Garage rock

Social milieu and stylistic features

The term "garage rock" is based on the perception that its performers were young and amateurish, and often rehearsed in the family garage. While numerous bands were made up of middle-class teenagers from the suburbs, others were from rural or urban areas or were composed of professional musicians in their twenties. The phrase "garage band" is often used to refer to musical acts in this genre.

Though it is impossible to determine how many garage bands were active in the 1960s, according to Mark Nobles, it is estimated that over 180,000 bands formed in the Unites States, amongst which several thousand made records. Garage bands performed in a variety of venues. Less-established groups typically played at parties, school dances, and teen clubs. For acts of legal age (and in some cases younger), bars, nightclubs, and college fraternity socials also provided regular engagements. Occasionally, local groups had the opportunity to open at shows for famous touring acts. Some garage rock bands went on tour, particularly better-known acts, but also lesser-known groups receiving bookings or airplay beyond their local vicinity. Groups often competed in "battles of the bands", which gave musicians an opportunity to gain exposure and a chance to win a prize, such as free recording time in a local studio. Battles of the bands were held, locally, regionally and nationally, and two of the most prestigious contests were held annually by the Tea Council of the U.S.A. and the Music Circus.

Performances often sounded amateurish, naïve or intentionally raw, with typical themes revolving around the traumas of high school life and songs about "lying girls" being particularly common. The lyrics and delivery were notably more aggressive than the more polished acts of the time, often with nasal, growled, or shouted vocals, sometimes punctuated by shrieks or screams at climactic moments of release. Instrumentation was characterized by the use of electric guitars often distorted through a fuzzbox, teaming with bass and drums. Guitarists sometimes played using aggressive-sounding bar chord riffs, sometimes referred to as power chords. Organs such as the Farfisa were commonly used as well as mouth harmonicas or hand-held percussion such as tambourines. Occasionally, the tempo would be sped up in certain passages sometimes referred to as "raveups".

Garage rock acts were diverse in both musical ability and in style, ranging from crude two- and three-chord music to near-studio musician quality. There were also regional variations in flourishing scenes, such as in California and Texas. The north-western states of Idaho, Washington and Oregon had a distinctly recognizable regional sound with bands such as the Sonics and Paul Revere & the Raiders.

Recognition and classification

In the 1960s, garage rock had no name and was not thought of as a genre, but as typical rudimentary rock of the period. "Garage rock" was not the first name applied to the style. In the early 1970s certain rock critics began to speak nostalgically of mid-1960s garage bands (and artists perceived to be in their tradition) as a loosely defined genre and used the phrase "punk rock" to describe it, making it the first form of music to bear the description, several years before the term came to be associated with the later punk rock movement. Though the coinage of the phrase "punk rock" is unknown, Dave Marsh was the first music critic to employ it, when in the May 1971 issue of Creem he described ? and the Mysterians as a "landmark exposition of punk rock". Much of the revival of interest in 1960s garage rock can be traced to the release of the 1972 album Nuggets compiled by rock journalist and future Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye. In the liner notes, Kaye used the term "punk rock" to describe 1960s garage bands, and used the phrase "classic garage-punk" to describe a song recorded in 1966 by the Shadows of Knight. In 1973, Billy Altman launched the short-lived Punk Magazine, which pre-dated the better-known 1975 publication of the same name, but, unlike the later magazine, was largely devoted to discussion of 1960s garage and psychedelic acts.

Though the phrase "punk rock" was the favored generic term in the early 1970s, "garage band" was also mentioned for individual acts. The term "punk rock" was later appropriated for the genre of punk rock that emerged in the mid- to late- 1970s, and is now most commonly applied to groups emerging after 1974. The term "garage rock" came into favor in the early 1980s. According to Mike Markesich: "Initially launched into the underground vernacular at the start of the '80s, the garage tag had slowly sifted its way amid like-minded fans to finally be recognized as a worthy descriptive replacement". The music of garage bands from the 1960s may be described as "garage rock", "garage punk", "'60s punk", or "proto-punk".

Direct antecedents

In the late 1950s, the initial impact of rock and roll on mainstream American culture waned as major record companies took a controlling influence and sought to market more conventionally acceptable recordings. Electric musical instruments (particularly guitars) and amplification were becoming more affordable, allowing young musicians to form small groups to perform in front of local audiences of their peers; and in some areas there was a breakdown, especially among radio audiences, of traditional black and white markets, with more white teenagers able to hear and purchase R&B records. By the end of the 1950s regional scenes were abundant around the country and influenced much of the music of the 1960s.

Some young people were still inspired by musicians such as Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, and Eddie Cochran, whose recordings of relatively unsophisticated and hard-driving songs from a few years earlier had proclaimed personal independence and freedom from parental controls and conservative norms. Ritchie Valens' 1958 hit "La Bamba" helped jump-start the Chicano rock scene in Southern California and provided a three-chord template for the songs of numerous 1960s garage bands. Guitarist Link Wray, best known for his 1959 instrumental "Rumble", used innovative guitar techniques and effects such as power chords, distortion, and tremolo—an early influence in the development of the garage rock sound.

