff, harmonica part, and style from British bands of the time, but still made the song a hit. It all sort of slugs along, in a good way, until that riff is just stuck inside your head because it's so incredibly catchy.



9. Paul Revere and the Raiders - "Kicks"


The year was 1966, America's youth was heading into a different direction, one of expanding one's mind and free love and such. Even though in hindsight it all looks like an excuse to do drugs and have sex, it all made sense at the time. Pop music was shifting along with the culture, as druggier songs like "White Rabbit," "Eight Miles High" and more would be released. But there was still a place for less hip stuff, like Paul Revere and Raiders' song "Kicks," penned by the noted songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. "Kicks" was an obvious anti-drug song released right as drugs were becoming an accepted part of the culture, but it still managed to become a hit. It's a little ironic that the hip songs like "White Rabbit" and such now seem absolutely ludicrous while a song like "Kicks" that was heavily criticized at the time now sounds not only better lyrically, but definitely superior musically as well with its close harmonies and great melody.





If you don't even bother listening to the lyrics, it's still not only apparent but painfully obvious that this is a tremendous song that deserves to be ranked amongst the best of the garage genre and also of the time period. But the lyrics are part of what the song is known for, and they manage to draw a definite line in the sand between people who use and people who don't. Lead vocalist Mark Lindsay sings, "And don't it seem like/Kicks just keep gettin' harder to find/And all your kicks ain't bringin' you peace of mind/Before you find out it's too late, girl/You better get straight/No, but not with kicks/You just need help, girl." The song obviously would appeal to certain people more than others considering the lyrical content, but there's no denying musically the quality of the song, as its one of the most melodic and catchy songs that any garage rock band ever released.





8. The Leaves - "Hey Joe"


Everybody knows "Hey Joe" as Jimi Hendrix's first single and one of his best recordings, but a lot of people either forget or don't know that it was a rock staple for at least a couple years before Hendrix's version was released. One of the first and best versions of the song was done by the California garage band The Leaves, who gave the song about murder an energy that's unexpected when compared to the more subdued version that we're all associated with. For a track that describes a guy going to shoot his woman and her lover before heading to Mexico, the Leaves' version is very energetic, but it never belies the severity and weight of the situation. In fact, the fuzztone guitar riff that pops up in the song helps add to that emotional atmosphere. There were a lot of up-tempo versions of the song that were recorded at the time, but this take on it is definitely the best, as that particular guitar riff gives it a quality other version didn't have.





That fuzztone guitar actually came into play on the third recording the band did of the song, as their first two attempts and releases weren't up to the quality that they wanted. But with that third try, everything came into place and the band ended up with a garage rock classic. Obviously, their version of "Hey Joe" isn't the most popular or definitive version, nor is it probably the best, but it's a take that shouldn't be forgotten or ignored when considering its more notable counterpart. The Leaves made an edgy, up-tempo version of an already known song and put their own spin on it, giving lyrics like "Well, I guess I'll shoot my woman now/That's what I'll do/Said I guess I'll shoot them both/Before I'm through," and "And there ain't gonna be no/Hangman's ropes gonna be/Put around me," a different context and perspective than we're used to hearing from this song.





7. The Music Machine - "Talk Talk"


"Talk Talk" is a song that is really pretty aggressive and a little menacing, especially since a lot of garage rock wasn't always this outwardly forceful. Most of that feeling comes from the psychedelic that has a large amount of influence over the song; it lends a much different sound than what a lot of garage rock was producing at the time. It makes sense that The Music Machine's sound would be so different and be drenched in psychedelic music, since they were from Los Angeles and this song came out in 1966. The fuzzed-out guitars are immediately noticeable and are a big part of that aforementioned menacing quality. Along with the machine gun-like snare drum, the song often feels like an attack of sorts with an antagonism that isn't as playful as a lot of other garage rock. Those other songs always seemed to have tongue planted firmly in cheek, but The Music Machine offer no such feeling of joking around.





Singer Sean Bonniwell somewhat angrily sings the lyrics, ones that describe a personal state that is none too pleasing and full of depressive feelings. He sings, "Here's the situation/And how it really stands
I'm out of circulation/I've all but washed my hands/My social life's a dud/My name is really mud/I'm up to here in lies/Guess I'm down to size." This song is an example of garage rock taken to an entirely different level, one of more aggression and intensity that combined that gritty style of rock with the psychedelic music that surrounded them. The result was "Talk Talk," a song that stood in contrast to what both of the other genres were known for. That contrast made the song stand out and helped turn it into a Top Twenty hit and one of the more notable and original songs from the garage rock era.





