The Garage-Punk Hall of Infamy

[TeenFink]

let's set it up! what city? memphis? chicago? tacoma? san fran? nyc? boston? austin?

who would you nominate? what bands or musicians do you think BEST exemplify the trashy sounds, punk demeanor, bad reputations, stupidest (yet genius) lyrics, lo-fi approach, and thee most primitive sounds eminating from their beatup, retro gear??????

i would like to offer up the first nominee: THE MUMMIES!

[kopper]

Billy Childish!

Oblivians!

And, naturally, the Sonics!

[whatwave dave]

The Cramps!!!

[Joey Fuckup]

Yes, the Mummies, of course, but wouldn't you also want some "forefathers" in there as well? For example: Link Wray, Dick Dale, Bo Diddley, Wanda Jackson, Hasil Adkins, just to name a few. Maybe start there, then move into the garage rock explosion of the mid-'60's, and on from there...Or were you just considering the garage underground of the '90's through today? Lots of good choices there as well! You'd have to include the Cramps and the Fleshtones as torch bearers, as well as others that formed in the '70's...The Stooges should also be in there, but hell, there's so many we could list! As far as the city it should be based in? Hmmm...

[Audio Gasoline]

Dang, kopper beat me...

I vote for the Oblivians, and everyone connected to them.  And Jay Reatard.

And Billy Childish gets the "Lifetime Achievement Award".

Honorable Mention: Jeffrey Evans 

[Ken]

Before the discussion list explodes with everybody throwing in their two cents...  What about using google docs or something to set up an actual nomination form?  That way we could easily count up entries/noms and maybe set up a few categories

I would be willing to host it on my website.

[Tyler]

For the 90's I'll add Supercharger and Teengenerate.

 

[John Battles]

I'd be hard pressed to nominate too many newer acts. The  Jeffrey Evans honorary mention was was real class. But , if The Oblivions , Gories , and other contemporaries of his would eventually all be nominated , then Jeff shouldget full honors.

Since they should have been in the so -called Rock Hall 25 years ago , I'd have to  nominate Paul Revere and The Raiders , and , as longas I'm thinkin' Northwest (Which is probably where such a Hall might well reside. We used to call stuff like The Sonics "Grunge Rock" before the movement using that name sprang up.) , Tha Wailers is where I'd begin , then move on to tHE KINGSMEN , Don and The Goodtimes , and many lesser knowns.

Other nominees for location might include Chicago (Hey , we had a HUGE scene for this stuff , even if virtually no one cares , anymore.) , Dallas/Ft.Worth (Ditto. Tho' the "Teen A Go Go  FILM MUST NOT ESCAPE YOUR RADAR.), AND , i DUNNO , A BUNCH OF OTHERS.

I would induct , if it were only in my power , Fred Cole , Roky Erickson , Sky Saxon , Question Mark , Kenny Daniel ,  Sean Bonniwell , James Lowe , Arthur Lee , Dave Aguilar , their bands , their friends' bands, and many more that none of 'em ever met.....

Link Wray , OF COURSE , takes top honors. As does Davie Allan and Travis Wammack.

Far lesser knowns like Milan/The Leather Boy , Dean Carter , Jack Starr , Donny B. Waugh , Stud Cole , Swamp Rats , Nobody's Children , Third Bardo and a zillion others deserve some kind of placement , too.

As far as more recent stuff , I'd say Fortune and Maltese , The Brood , The Woggles , Royal Pendletons , Cynics , Sons of Hercules , Sirens , Waste Kings , Loons , and even the original Shitty Beatles (Dallas , mid - 80's.).

 

[kopper]

The problem with these things, if you ask me, is once you start including bands, then you start including their influences and pretty much any band or artist that somehow falls under wild rock'n'roll gets lumped in with "garage punk." There's too much crossover between good ol' rock'n'roll and garage rock and garage punk and whatever else you wanna call this noise we all dig. Now, if you ask me (again, ha!), the title of this thread says it all: Garage-Punk Hall of Infamy. Which bands were "from the garage" (or had that "sound") and then combined that with punk attitude? While I think punk has obvious roots in the '60s (and even '50s), ya gotta remember that it wasn't called that back then, and it wasn't until the '70s that bands started being called (or calling themselves) "punk" and then "garage punk" came even later than that (thanks to Tim Warren, I think). Retrospectively, you can look back at the recorded output of lots of bands and say, yeah, ya know, the Sonics, Monks, Link Wray, Seeds, all of that stuff is essentially punk rock... even though at the time it was just called rock'n'roll or teen music. Bands of the '80s garage revival... the rowdier ones, anyway, were the first to really combine garage AND punk and make it into its own distinct style or subgenre of rock'n'roll, which is where the Mummies, Oblivians, Cynics, Guitar Wolf, Stomachmouths, New Bomb Turks, Teengenerate, the Devil Dogs, Thee Mighty Caesars/Headcoats and so on fit into this. And notice, too, that he used the word "Infamy" and not "Fame"... what's infamy? Having a reputation for something that's viewed as evil or bad. Not for being "famous" (which has always been my problem with the "Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame"... a lot of the greatest rock'n'roll acts were never all that famous, sad but true).