Early recordings

According to Lester Bangs, "the origins of garage rock as a genre can be traced to California and the Pacific Northwest in the early Sixties". The Pacific Northwest, which encompasses Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, played a critical role in the inception of garage rock, hosting the first scene to produce a sizable number of acts, and pre-dated the arrival of the British Invasion by several years. The signature garage sound of the Pacific Northwest is sometimes referred to as "the Northwest Sound" and had its origins in the late 1950s, when a handful of R&B and rock & roll acts sprung up in various cities and towns in an area stretching from Puget Sound to Seattle and Tacoma, and beyond.

There and elsewhere, groups of teenagers were inspired directly by touring R&B performers such as Johnny Otis and Richard Berry, and began to play cover versions of R&B songs. During the late 1950s and early 1960s there were a host of other instrumental groups playing in the region, such as the Ventures, formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington, who came to specialize in a surf rock sound and The Frantics from Seattle. The Wailers (often referred to as the Fabulous Wailers) had national chart hit in 1959, the instrumental "Tall Cool One". It was Portland group the Kingsmen's 1963 off-the-cuff version of "Louie Louie", largely based on the Wailers' arrangement, that took off, first as a regional hit in Seattle, then rising to No. 1 on the national charts and becoming a hit overseas, making it the de facto "big bang" for three-chord rock.

Elsewhere, regional scenes of teenage bands playing R&B-oriented rock were particularly well established several years before the British Invasion, in Texas and the Midwest. By 1963 singles by several such bands were creeping into the national charts, including the Trashmen, from Minneapolis, and the Rivieras, from South Bend, Indiana. At the same time, in southern California, bands such as the Nomads (not the Milwaukee band) formed, playing raucous guitar- and saxophone-driven instrumentals. Many bands were heavily influenced by surf rock and hot rod music, and there was a cross-pollination between these influences resulting in an energetic and upbeat sound. This is sometimes referred to as frat rock, which can be viewed as an early subgenre of garage rock, and it is often associated with many Pacific Northwest acts, such as the Kingsmen, but also thrived elsewhere. Writer Neil Campbell commented: "There were literally thousands of rough and ready groups performing in local bars and dance halls throughout the US prior to the arrival of the Beatles ... [T]he indigenous popular music which functioned in this way ... was the protopunk more commonly identified as garage rock".

Impact of the Beatles and the British Invasion

As the mid-1960s approached, garage rock entered a new period reflecting a different set of influences and circumstances. On February 9, 1964, during their first visit to the United States, the Beatles made a historic appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show watched by a record-breaking viewing audience of a nation mourning the recent death of President John F. Kennedy. For many, particularly the young, the Beatles' visit re-ignited the sense of excitement and possibility that had momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination. Much of this new excitement was expressed in music, sometimes much to the chagrin of parents and elders.

Following the Beatles' first visit, a subsequent string of successful, and increasingly bold, British Invasion acts emerged between 1964 and 1966. These had a profound impact, leading many (often surf or hot rod groups) to respond by altering their style, and countless new bands to form, as teenagers around the country picked up guitars and started bands by the thousands. In many cases, garage bands were particularly influenced by the British "beat groups" with a harder, blues-based attack, such as the Kinks, the Who, the Animals, the Yardbirds, the Small Faces, the Pretty Things, Them, and the Rolling Stones, often resulting in a raw and primitive sound. Numerous garage rock bands were formed in countries outside North America, such as England's the Troggs who enjoyed worldwide success with "Wild Thing".

Success and airplay

Thousands of garage bands were active in the US and Canada and hundreds produced regional hits during the 1960s, and it was not uncommon for a band to cut a record and receive airplay on the local AM radio station. Certain bands were able to gain national exposure just long enough to have one or occasionally more hits in an era rife with one-hit wonders. In 1965 the Beau Brummels broke into the charts with "Laugh, Laugh", followed by "Just a Little". In April 1966, the Outsiders, from Cleveland, had a hit with "Time Won't Let Me. In July, the Standells, from Los Angeles, almost cracked the top ten with "Dirty Water". "Psychotic Reaction" by the Count Five went to No. 5 on Billboard's Hot 100.

"96 Tears" (1966) by Question Mark & the Mysterians, a band from Michigan, was a No. 1 hit in the US. Considered by some critics to be the quintessential song of garage rock, it is also remembered as a seminal influence on punk, enjoying great cult popularity and many cover versions. Two months later, "Talk Talk" a Top 20 hit by the Music Machine, was released and had immediate influence on acts like the Doors and Iron Butterfly, as well as future punk rock groups. The Syndicate of Sound's "Little Girl" reached No. 8 on the Billboard charts. When it was unearthed by a Pittsburgh disc jockey in 1965, the resulting success of "Hanky Panky" revived the career of Tommy James, who formed a new group, Tommy James and the Shondells, and followed it with twelve more top 40 singles. From Ohio the Music Explosion, from Mansfield, had a breakout success in 1967 with "Little Bit O' Soul" and the Human Beinz, of Youngstown, had a hit with the Isley Brothers' "Nobody But Me".

