TORCH? WHATEVER. HERE, YOU TAKE IT.

I was listening to one of the Back From the Grave series of garage compilations last night. If you're into garage bands from the sixties, you probably know there are a zillion compilations out there. The Nuggets series from Rhino, the Pebbles compilations from three different companies (fictitious names and "licensed from"s, the only real company involved was Bomp), Sundazed's Garage Beat series, some from Norton, and a whole bunch of one-offs. I like the Back From the Grave series. They're raunchier, the bands give less fucks. I never really realized until last night just how much that not giving a fuck attitude influenced which of these compilation series I preferred. I put on Back From the Grave Volumes 1 & 2 (the CD version) and after a couple songs I had to go outside. When I came back in, "The Rat's Revenge" by the Rats was playing. It had been I while since I listened to it and hearing it fresh I was struck by how the Rats really did not give a fuck. Absolutely no chart aspirations here. "Fuck it, we'll never be the Stones, let's just continue playing the steakhouse and put out a 45 just to do it." You never know, right? Completely stupid crap sometimes becomes a hit (see "Surfin' Bird"). Whatever the story is behind it (I didn't brush up) it is the attitude it projects that I dig. Alas, I couldn't find an mp3 of "Rat's Revenge". As a consolation, here's some Oblivians, from decades later. They also carried the zero fucks given torch.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Rats - The Rat's Revenge (Pts 1 & 2) (streaming) at YouTube
The Oblivians - I'm Not a Sicko, There's a Plate in my Head mp3 at Internet Archive
The Oblivians - Blow Their Cool EP at All I Want 4 songs in a zip