Sent Back Louder
Ten American garage bands covering songs by Them, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Who, the Yardbirds, the Small Faces, the Beatles, and the Move — 1965 to 1967. The British Invasion hit American shores and within a year, teenagers with guitars were lifting the material and doing something meaner with it. None of these versions were an improvement. That wasn’t the idea.
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01
Shadows of Knight — “Gloria”
Van Morrison wrote Gloria for Them and it hit in 1964. The Shadows of Knight — teenagers from the Chicago suburb of Niles — took it, stripped it down further, and hit number ten on the Hot 100. They were faster, younger, and cheaper-sounding than the original, which is the correct direction to go. The Them version had a raw majesty to it. The Shadows of Knight version sounded like it was recorded in a hurry with the reverb cranked. Both things are true.
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02
The Strangeloves — “[I Can’t Get No] Satisfaction”
Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, and Richard Gottehrer had already written “My Boyfriend’s Back” for the Angels. For the Strangeloves project they invented backstories as Australian sheep farmers named Niles, Miles, and Giles Strange. Their Satisfaction was out within weeks of the Stones’ version. The same summer they wrote and produced “Hang On Sloopy” for the McCoys. Some people worked fast in 1965.
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03
Chocolate Watchband — “I’m Not Like Everybody Else”
The Kinks released “I’m Not Like Everybody Else” as a B-side in 1966. The Chocolate Watchband turned it into a garage manifesto. Dave Aguilar’s vocal doesn’t sing the line — he announces it, slowly, like he’s giving you time to disagree. Three minutes of controlled menace. The Kinks wrote the frustration. The Chocolate Watchband lived it.
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04
Amboy Dukes — “It’s Not True”
“It’s Not True” is from The Who’s debut album, My Generation, 1965. Ted Nugent’s first band took it and gave it the full Detroit treatment — raw, loud, slightly out of control. The Who’s version had the sound of young men with something to prove. The Amboy Dukes’ version has the sound of young men who didn’t care if they proved it or not. That’s the difference between London and Detroit.
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05
Sons of Adam — “You’re a Better Man Than I”
The Yardbirds recorded this on Having a Rave Up in 1965 with Jeff Beck. Sons of Adam recorded it the same year with Randy Holden — who would later turn up in Blue Cheer. Los Angeles garage bands had access to better musicians than the music sometimes let on. Sons of Adam took a British beat anthem and turned it into a California snarl. Holden sounds like he’s playing from the back of his throat.
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06
Count Five — “Out In The Street”
Count Five are in the history books for “Psychotic Reaction” — number five on the Hot 100 in 1966 — but they were covering everything they could find. “Out In The Street” is from The Who’s My Generation album. Same basic ingredients, different temperature. San Jose produced a disproportionate amount of good garage: Count Five, the Chocolate Watchband, the Vejtables. Something about that city.
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07
The Stillroven — “Tell Me Have You Ever Seen Me”
The Small Faces were writing some of the sharpest singles in London in 1966. The Stillroven were from Minneapolis, recording for Soma — the same label that had put out “Surfin’ Bird” by the Trashmen three years earlier. Different cities, different scenes, same instinct. This Small Faces deep cut barely made it past the Minnesota border, but it’s exactly right.
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08
The Standells — “19th Nervous Breakdown”
The Stones released “19th Nervous Breakdown” in February 1966. The Standells had their version out that same year. Tower Records was a Capitol subsidiary running on instinct — the Standells, the Chocolate Watchband, the Beau Brummels, all under the same roof. The Standells’ version doesn’t sand the anxiety out of the song. If anything, they add more.
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09
The Music Machine — “Taxman”
George Harrison wrote “Taxman” for Revolver in 1966. Sean Bonniwell dressed the Music Machine in all black with one black glove each — a year before Alvin Stardust, none of the irony. Their “Taxman” is a fuzz-bass monster; the guitar solo replaced by something that sounds like the amp is on fire. The Beatles made a pointed social observation. The Music Machine made a noise complaint.
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10
Blues Magoos — “I Can Hear the Grass Grow”
Roy Wood wrote “I Can Hear the Grass Grow” for the Move in 1967. The Move’s version had a certain English pastoral quality — slightly woozy, summer-afternoon strange. The Blues Magoos were from the Bronx. Their version does not have that quality. The original ends in a garden. This one ends in a parking lot.
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