Female garage bands

Garage rock was not an exclusively male phenomenon—it fostered the emergence of all-female bands whose members played their own instruments. One of the first such acts was New York's Goldie and the Gingerbreads, who accompanied Chubby Checker on his 1962 European tour, and later toured with the Rolling Stones, the Animals, the Beatles, the Yardbirds, the Hollies and the Kinks, among others. The Pleasure Seekers, from Detroit, later known as Cradle, featured Suzi Quatro and her sisters. Quatro subsequently went on to greater fame as a solo act in the early 1970s. The Luv'd Ones, also from Michigan, signed with Chicago's Dunwich Records, and are best known for the song "Up Down Sue".

San Francisco's the Ace of Cups became a fixture in the Bay Area scene in the late 1960s. The Liverbirds hailed from the Beatles' home city of Liverpool, England, but became best known in Germany, often performing in Hamburg's Star-Club. Other notable female groups were the Daughters of Eve, from Chicago, the Feminine Complex, from Nashville, and The Heart Beats from Lubbock, Texas. In many ways, bands such as these anticipated later all-female acts, such as the Runaways and the Slits, that were associated with the 1970s punk movement.

Pacific Northwest

In 1964 and 1965 the impact of the Beatles and the British Invasion shifted the tectonic plates of the musical landscape, presenting, not only a challenge, but also a new impetus for teenagers in the Pacific Northwest to form bands, as many of the more experienced acts adapted to the new climate, often reaching greater levels of commercial and/or artistic success than previously. The Kingsmen went through a significant roster shake-up in 1964, while unwittingly becoming the target of an FBI investigation in response to complaints about the alleged use of profanity in the nearly unintelligible lyrics of their ramshackle hit version of "Louie Louie". With the new lineup featuring former drummer Lyn Eastman on vocals, they continued to be active until the end of the decade, recording a string of singles.

After relocating to Portland, Paul Revere & the Raiders became the first rock & roll act to be signed to Columbia Records in 1963, but did not achieve their commercial breakthrough until 1965 with the song "Steppin Out", which was followed by string of chart-topping hits such as "Just Like Me", originally recorded by the Wilde Knights, and "Kicks". The Sonics, from Tacoma had a raunchy, hard-driving sound that influenced later acts such as Nirvana and the White Stripes. According to Peter Blecha, they "...were the unholy practitioners of punk rock long before anyone knew what to call it". Founded in 1960, they eventually enlisted the services of vocalist Gerry Rosalie and saxophonist Rob Lind and proceeded to cut their first single, the highly overdriven "The Witch" in 1964. The song was re-issued again in 1965, this time with the even more intense "Psycho" on the flip side. They released several albums and are also known for other "high-octane" rockers such as "Cinderella" and the power-chorded "He's Waitin'". Prompted by the Sonics, the Wailers entered the mid-1960s with a harder-edged sound in the fuzz-driven "Hang Up" and "Out of Our Tree".

New England and Mid-Atlantic

The Barbarians, from Cape Cod, wearing sandals and long hair, and cultivating an image of "noble savages", recorded an album and several singles, such as the partly self-referential, "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl". In 1964 the group appeared on the T.A.M.I. Show, on same bill as famous acts such as the Rolling Stones and James Brown, playing the joyfully primitive "Hey Little Bird". At the height of their popularity, the band was touted as an American counterpart of The Rolling Stones. In 1966, while the other members of the band were away, Moulton recorded "Moulty", a spoken monologue set to music, in which he recounted the travails of his disfigurement, released under the Barbarians' name, but backed by future members of the Band. The Remains (sometimes called Barry and the Remains), from Boston, led by Barry Tashian, were one of the region's most notable bands, and in addition to touring with the Beatles in 1966, recorded songs such as "Don't Look Back", as well as a self-titled album. Also from Boston, the Rockin' Ramrods released the distortion-driven "She Lied" in 1964, which Rob Fitzpatrick of the Guardian called "...a truly spectacular piece of proto-punk, the sort of perfect blend of melody and aggression that the Ramones would go on to transform the planet with a dozen or more years later". The Squires, from Bristol, Connecticut, issued a song now regarded as a garage rock classic, "All the Way".

Garage bands flourished up and down the Atlantic coast. From the Bronx, New York came the Blues Magoos, who had a hit with the psychedelically tinged garage classic, "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet". The Vagrants, from Long Island, featured Leslie West, later in Mountain, on lead guitar, and cut a version of "Respect", which was later included on the 1972 edition of Nuggets. Richard and the Young Lions, from Newark, New Jersey, had a hit in 1966 with "Open Up Your Door".

California

The garage craze came into full swing in California, particularly in Los Angeles. The Sunset Strip was the center of the L.A. nightlife, providing bands with high-profile venues to attract a larger following and possibly draw the attention of record executives looking to sign an act. Exploitation films, such as Riot on Sunset Strip, Mondo Hollywood, and the documentary, Mondo Mod, captured the musical and social milieu of life on the strip. In Riot on Sunset Strip, several bands make appearances at the Pandora's Box, with the Standells supplying the theme song and a later appearance by the Chocolate Watchband and others. The Seeds and the Leaves were favorites with the "in-crowd" and managed to achieve national hits with songs that have come to be regarded as garage classics: the Seeds with "Pushin' Too Hard" and the Leaves with their hit version of the oft-recorded "Hey Joe".

