I'LL HAVE THE SIX PIECE NUGGET MEAL

Post-slack fest posts are always about righting the ship and getting back to meat and potatoes rock. At different times it's been punk rock, rockabilly or garage, in other words, stuff with dirt under the nails. Throw away the candy canes, garage is for dinner tonight. Fuzz and nasally vocals, you know the drill.

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Listen:
Count Five - Declaration of Independence mp3 at Internet Archive
Chocolate Watch Band - Let's Talk About Girls mp3 at Internet Archive
We the People - You Burn Me Up and Down mp3 at Internet Archive
The Woolies - Who Do You Love mp3 at Internet Archive
Kenny and the Kasuals - Nothing Better to Do mp3 at Internet Archive
Third Bard - I'm Five Years Ahead of my Time mp3 at Internet Archive

PREMATURE BOWL CUT

Two and a half minutes to get noticed. Start with a guitar lick or some organ, up the tempo, throw in some fuzz and maybe some harmonica and, by all means, try to sound like you're a tough guy. Remember, job #1 is to piss off the parents. Okay, maybe getting laid goes before that, but now you're thinking about it too much. Just plug in and keep at it. If you can't write songs, lean on covers. Just remember, sound tough, piss off parents and get laid. What? Money? It's way too early to start talking about money.

Here's a handful of random garage sides. It's Friday, they sound good. [He sneers.] Soccer moms and scout dads, the pot luck is across the street.

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Listen:
The Rationals - I Need You mp3 at Internet Archive
Third Bardo - I'm Five Years Ahead Of My Time mp3 at Internet Archive
The Woolies - Who Do You Love mp3 at Internet Archive
The Uniques - You Ain't Tuff mp3 at Internet Archive
The Count Five - Declaration Of Independence mp3 at Internet Archive

THIS WOULD BE THE "LOOKING DOWN" SHOT

When all else fails, it's back to the garage. Here's four random cuts I ran across. A Count Five cut that isn't "Psychotic Reaction" and a Music Explosion cut that isn't "Little Bit of Soul". There's a certifiably crunchy cover of the Kinks' already crunchy "I Need You" and another by the lesser known Harbinger Complex because, well, fuzz.

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Listen:
The Count Five - Declaration Of Independence mp3 at Internet Archive
The Music Explosion - Let Yourself Go mp3 at Internet Archive
The Rationals -I Need You mp3 at Internet Archive
Harbinger Complex - I Think I'm Down mp3 at Internet Archive

BOWL CUTS, FUZZ AND POINTY BOOTS

Man, I gotta say. Lenny Kaye did us a solid so many years ago. He put together the first Nuggets compilation, at the time a two record set. It was the first compilation of garage bands when compilations were a rarity and "garage band" a term only used by total music fiends. Released way back in '72 before he was playing in Patti Smith's band, when he was a writer that worked in a record store. It was followed by single LPs compilations of more nuggets and by the time the late seventies punk rock thing happened, a lot of the bands had added covers taken from the compilations. The cool thing was that the original 45s, recorded from 1963-68, were still to be found in thrift stores and dusty record racks.

All the Nuggets compilations would soon be followed by Crypt Records' Back From the Grave series. While drawing from the same idea, Back From the Grave compilations leaned towards the more obscure bands, most regional releases, like Nuggets mid-sixties garage bands every bit as wild, in most cases wilder, and as a result none drawn from hits. There was also a series of Pebbles compilations and Sundazed Records' Garage Beat '66 series which narrowed it down to a single year, 1966 being about the peak of garage snottiness.

Here's a handful I was buggin' out too back in the day, from the earliest Nuggets compilations. I think four of these charted, so, yeah, it's really like a beginners course. Most of you know these well but if they're new to you, this is really basic shit you should know. If you dig them, a heads up. It is a very deep rabbit hole. I'd start with the first Nuggets and then the first Back From the Grave and go from there. It's slippery. Beware the jingle jangle.

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Listen:
Music Machine - Talk Talk mp3 at Internet Archive
The Sonics - Strychnine mp3 at Internet Archive
The Barbarians - Are You A Boy or Are You A Girl mp3 at Internet Archive
Love - Seven and Seven Is mp3 at Internet Archive
The Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard mp3 at Internet Archive
The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction mp3 at Internet Archive
Chocolate Watch Band - Let's Talk About Girls mp3 at Internet Archive

NEW BLACK LIPS

Okay, Black Lip's latest, "Modern Art," warrants posting because it has some damn fine fuzz. Though criminally buried in the mix, the repetitive riff is reminiscent of the garage fuzz of yore. But rather than feature the fuzz big in parts and hardly at all in others (ala Count Five's "Psychotic Reactions"), the Black Lips (or whoever produced this) relegate it to a Davie Allan as rhythm player role. Sooo close. I'd love to take control of this band's mixing. "First off, turn up that bass, and the fuzz, now. And, for Christsakes, turn down the vocals, do something with the nasal, turn up the sneer. Okay, let's try that." All that said, it's a fine song.

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Black Lips - Modern Art mp3 at Impose Magazine
The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction mp3 at Bag of Songs
Davie Allan & the Arrows - Cycle-delic mp3 at Office Naps Forget "Blues Theme," this is Ron Asheton type stuff. It's some wicked shit.