Pretty much all through my eight-decade career of rock & roll fandom (obsession?) I’ve maintained a pretty schizoid existence between quiet, ballad-based, contemplative tunes and all-out flame-blasting rock & roll mania. My best example? In 1969 I liked Joni Mitchell and The MC5 the EXACT SAME amount. Similarly, in the mid to late-1960’s I liked the folk-rock tunes detailed on Tuesday and the 5 burners presented today the EXACT SAME amount.
First off, let’s define our “punk-rock” terms. I see 1960’s punk-rock as any of the American bands that formed post-1965 after The British Invasion of 1964-1965. All those bands that MAYBE had a sketchy idea of how to play an instrument before they saw The Beatles, The Dave Clark 5, and The Rolling Stones on the Ed Sullivan Show. Or kids that saw those acts and THEN begged mom & dad for a guitar or a drum kit and did the best they could. Either way, they then started knocking out tunes in their parents’ garage; hence the term garage-rock that became synonymous with punk-rock. Yeah, they were loud & snotty, but displayed only a fraction of the raw aggressiveness of the Patti Smith Group/Ramones/Sex Pistols/Clash brand of 1970’s punk-rock.
Plus, I made a conscious decision to exclude The Velvet Underground and The Stooges from this list, on accounta cuz that would’ve made it too easy.
“SOMETIMES GOOD GUYS DON’T WEAR WHITE” / THE STANDELLS / 1966
In which The Standells explicate class consciousness, the gross inequalities of the capitalist system, plus men’s hair length and its effect on dating; all in 2:35.
“LITTLE GIRL” / THE SYNDICATE OF SOUND / 1966
Coupla things: You think this tune is too pop to be punk-rock? Wrong. You think I didn’t have a huge crush on the girl dancing around the band when I saw this video on Where The Action Is when I was 14 in 1966? Wrong. Is this one of my 10 favorite drum tracks of all time in rock & roll? You got that right.
“TALK TALK” / THE MUSIC MACHINE / 1966
Ya think Ozzy Osbourne invented heavy-metal in 1968 with Black Sabbath? Think again, mofumbo. (Another great drum performance, by the way.)
“I HAD TOO MUCH TO DREAM LAST NIGHT” / THE ELECTRIC PRUNES / 1967
Truly unfortunate name for a great band. Consensus opinion in 1967? The band was singing “I had too much to drink last night,” but had to get on the radio.
By the way, astute readers will notice I’ve had NO problem finding live - though obviously lip-synched - footage of the punk-rock entries (as opposed to Thursday’s folk-rock offerings). If you had a top-20 hit in the mid-60’s, you GOT ON TELEVISION. It was the Best of Teenage Times.
“TIN SOLDIER” / THE SMALL FACES / 1968
In my intro I may have limited my scope of 1960’s punk-rock to America. Here’s the pride of punk-rock London, The Small Faces (with guest P.P. Arnold).
Ricki C. is 73 years old. When he joined his first rock & roll band at 16 in 1968 (on guitar, then graduating to lead singer because he was the only one in the band who could memorize one whole night’s worth of lyrics) he sang four of the five songs catalogued above. And - on a lot of nights - he nailed them.