Love, a racially integrated band headed by African-American musician Arthur Lee, was one of the most popular bands in the scene. Their propulsive 1966 protopunk anthem, "7 and 7 Is", became a staple in countless other bands' repertoires. The Music Machine, led by Sean Bonniwell, employed innovative musical techniques, sometimes building their own custom-made fuzzboxes. Among their numerous recordings they are best known for their 1966 hit, "Talk Talk". The Sons of Adam were another popular band on the strip cut recorded several hard-rocking songs such as "Feathered Fish", written by Arthur Lee, and "Saturday's Son". The band is notable for the presence of guitarist Randy Holden, who in 1966 left the band to join the San Francisco-based the Other Half and later Blue Cheer, and drummer Michael Stuart, who left to join Love and record on their highly acclaimed 1967 album, Forever Changes. Garage rock was present in the Latino community in East L.A. The Premiers, who had a hit in 1964 with "Farmer John", and Thee Midniters are considered notable figures in Chicano rock, as are the San Diego-based, Cannibal & the Headhunters, who had a hit with Chris Kenner's "Land of a Thousand Dances".

San Jose and the South Bay area had a bustling scene featuring the Chocolate Watchband, the Count Five, and the Syndicate of Sound. From the East Bay in Fremont came Harbinger Complex. Though San Francisco is primarily known for sophisticated acid rock, the garage sound was detectable in a handful of bands such the Brogues, some of whose members later to played in Quicksilver Messenger Service. The Flamin' Groovies, founded in 1965, became a fixture in the Bay area scene, and their career stretched well into the 1970s.

Midwest

Chicago, known for electric blues, continued to have a strong recording industry in the 1960s and was also hotbed of activity for garage rock bands, providing hits for the American Breed, the Buckinghams, and the Cryan' Shames. Chicago blues as well as the Rolling Stones influenced the Shadows of Knight, a band who favored a harder approach, featuring Jim Sohns on lead vocals. In 1966 the Shadows of Knight had hits with their versions of Them's Van Morrison-penned "Gloria", and Bo Diddley's "Oh Yeah", as well as the less successful but more aggressive "I'm Gonna Make You Mine" – all released on Dunwich Records. Also on Dunwich that same year the Banshees released the cathartic "Project Blue", and the Del-Vetts cut the fuzz-driven "Last Time Around". Other notable Chicago acts were the Little Boy Blues and The New Colony Six.

Michigan had one of the largest scenes the country. In early 1966, Detroit's MC5 released a version of "I Can Only Give You Everything" before they went on to greater success at the end of the decade. The Unrelated Segments, whose ranks included lead vocalist, Ron Stults and guitarist Rory Mack, recorded a string of songs beginning with local hit "You Can't Buy Love", followed by others such as "Where You Gonna Go". Terry Knight and the Pack were from Flint and formed the basis of what later became Grand Funk Railroad. The Rationals, from Ann Arbor were fronted by Scott Morgan and achieved regional success but failed to break nationally. Fenton Records was a "pay-and-record" label owned by Dave Kalmbach that issued singles by a handful of West Michigan bands, such as the JuJus. The Litter, from Minneapolis, had a harder sound and released the distortion-laden "Action Woman" as a single in 1966—a song which Michael Hann of The Guardian described as "one of garage's gnarliest, snarliest, most tight-trousered pieces of hormonal aggression". In addition to The Outsiders, Ohio was also the home to groups such as the Choir, also from Cleveland, who had a regional hit with "It's Cold Outside".

South

Texas had several burgeoning scenes, with much of the action happening in Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and Austin. Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs were from Dallas and were fronted by Domingo "Sam" Samudio. They had two breakout hits with "Wooly Bully" and "Little Miss Riding Hood". Kenny and the Kasuals were another popular band in Dallas, whose Impact album has become one of the most collectable LPs of the era. The Moving Sidewalks, from Houston, featuring Billy Gibbons on guitar, later of fame in ZZ Top, had a top local hit with "99th Floor". The 13th Floor Elevators, from Austin, featured Roky Erickson on guitar and vocals and are perhaps the best-remembered Texas band of the era. The Outcasts, from San Antonio, cut five singles including "I'm in Pittsburgh and It's Raining" and the proto-punk "1523 Blair" which Jason Ankeny described as "Texas psychedelia at its finest". The Gentlemen, from Oak Cliff, a suburb of Dallas, cut the fuzz-drenched "It's a Cry'n Shame" which has been mentioned as a garage rock classic. With numerous teen clubs and venues such as Panther Hall, Fort Worth had a bustling scene and was the home groups such as Larry and the Blue Notes.

Florida was rife with activity, particularly in the areas on the Peninsula. We the People, a popular fixture in the Orlando area, came about as the result of the merger of two previous bands and featured songwriters Tommy Talton and Wane Proctor. "I'm Movin' On and "From a Curbstone" were by Evil from Miami, who had a reputation for musical mayhem. The Painted Faces, from Fort Myers, released the single, "Faces", which Mojo Magazine included in their top 100 psychedelic songs of all time. The Gants, from Greenwood, Mississippi, were one of the relatively few garage bands from the Deep South to make a national impression in the mid 1960s. Memphis, which had already established a reputation for blues and rockabilly, became a major center of soul music in the 1960s, with Stax Records, but also had an prolific garage scene. The Guilloteens went to Los Angeles, where they recorded the Phil Spector-produced "Hey You" at the Gold Star Studios, then returned to Tennessee to record in Nashville. The Hombres were another popular Memphis group and had a hit with their song "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)", which reached No. 12 on the national charts. North Carolina experienced its own garage rock boom. In Charlotte, the Paragons (not to be confused with the Jamaican ska group of the same name) were one of the most popular bands in the city, and went to Arthur Smith's studio to record their single "Abba", which became an enormous hit in the local area, reaching No. 1 on the local charts, which Jacob Berger referred to as "an instant garage band classic".

