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'Garage rock' is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name. In the early 1970s, some rock critics retroactively labelled it as punk rock. However, the music style was later referred to as garage rock or ''60s Punk' to avoid confusion with the music of late-1970s punk rock bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash.
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Contents

History

United States 1960s

Revival

See also

External links

History

The style was typified by very low cost record production, recordings often made by teenagers in the garages of their suburban homes, though the garage was more likely a location for band rehearsals than making recordings. The 1958 record "Jenny Lee" by Jan and Arnie (later to evolve into Jan and Dean), is sometimes cited as the first "garage rock" hit although one specific starting point would be difficult to identify.

United States 1960s

The style had been evolving from regional scenes as far back as 1958. "Dirty Robber" by The Wailers, a garage band from Tacoma, Washington, considered the first garage band ever, and "Rumble" by Link Wray are generally considered the first "garage rock" songs. Other early practioners included the Rumblers, from Downey, California, whose 1962 song "I Dont Need You No More" released on Dot Records also anticipated the classic garage sound of 1964-66.
It was not until 1963 that garage bands crept into the national charts. These bands were all products of local scenes and included: The Kingsmen (Portland), Paul Revere and the Raiders (Boise/Portland), The Trashmen (Minneapolis) and The Rivieras (South Bend, Indiana).
During this time, there was a cross-pollination between garage rock and frat rock. Frat rock (another heavy influence and precursor to punk rock) was a loosely defined genre of rock and roll which featured raw, energetic, usually party-themed anthems.
The British Invasion of 1964-1966 did greatly influence the garage band sound as many local American bands (often surf or hot rod groups) began augmenting a British Invasion sound. The British Invasion also inspired new, and often very raw, bands to form. Garage rock bands were generally influenced by those British bands with a harder, blues-based attack, such as The Kinks, The Who, The Animals, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things and The Rolling Stones. The Beatles were an all-pervasive musical influence during this time, but as they had their harder and softer musical sides, were disdained by some of the more purist garage rock bands. Another influence was the folk-rock of the Byrds and Bob Dylan, especially on bands such as the Leaves.
Looking back from a later perspective, it is generally agreed that Garage rock peaked both commercially and artistically in 1966. It went into a slow, but irreversible, decline beginning in the Fall of 1967, with fewer and fewer examples of the genre being released in 1968 and 1969, and generally disappearing entirely by 1970.
One reason, perhaps, it declined is that that it was not an identified genre in its own time. The style was first identified in the early 1970s by record collectors and critics. Originally it was called "punk rock." However, when the Sex Pistols/Ramones era dawned, some started referring to it as "1960s punk" to avoid confusion. Eventually, likely in the 1980s, the punk rock tag was dropped altogether in favor of "garage rock," although some still refer to '60s garage as '60s punk or garage-punk.
"Garage rock" comes from the perception that many such performers were young and amateurish, and often rehearsed in a family garage. This connotation also evokes a suburban, middle-class setting. It is, of course, quite simplistic to conclude that all garage bands met this demographic dynamic. Some bands were made up of middle-class teenagers from the suburbs, while others were comprised of professional musicians in their twenties or older.
The performances were often amateurish or naïve. Typical themes revolved around the traumas of high school life, and lyin’ and cheatin’ girls (or boys). Superficially, this implies that the music was very limited. In reality, "Garage rock" performers were quite diverse in both musical ability and in style. Bands ranged the gamut from one-chord musical crudeness (e.g., The Seeds, The Keggs) to near-studio musician quality (e.g., The Knickerbockers, The Remains). There were also regional variations in many parts of the country with the Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon having the best defined regional sound.
Thousands of garage bands were extant in the USA and Canada during the era. Several dozen of these produced national hit records, including "Wild Thing by The Troggs, "Psychotic Reaction" by The Count Five (1966), "Pushin' Too Hard" by The Seeds (1966), "Gloria" by the Shadows of Knight (1966), "96 Tears" by ? and the Mysterians (1966), "Talk Talk" by The Music Machine (1966), "Louie, Louie" by The Kingsmen (1963-64), "Dirty Water" by The Standells (1966), "Double Shot (of My Baby's Love)" by The Swingin' Medallions (1966) and "Little Bit O'Soul" by The Music Explosion.
A larger number produced regional hits. Examples include: "Where You Gonna Go" by the Unrelated Segments in Detroit (1967), "The Witch" by the Sonics in Seattle (1965) "French Girl" by The Daily Flash, also in Seattle (1966) and "Girl I Got News for You" by The Birdwatchers in Miami (1967). From Boston came "Don't Look Back" by the Remains and "Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl?" and "Moulty" by The Barbarians. Canadian hits include "125" by The Haunted, "Who Dat" by The Jury and "It's My Pride" by The Guess Who, prior to their later success.
Other hits by garage rock performers who enjoyed later success include "Just Like Me" by Paul Revere & the Raiders (1965) and "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" by The Rascals (1965).
As one would expect, the vast majority of garage bands were commercial failures. This is despite most of the better bands being signed to major or large regional labels. Songs like "Going All The Way" by The Squires and "Frustration" by Long Island's The Mystic Tide, are now regarded as classics of the genre, despite never having been a hit anywhere.
By 1968 the style largely disappeared from the national charts (“Question of Temperature” by The Balloon Farm was a notable exception), and was only being played as a trace element at the local level as new styles had evolved to replace garage rock (e.g., progressive rock, country rock, Bubblegum, etc.) and as the music industry withdrew its support. However, in Detroit garage rock stayed alive until the early 70s, but with a much more aggressive style than early garage rock. Some of the late Detroit garage rock bands were The Stooges, the MC5, Alice Cooper, and The Amboy Dukes.

