GREAT MOMENTS IN DISTORTION

I don't even really listen to the Beatles, but I'm glad Beatlemania existed because it inspired young kids, in the U.S. and all over the world, to pick up instruments and give it a shot. They were all thinking the same thing. If these mop tops could make it big, avoid working for the man, and receive the adulation of young people, particularly girls, why not us? Never mind the fact that the Beatles had been plugging away for years in Liverpool and Hamburg, in other words paying their dues. All this global army of wannabees knew is that the Beatles, a band they'd never heard of just a few years earlier, were young, they were presumably rich, and they got laid. That beats the gas station any day of the week. As quick as you could say "Can I park the station wagon in the driveway?", the garage band era was born.

It's not that every band tried to sound like the Beatles. Ohhh no. If you've listened to any amount of garage rock, garage punk, or whatever you want to call it, you know that. All the other flavors of the day were mixed in too. When American garage bands started breaking out, with a little more fuzz here, Farfisa there, and, what the hell, let's throw in some sneering vocals, bands began setting the bar a little lower. And it's this brand of garage band that started getting a little weirder. ("Hey guys, should we just settle for being the next Music Machine?")

The site 1960's Garage Bands is a gold mine when it comes to this sort of stuff. It's chocked full of bands, from the bland la-la-la-ers, to the truly wacked. Few will be familiar. I was checking out the Royal Aircoach,...oh, wait. that's another thing: some of the featured bands write their own bios. I say one the other day where the author felt compelled to include the fact that one of a band member's parents owned a dry cleaning business. It's all good. Anyway, the Royal Aircoach, Just listen to the A side of their first 45, "Wondering Why", and then listen to the second song, "Whrapped Up In Your Mind", from a second recording session that was never unreleased. Phew! Sometime after the first 45, someone heard Blue Cheer. Or the Stooges. Or the MC5. Regardless, it's a distortion soaked tour de force, albeit with vocals I could do without (they didn't get the sneer memo).

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Listen:
The Royal Aircoach - Wondering Why mp3 at 1960s Garage Bands
The Royal Aircoach - Wrapped Up In Your Mind mp3 at 1960s Garage Bands
The Royal Aircoach - Three more songs at 1960s Garage Bands
Visit:
1960's Garage Bands - Interviews List of bands interviewed or profiled.