Great Plains and Southwest

The Five Americans were from Durant, Oklahoma and released a string of singles, such as "I See the Light" and "Western Union", the latter being a top 10 hit in 1967. From Phoenix, Arizona came the Spiders who featured Vincent Furnier, later known as Alice Cooper, and recorded two singles, most notably "Don't Blow Your Mind", which became a local hit in Phoenix. They ventured to Los Angeles in 1967, in hopes of achieving greater success, though it subsequently materialized not there, but in Detroit, re-christened as Alice Cooper, in the early 1970s.

The Grodes (sometimes credited as the Tongues of Truth) were from Tucson, Arizona and recorded the original version of "Let's Talk About Girls", later covered by the Chocolate Watchband, and "Cry a Little Longer". The Dearly Beloved, were also one of the top bands in Tucson. In 1967 the Chob, from Albuquerque, cut the frantic "We're Pretty Quick", now considered a garage classic. Norman Petty, who earlier recorded many of Buddy Holly's famous hits at his studio in Clovis, remained active there in the 1960s, cutting records for various garage bands in the region.

Canada, islands, and territories

Like the United States, Canada experienced had large and vigorous garage rock movement. Vancouver's the Northwest Company, who recorded "Hard to Cry", had a power chord-driven approach. The Painted Ship were known for primal songs such as the angst-ridden "Frustration". The Guess Who, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, began in 1958 and entered the mid-1960s with a hit, Johnny Kidd & the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over", which was later covered by the Who.

In 1966 the Ugly Ducklings, from Toronto, had a hit with "Nothin'" and toured with the Rolling Stones. The Haunted, from Montreal, specialized in a gritty blues-based sound influenced by the Rolling Stones and released the single "1–2–5", which has been re-issued in the Pebbles compilation series. Two other bands from Toronto were the Paupers and the Mynah Birds. The Paupers released several singles and two albums. The Mynah Birds featured the combination of Rick James on lead vocals and Neil Young on guitar, who both went on to fame as solo acts, as well as Bruce Palmer who later accompanied Young to California to join Buffalo Springfield in 1966. They landed a contract with Motown Records and recorded several songs including "It's My Time".

Outside of the mainland, garage rock became a fixture in the islands and territories adjacent to the continent. The Savages, from Bermuda, recorded an album, Live 'n Wild, which includes "The World Ain't Round It's Square", a song of youthful defiance that has been mentioned as a garage rock classic.

International scenes and counterparts

The garage phenomenon, though most often associated with North America, was not exclusive to it. Its attributes were present in much of the beat music played in various countries throughout the world, as bands proliferated in the wake of the British Invasion. The particular countries involved had grass-roots rock movements which closely mirrored what was happening in the North America, several of which are sometimes retroactively referred to as freakbeat, Nederbeat, Uruguayan Invasion, or Group Sounds, or in other cases as "beat" or "garage rock".

United Kingdom

Although Britain did not develop a distinctly defined garage rock genre in the same way as the United States, some British bands shared characteristics with the American bands who often attempted to emulate them, and are sometimes seen as counterparts to US garage bands, particularly in the subgenre known retrospectively as "freakbeat".

Beat music had emerged in Britain in the early 1960s, as musicians who had originally come together to play rock and roll or skiffle assimilated American rhythm and blues influences and adopted new forms of amplification. The genre provided the model for the format of many later rock groups, based around a lead singer with guitars and drums. Many groups formed to play this music in local establishments – the Liverpool area alone had a particularly high concentration of acts and venues. The Beatles emerged from this beat music boom, and their energetic approach served as a template for the formation of countless groups. Some bands developed a distinctively British blues style. Nationally popular beat and R&B groups included the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds from London, the Animals from Newcastle, and Them (featuring Van Morrison), from Belfast in Northern Ireland. From about 1965, bands such as the Who and the Small Faces tailored their appeal directly to the burgeoning mod subculture in London.

Particularly after the "British Invasion" of the US, musical cross-fertilization developed between the two continents. In their 1964 transatlantic hits "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night", the Kinks took the influence of the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie" and applied greater volume and distortion, which in turn, influenced the approach of many American garage bands. Their influence continued with several more hard-driving, yet increasingly despondent songs, such as "Where Have All the Good Times Gone", as well as "I'm Not Like Everybody Else", later covered by the Chocolate Watchband. The Pretty Things were known for their raw approach to blues-influenced rock, exhibited in songs such as "Midnight to Six Man", as well as "Don't Bring Me Down". The Downliners Sect were if anything even more brazen in their approach. Northern Ireland's Them, recorded two songs that were widely covered by American garage bands: "Gloria", which became a big hit for Chicago's the Shadows of Knight, and "I Can Only Give You Everything" which was covered by numerous American acts. The Wheels, who were also from Belfast, recorded the original version of "Bad Little Woman", which like Them's "Gloria" before it, was covered in 1966 by the Shadows of Knight.