6. The Standells - "Dirty Water"


Yes, you can fairly assume that a big part of the song's inclusion on the list is the fact that I'm a Boston Red Sox fan. (For those that don't know, the song is played at Fenway Park after every Red Sox home victory and has become sort of an unofficial anthem for the team.) But, in my defense if being associated with the Red Sox is the only criteria for making the list, then "Sweet Caroline" would have had a spot here as well. "Dirty Water" makes it because it's a great song and also is a great example of the kind of territorial rock that sprang up through garage bands. A lot of young groups came from small towns and in some ways helped put those places on the map by staying home and pumping out energetic rock. (And yes, I know they stayed home because they had no place to go, but bear with me.) While Boston is certainly no small place, the Standells still felt compelled to create an anthem for their hometown and succeeded with an homage to the suspect cleanliness of the Charles River.





The song acts as a snapshot of youth culture in Boston in 1966, with tales of kids hanging around the water late at night looking for action while the women remain frustrated due to curfew. There's a rebellious feeling to the song that can only come from adolescence, as singer Dick Dodd infuses the song with plenty of frustration, but also plenty of confidence and certain appreciation for his city. When the song winds down and Dodd wails "I love Boston!" there's no sense of irony in his voice but instead it has plenty of excitement and seemingly genuine enthusiasm for Boston. I should note that even if the lyrics were about something completely different, it would still be a great song because of a great opening riff and a Rolling Stones-inspired feeling to the song. But the band's love of Boston just puts the whole thing over the top.





5. The Sonics - "Strychnine"


"Strychnine" is a song that is almost completely punk rock in its volume and attitude, with a certain amount of humor and nihilism. How else does one approach a song that espouses the joys of drinking rat poison? Fueled by some raucous piano and saxophone playing, singer Gerry Roslie absolutely lets loose on this track, singing the opening lyrics of "Some folks like water/Some folks like wine/But I like the taste/Of straight strychnine," with the pitch-perfect amount of youthful attitude. The Sonics were arguably the prototypical garage rock band with their powerful approach and distorted sound and I think that this song is the best example of how good the band was and how influential they would prove to be. You can hear the direct lineage from a song like this one and works by protopunk bands like the Stooges and the MC5.





This is the type of song that can only be the product of a small regional scene that has no concerns about mainstream success allowing them to explore whatever sounds and themes they like. That was most definitely the case not only for garage rock as a whole but also the Sonics' home town of Tacoma, Washington. Small towns in America allow for certain kinds of experimentation, be they in musical approaches or in passing the time. This can lead to rollicking and loud songs about willfully and gleefully drinking poison. "Strychnine" is a song made up completely of attitude and is led by the howling vocals of Roslie while the rest of the band pounds away and charges ahead. This wasn't the type of song you would hear coming out of the British Invasion in 1965 and a prime example of the type of wholly original and impactful American rock music that is always so excellent.





4. ? and the Mysterians - "96 Tears"


Featuring an iconic organ riff, "96 Tears" has to rank as one of rock's most unlikely hits, reaching number one on the Billboard charts despite the band not appearing to be much more than just competent at playing their instruments. But if garage rock proved anything it's that it's more about attitude and ingenuity than technical skill when it comes to making rock music. The song's lyrics actually have quite a bit of sorrow to them, telling a tale of a broken hearted guy who won't be happy until his ex-girlfriend is crying as well. Of course, the song warns her she'll be crying exactly ninety-six tears, no more and no less. Why ninety-six, exactly? Nobody's really sure what the reason is, but it is pretty clear that if the song was named "95 Tears," "97 Tears" or had any other amount of tears other than ninety-six then the song probably wouldn't have worked out quite as well as it did. For some incomprehensible reasons, ninety-six is just the right number for the song.





The band themselves also exemplified the garage rock ideal as well as any other group could have at the time. They were five kids from Saginaw, Michigan who picked up some instruments, learned to play them well enough and then ended up creating an all-time classic by keeping things simple, from the organ riff to the instrumentation to the lyrics (although the opening line of "Too many teardrops for one heart to be cryin'," is actually an incredibly moving lyric.) Things didn't remain as simple for the band after that though, as lead singer ? has never officially revealed his real name, never appears in public without wearing sunglasses and has claimed to be many things, including a Martian that happened to live with dinosaurs in a past life. Although, a good bit of mystery and mythos can be a pretty good thing in rock and roll and that is true for ? and the Mysterians and their trademark song. That circus-style organ doesn't reveal terribly much and leaves things open-ended, even while the lyrics spell things out directly and emotionally.