Not sure where I'm going with this, but it's interesting nonetheless. I guess some of those acts that you recommended, John, while I agree are all fantastic, I just don't think all of them fall under this sort of category unless you really start opening the floodgates, ya know?

[Mike Humsgreen]

Well you've named the big American cities, but what about a bit further east? London's an obvious one, Liverpool of course ;-) see other thread. Hamburg and 80s Matchbox B Line Disaster alone is enough to put Brighton on the garage map.

And although in the grand scheme of things the Ruhrgebiet could be flattened and no one would notice the cultural void left. I would still put Essen and co as garage cities for that reason. Because although little gets made here someone needs to listen to this shit. And well there must be like 5 million people in a region that seems like one big disabled car park!  You don't get more primitive than that.

[Mike Humsgreen]

Hmm on second thoughts sorry to anyone who uses disabled spaces, that was a bad joke.

[Chris Henniker]

Decisions, decisions. Infamy? I'd say The Cramps, The Velvet Underground, The 13th Floor Elevators, Captain Beefheart (as much for being a bastard to work with as any great music he put out), The Birthday Party, Gallon Drunk, JSBX, Bob Log III, GG Allin (more hardcore, but he's so bad he's good).

I'm thinking of the most challenging, provocative, confrontational, outfits of their time. Either because they were sleazy, nihilistic, putting out music that was weird & outre or all three. If not that, anything that gave them some degree of notoriety. If you want infamy, you've got it.

 

[John Battles]

Well , these were just some of the first names that came to mind. I don't think I getting that far outside of the box. I think , most people believe that "Garage Punk" or "Garage Rock" (  I first heard the terms being used more than 30 years ago.) began with the thousands of mid-60's teen bands , some of whom had hits , mutating into the 70's Punk bands (Maybe some of them do , and others don't , fall under that banner.) , the early 80's Garage Revival , the 90's Garage Revival and Garage Punk scenes (Like the bands you mentioned. Some were more 70's , and even 80's - influenced. Some people say Punk Garage , instead , because the 60's influence in many - not all -  of those bands is less apparent.), and still mutating  to this day. I would'nt dedicate a huge wing to the 50's ,  if , in some better world , the museum became a reality  , but , I would'nt ignore the bands and individual artists that had a direct effect on that stuff ,either.
The first KNOWN use of the word "Punk" to describe a musical genre , in a magazine , was by Dave Marsh , reviewing a Question Mark gig in 1971. Story of Pop in The UK RAN AN ARTICLE JUST CALLED"PUNK ROCK" IN '72 OR 73 (?) , referring to mid -60's US Garage bands , well known and not so much.But , The Encyclopedia of Rock (ca. 1969 or 70.)by Ellie Coxon  (sic) also referred to "Punk Rock" , but meaning Alice  Cooper , The Sabs , even Bloodrock. Greg Shaw , Bomp! and Pebbles , too , no doubt , had a hand in it , as did Lenny Kaye , who also used the phrase in the liners to "Nuggets" in '72. To most people , I think , Garage PUNK or Rock means a lot of things.
k

opper said:

The problem with these things, if you ask me, is once you start including bands, then you start including their influences and pretty much any band or artist that somehow falls under wild rock'n'roll gets lumped in with "garage punk." There's too much crossover between good ol' rock'n'roll and garage rock and garage punk and whatever else you wanna call this noise we all dig. Now, if you ask me (again, ha!), the title of this thread says it all: Garage-Punk Hall of Infamy. Which bands were "from the garage" (or had that "sound") and then combined that with punk attitude? While I think punk has obvious roots in the '60s (and even '50s), ya gotta remember that it wasn't called that back then, and it wasn't until the '70s that bands started being called (or calling themselves) "punk" and then "garage punk" came even later than that (thanks to Tim Warren, I think). Retrospectively, you can look back at the recorded output of lots of bands and say, yeah, ya know, the Sonics, Monks, Link Wray, Seeds, all of that stuff is essentially punk rock... even though at the time it was just called rock'n'roll or teen music. Bands of the '80s garage revival... the rowdier ones, anyway, were the first to really combine garage AND punk and make it into its own distinct style or subgenre of rock'n'roll, which is where the Mummies, Oblivians, Cynics, Guitar Wolf, Stomachmouths, New Bomb Turks, Teengenerate, the Devil Dogs, Thee Mighty Caesars/Headcoats and so on fit into this. And notice, too, that he used the word "Infamy" and not "Fame"... what's infamy? Having a reputation for something that's viewed as evil or bad. Not for being "famous" (which has always been my problem with the "Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame"... a lot of the greatest rock'n'roll acts were never all that famous, sad but true).

Not sure where I'm going with this, but it's interesting nonetheless. I guess some of those acts that you recommended, John, while I agree are all fantastic, I just don't think all of them fall under this sort of category unless you really start opening the floodgates, ya know?