The Troggs had a massive worldwide hit with "Wild Thing" (written by American Chip Taylor) in 1966. Extolling the virtues of their seemingly unrepentant primitivism and sexually charged innuendo, the Troggs were the British band that Lester Bangs singled out as perhaps the quintessential "punk" [i.e. garage] band of the 1960s. The Equals, a racially integrated band from North London featuring guitarist Eddy Grant, specialized in an upbeat style of rock; their 1966 recording "Baby Come Back" was a hit in Europe before becoming a British number one in 1968. In keeping with the popularity of blues-based rock and the onset of psychedelic music in the mid-1960s, some of the harder-driving and more obscure bands associated with the mod scene in the UK are sometimes retroactively referred to as Freakbeat, which is sometimes viewed as the more stylish British parallel to garage rock. Several bands often mentioned as Freakbeat are the Creation, the Action, the Move, the Smoke, the Sorrows, and Wimple Winch. Rhino Records' 2001 box-set compilation Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond, 1964–1969 contains many of the better-known songs performed by obscure British beat and freakbeat acts of this era.

Continental Europe

The beat boom swept through continental Europe, resulting in the emergence of numerous bands who played in styles sometimes cited as European variants of garage rock. The Netherlands had one of the largest scenes, sometimes retroactively described as Nederbeat. The Outsiders, from Amsterdam, featured Wally Tax on lead vocals, and recorded three albums and a string of singles which included songs such as "Thinkin' About Today" and "Lying all the Time". Q65 from the Hague recorded extensively and lasted well into the 1970s, waxing the invective "I Despise You" in 1966. Also from the Hague came the Golden Earrings, later to gain greater fame in the 1970s and 1980s as Golden Earring.

Having nurtured the Beatles' early development in Hamburg, Germany was well-positioned to play a key role as the beat craze overtook the Continent. Bands from Britain and around Europe traveled there to gain exposure, playing in clubs and appearing on popular German television shows such as Beat Club and Beat! Beat! Beat!. The Lords, founded in Düsseldorf in 1959, pre-dated the British Invasion by several years, but adapted their sound and look to reflect the influence of the British groups, even singing in English, but providing a comic twist to the proceedings. The Rattles, from Hamburg, also had a lengthy history, but were more serious in their approach. Even during the Franco regime there were numerous bands active in Spain, such as Los Bravos, who had a worldwide hit with "Black Is Black", and others such as los Cheyenes. The Trans World Punk Rave-Up series is devoted to covering 1960s garage rock and primitive beat music in continental Europe.

Latin America

Latin America had a significant amount of musical activity in the worldwide beat craze. And, Mexico was no exception, creating its own homegrown equivalent of American garage. The nation's proximity to the United States was detectable in the raw sounds being produced by a number of groups. Mexico had often absorbed American musical influences and trends, and embraced the British Invasion. One of Mexico's hottest acts were Los Dug Dug's, who recorded several albums and stayed active well into the 1970s.

The beat boom flourished in Uruguay during the mid-1960s in a period often referred to as the Uruguayan Invasion. Two of the best known acts were Los Shakers and Los Mockers. In Peru, los Saicos were one of the first bands to gain national prominence. Their 1965 song "¡Demolición!" with its humorously anarchistic lyrics was a huge hit in Peru and is today considered a protopunk classic. AllMusic, writing about Los Saicos, noted that "The guitars sound like nothing so much as fountains of sparks, the drums have a tribal post-surf throb, and the vocals are positively unhinged" and "These guys were a punk rock band, even if nobody outside Lima knew it at the time". Los Yorks became one of Peru's leading groups. Colombia had bands such Los Speakers from Bogata. Los Gatos Salvajes, who came from Rosario, Argentina, were one of the country's first beat groups, and two of their members went on to form Los Gatos, who became a popular act in Argentina during the late 1960s. The Los Nuggetz compilation series covers Latin American beat and garage rock of the 1960s.

Asia

The far East was not immune to the beat bug, and Japan was no exception, particularly after the Beatles' 1966 visit, when they played two shows at Tokyo's famed Budokan. The popular 1960s rock movement in Japan is often referred to as Group Sounds (or GS). The Spiders were one of the better-known groups. Other groups were the Golden Cups and the Tigers. Two compilations, GS I Love You: Japanese Garage Bands of the 1960s and its successor GS I Love You Too, feature Group Sounds songs from the period.

Despite famine, economic hardship, and political instability, India experienced its own proliferation of garage bands in the 1960s, even persisting into the beginning of the next decade, with the 1960s musical style intact, after it had fallen out of favor practically elsewhere else. The Beatles mid-1960s success made a major impact on India's youth and resulted in the formation of numerous groups. Bombay (now known as Mumbai), with its hotels, clubs, and nightlife, had a large beat group scene. The Jets, who were active from 1964 to 1966, were perhaps the first beat group to become popular there. Also popular in Bombay were the Trojans, featuring Biddu (full name Biddu Appaiah), originally from Bangalore, who later moved to London and become a solo act. Every year the annual Simla Beat Contest was held in Bombay by the Imperial Tobacco Company. Groups from all around India competed for first prize. The Simla Beat 70/71 compilation includes recordings of some of the bands who competed in 1970 and 1971.