3. Them - "Gloria"


Everybody knows that Van Morrison eventually became one of rock's greatest singers, dabbling in jazz, blues, R&B folk and more in his illustrious career with classic albums like Moondance and Astral Weeks. But Morrison got his start as a gritty rocker with Them and with that band he wrote and sang one of the most sexually charged songs ever recorded. The song reveals a different Van Morrison than the one we would see later in his career; this is a younger, more primal Morrison that evokes the spirit of great bluesmen like Howlin' Wolf for his speak-sing delivery that take sexual frustration to new heights. His more restrained take on lyrics like "She comes around here/Just about midnight/Ha, she make me feel so good, Lord/I wanna say she make me feel alright," only makes it more impactful when he finally explodes when yelling "G-L-O-R-I-A!" His spelling out of Gloria is one of rock's most cathartic and powerful moments, one that perfectly encapsulates a teenage experience.





The song's opening riff also serves a starter course for anybody looking to start playing the guitar as it's simple to play but also has a natural groove to it that immediately brings to mind the original's power. And while the entire band delivers in their performances, this song belongs to Van Morrison all the way. It's kind of jarring to listen to the original recording of this song and compare it to Van Morrison now, an older singer that obviously uses his voice in a vastly different way than he did when he was a teenager. And you also obviously can't argue with the results, but I can't help but wonder what Morrison would have been capable of if he hadn't gone solo and stayed a garage rocker. Of course, there's a big possibility he wouldn't have been able to match "Gloria," an all-time great rock anthem that still stands as one of his, or anybody's, best works.





2. The Troggs - "Wild Thing"


Some of the time you don't really need much more than three chords, some attitude and a killer riff to make a classic song, and that's what happened with The Troggs' version of "Wild Thing." Taking the song written by Chip Taylor, the band infuses the track with plenty of swagger and a good bit of knowing sexuality. Ultimately, most good rock music boils down to just one thing and one thing only and few songs have better understood that fact than "Wild Thing." The title alone implies something dirty going on, and singer Reg Presley's straight-forward and deadpan delivery only enhances that feeling. His restrained vocal of "Wild thing, I think you move me/But I wanna know for sure/So come on, hold me tight/You move me," is absolutely perfect and has become an iconic moment in rock and roll. It's the type of simplistic yet direct moment that immediately lets the listener know what the song is about in just a few words.





It would be easy to dismiss the song as a joke or something similar, especially because of how ubiquitous it has become over the years, but that unfairly diminishes both the song's quality and impact. Sure there's the kind of goofy yet oddly in-place ocarina solo and the none-too-complicated lyrics and chord progressions, but all that stuff is why the song works. The song is so simple that it ends up being timeless, as it retains as much popularity as it did decades ago. Taylor himself once said about the song that "it's still inspired, even in its own dumbness," and that quote seems to sum it up pretty well. It takes a lot of skill and ambition to not only be that simple, but to also make it sound good.





1. The Kingsmen - "Louie, Louie"


"Louie, Louie" is not only one of the more controversial songs in the history of rock music but it's also a prime example of the DIY method the rough-around-the edges sound that made garage rock so great. But the poor sound quality is the song's charm as it makes for an amateurish romp through Richard Berry's R&B song. The Kingsmen made the most out of haphazard recording techniques, missed cues, audible expletives in the background and more to create a garage rock classic that is still the gold standard for any band looking to just pick up their instruments and create a jam. Only three microphones were used to record the song, with one on the bass drum, one on the guitar amplifier, and an overhead mic designed to pick up the whole band that helped to create a messy wall of noise that gives the song a real power. Combine that with Jack Ely's unintelligible and strained vocals, and "Louie, Louie" has and energy and groove that still makes an impact. It's simple, straight-forward rock and roll done the way it should really be done, with no pretensions or distractions.





Of course, any talk about "Louie, Louie" has to focus on those vocals from Ely that were so impossible to decipher that a lot of people, including the FBI, assumed that the lyrics were obscene. But his style of singing that was right in line with the calypso style of the original, so that combined with his frantic vocals and the muddy nature of the recording made understanding the lyrics nearly impossible. So a song about a guy going to Jamaica to see his girl inadvertently became an obscene anthem. All the controversy has helped the song and given it a mythology that most crudely recorded songs from the early 1960s don't get; but the fact is that all the imperfections regarding the song are why it's so great. The Kingsmen version of "Louie, Louie" is a raw recording and blast of music that proves to be the best and most popular example of garage rock and the type of experiences and feelings that could come out of such a youthful and energetic genre.



That'll do it for this week folks, thanks for reading. If you have any questions, comments or concerns feel free to let me know, and make sure to leave your own lists in the comments. I'll see you all next week. And if you're out on your bike tonight, do wear white.