Revival

The garage rock revival is a musical phenomenon largely influenced by the original garage rock of the 1960s. Its earliest roots can be traced to the early 1970s, following the release of Nuggets in 1972 and continues to this day through the Western World as modern youngsters continue to pay tribute to a vanished golden age of rock and roll that was 1960s garage rock. Proto punk bands of the early '70s such as The Stooges and The New York Dolls were arguably garage rock revivalists. Iggy Pop had been in a mid-sixties, Detroit garage band, The Iguanas, who released a version of Bo Diddley's "Mona" in 1966 and recorded many other songs that fit within the genre.
In the 1980s, another garage rock revival saw a number of bands earnestly trying to replicate the sound, style, and look of the '60s garage bands (see The Chesterfield Kings, The Fuzztones, The Milkshakes, and The Cynics as examples of this); this trend coincided with a similar surf rock revival, and both styles fed in into the alternative rock movement and future grunge music explosion, which some say was partially inspired by garage rock from Seattle like The Sonics and The Wailers, but was largely unknown by fans outside the immediate circles of the bands themselves.
This movement also evolved into an even more primitive form of garage rock that became known as garage punk by the late 1980s, thanks to bands such as The Gories, Thee Mighty Caesars, The Mummies, and The Devil Dogs. Bands playing garage punk differed from the garage rock revival bands in that they were less cartoonish caricatures of '60s garage bands and their overall sound was even more loud, obnoxious, and raw, often infusing elements of proto punk and 1970s punk rock (hence the "garage punk" term).
The garage rock revival and garage punk coexisted throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s with many independent record labels releasing thousands of records by bands playing various styles of primitive rock and roll all around the world. Some of the more prolific of these independent record labels included Estrus, Hangman, Rip Off, MuSick, In The Red, Telstar, Crypt, Dionysus, Get Hip, Bomp!, Music Maniac and Long Gone John's Sympathy for the Record Industry.
In the 2000s, a garage rock revival gained mainstream appeal and commercial airplay, something that had eluded garage rock bands of the past. This was lead by four bands christened by the media as the "The" bands:The Strokes, The Vines, The Hives, and The White Stripes, the latter of which came out of the prominent Detroit rock scene which also include; Von Bondies, The Dirtbombs, The Detroit Cobras, The Go, The Hentchmen, Fortune & Maltese and the Paybacks. Elsewhere, other lesser-known acts such as The Boss Martians, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, Satan's Pilgrims, The 5.6.7.8's, The New Bomb Turks, the Oblivians, Teengenerate, The Makers, Mooney Suzuki, The Flaming Sideburns, Guitar Wolf, Lost Sounds, The Kills, and The Young Werewolves enjoyed moderate underground success and appeal. Other notable bands that enjoyed commercial success, but not to the extent of the "Big Four" (The Strokes, The Vines, The Hives, and the White Stripes), were The Datsuns, Kings of Leon, Jet, The Hellacopters and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, though some of these bands popped up on the scene a few years following the initial wave.
In the late 1990s, Steven van Zandt ("Little Steven") became a torchbearer, spokesperson, and proponent for both garage rock and the garage rock revival, promoting concerts and festivals across the United States, and also, in 2002, starting a syndicated radio program called ''Little Steven's Underground Garage'' and has also launched an Underground Garage channel on the Sirius Satellite Radio network.

See also

★ Frat rock

★ Garage punk

★ Pub rock (UK)

★ Pub rock (Australia)

★ Group Sounds (Japan)

★ List of garage rock bands

External links

★ Little Steven's Underground Garage - Steve Van Zandt's Garage Rock Radio Station

★ Beyond The Calico Wall @ pHinnWeb - Garage rock info and links.

★ About.com Profile of Garage Rock – another, slightly different, definition and history of Garage Rock.

★ The Garage - A collection of garage rock resources on the Internet.

★ Garage Rock Radio Homepage - Links to and reviews of garage rock radio shows available on the Internet.

★ Trans-World '60s Punk:Cutie Morning Moon - Japanese Group Sounds and more.

★ 1960s Garage Rock Toledo, Ohio

★ My First Band