Australia and New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand experienced a huge garage and beat explosion in the mid-1960s. The garage boom in those countries has been the subject of compilations such as Down Under Nuggets: Original Australian Artyfacts 1965–1967. Before the British Invasion hit, the land down under had enjoyed a sizable surf rock scene, with popular bands such as the Atlantics, who had several instrumental hits, as well as the Aztecs, and the Sunsets. In late 1963 and early 1964 British Invasion influence started permeating the music scenes there. June 1964 the Beatles made an historic visit to Australia and were greeted by a crowd of an estimated 300,000 in Adelaide.

In Australia, Sydney was the host to numerous acts during this time. Though the Atlantics had begun as an instrumental surf group, after the advent of the British Invasion, they brought in veteran singer Johnny Rebb, formerly with Johnny Rebb and His Rebels, to supply vocals on songs such as "Come On". Also from Sydney, the Easybeats became the most popular group in Australia during the mid-sixties. Most their pre-1967 songs were written by vocalist Stevie Wright and guitarist George Young, the older brother of Angus Young and Malcolm Young, later of AC/DC. In late 1966, they re-located to London and had a worldwide hit with "Friday on My Mind".

One of Sydney's most notorious acts was the Missing Links, who throughout 1965 managed to go through a complete and total lineup change between the release their first single in March and on the subsequent releases later that year, such as the brazenly primitivist anthems "Wild About You", as well as their self-titled LP. The Throb had a hit in Australia with their 1966 version of "Fortune Teller" but later that year released "Black", a brooding version of a traditional folk ballad noted for its expressionistic use of guitar feedback. The Black Diamonds cut the intensely overdriven "I Want, Need, Love You" in 1966. From Brisbane came the Pleazers and the Purple Hearts, and from Melbourne the Pink Finks, the Loved Ones, Steve and the Board, and the Moods. The Creatures were one of the more notorious groups of the period. The Masters Apprentices' early sound was largely R&B-influenced garage and psychedelic, and their career stretched into the 1970s.

From New Zealand, the Blue Stars cut the defiant "Social End Product", that with its line "I don't stand for the queen" aimed at social oppression and anticipated some of the anti-royalist sentiments of the Sex Pistols and other 1970s punk rock acts. Chants R&B were known for a raw R&B-influenced sound. The La De Das recorded a version of the Changin' Times' "How is the Air Up There?", which went to No. 4 on the nation's charts.

Historical and cultural associations

Throughout 1966, but particularly in the later months of the year, partly due to the growing influence of marijuana and other mind-expanding drugs such as LSD, many bands began to expand their sound, sometimes employing eastern scales and various sonic effects to achieve exotic and hypnotic soundscapes in their music. As the decade progressed, psychedelic influences became increasingly pervasive in much garage rock.

By the mid-1960s numerous garage rock bands began to employ tone-altering devices such as fuzzboxes on guitars often for the purpose of enhancing the music's sonic palate and adding an aggressive edge, using loudly amplified instruments to create a barrage of "clanging" sounds, often expressing anger and defiance. A certain sense of despondency and restlessness entered the psyche of the youth in the United States (and elsewhere), with a growing rise of alienation creeping into the collective mindset—even in the largely conservative suburban communities which produced so many garage bands. The garage bands, though generally apolitical, were nonetheless reflective of the tenor of the times. Nightly news reports entering living rooms across the country had an cumulative effect on the mass consciousness. Detectable in much of the music from this era is a combination of disparate emotions, particularly in light of President Kennedy's assassination and the ongoing of escalation of troops into Vietnam, yet often displayed an accompanying innocence.

In 1965, the influence of artists such as Bob Dylan, who had already superseded political protest by experimenting with surreal and abstract imagery, plugged in and went electric, became even more pervasive across the musical landscape, affecting a number of genres including garage rock. The members of garage bands, like so many musicians of the 1960s, were part of a generation that was largely born into the paradigm and customs of an older time, but that with the advent of television, nuclear weapons, civil rights, the Cold War, and space exploration, began to conceive, both individually and collectively, of a higher order of human relations and to reach for a set of transcendent ideals, sometimes experimenting with drugs, in a process that, while set to a backdrop of events that ultimately proved disillusioning, held for a time great promise in the minds of many. While testing the previously uncharted frontiers of what the new world had to offer, 1960s youth ultimately had to accept the limitations of living in the new reality which was for some a painful "crash course" in history, yet often did so while experiencing the ecstasy of a difficult but apparently exalted moment when the realm of the infinite seemed somehow possible and within reach.

Garage-based psychedelic/acid rock

Tapping into the psychedelic zeitgeist of the times, musicians found ways to push boundaries and explore new horizons. Garage acts, while generally lacking the budgetary means to produce musical extravaganzas on the scale of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or the instrumental virtuosity of acts such as Jimi Hendrix or Cream, nonetheless managed to combine esoteric elements with basic primitive rock. The 13th Floor Elevators from Austin, Texas, led by Roky Erickson infused their garage sound with psychedelic impulses, and are usually thought of as the first band to use the term "psychedelic" in their promotional literature with the phrase "psychedelic rock" appearing on their business card as early as January 1966. The band used the term in the title of their debut album released in November, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. The album featured the track "You're Gonna Miss Me", a regional hit for the band. In August 1966, the Deep, a group of musicians assembled and led by Rusty Evans, traveled from New York to Philadelphia to record a set of hallucinogenic songs for the album, Psychedelic Moods: A Mind-Expanding Phenomena released in October 1966, one month before the 13th Floor Elevators' debut LP, and whose all-night sessions produced mind-expanding stream of consciousness ramblings.

The Electric Prunes were one of the more successful garage bands to incorporate psychedelia into their sound. Under supervision of producer and recording engineer, David Hassinger, who helped them tailor psychedelic soundscapes, such as in the massive hit with "I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)", whose opening featured a buzzing fuzz-toned guitar. The Chocolate Watchband were another notable group to integrate garage rock with psychedelia. The Blues Magoos came from the Bronx and had a breakout hit in 1966 with "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet". Strawberry Alarm Clock emerged from the ashes of garage outfit Thee Sixpence, and hadd a No. 1 hit in 1967 with "Incense and Peppermints". The Third Bardo, from New York City, released the 1967 single "I'm Five Years Ahead of My Time", praised by many record collectors as one of the greatest psychedelic/garage songs.

Primitivist avant-garde acts

Certain acts conveyed a world view perceptibly removed from the implicit innocence of much psychedelia and suburban-style garage, often infusing their work with subversive political and/or philosophical messages, dabbling in concepts then considered radical such as nihilism and new left ideology. Stylistically, such artists shared certain characteristics with the garage bands in their use of primitivistic instrumentation and arrangements, while displaying psychedelic rock's affinity for exploration—essentially creating a more urbanized, intellectual, and avant garde version of garage rock.

New York City was the home to several such groups. The Fugs, who formed in 1963, were one of rock's first experimental bands and its core members were singer, poet, and social activist, Ed Sanders, along with Tuli Kupferberg, and Ken Weaver. They specialized in a satirical mixture of amateurish garage rock, jug, folk, and psychedelic laced with political commentary, as on their 1965 debut, The Fugs First Album, and their self-titled second album.

The Velvet Underground, whose best-known lineup consisted of Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Moe Tucker, are now generally considered to be the foremost experimental rock group of this period. At the time of recording their first album, they were involved with Andy Warhol, who produced some its tracks, and his assemblage of "scenesters" at the Factory, including model-turned-singer Nico. She briefly accompanied them on the resulting album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. The album's lyrics, though generally apolitical, depict the world of hard drugs in songs such as "I'm Waiting for the Man" and "Heroin", and other topics considered taboo at the time. Their follow up, White Light/White Heat, saw the group stretching even further into the experimental realm, but after John Cale's subsequent departure from the group, they began to move into a less avant garde direction on their next two albums. Outside of New York were the Monks from Germany, whose members were American and former US servicemen who chose to remain in Germany, where in 1965 they developed an experimental sound on their album Black Monk Time. The group, who sometimes wore habits and partially shaven tonsures, specialized in a style featuring chanting and hypnotic percussion.

Decline

In the wake of psychedelia, as rock music became increasingly sophisticated, garage rock began to decline in popularity. Though scores of garage bands had been signed to regional and major labels during 1963–1968, most failed to achieve national success. For instance, "Going All the Way" by the Squires was issued on a national label under Atco and is now regarded as a genre classic, but was not a hit anywhere. It is generally agreed that garage rock peaked both commercially and artistically around 1966. In the wake of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club and other late-1960s big-production spectaculars, rock albums became increasingly elaborate and were expected to display maturity, complexity, and sophistication, while the 45-inch single ceded to the long-play album as the preferred medium.

Progressive album-oriented FM stations eventually overtook AM radio in popularity, and as the large major-label record companies became more powerful and less willing to sign new acts, the once plentiful "mom and pop" independent labels of the mid-1960s began to fold. Teen clubs that had served as reliable and steady venues for young groups began to close their doors. The garage sound disappeared at both the national and local level as amateur musicians faced college, work or the Vietnam War draft. New styles had either evolved out of garage rock or replaced it, such as psychedelic rock, acid rock, progressive rock, heavy metal, country rock, and bubblegum. By the end of 1968 the style had largely disappeared from the national charts.

Garage-based proto-punk 1969–1974

The garage rock boom fizzled out at the end 1960s, but a handful of maverick acts, carried its torch into the next decade, seizing on its rougher edges, but brandishing them with increased audacity while employing a more aggressive approach to the form. Such acts, often retroactively described as "proto-punk" worked in a variety of rock genres and came from disparate locations, notably Michigan, where in the wake of the mid-1960s garage scene, emerged a handful of hard-rocking bands that specialized in a style that was heavy, yet energetic and primitive, in contrast to the more sophisticated rock sounds coming out at the time, which often relied on long instrumental soloing and jams.

In January 1969, MC5 released Kick Out the Jams, recorded live in 1968, which showcased their high-voltage firebrand rock. In August that year, the Stooges, fronted by Iggy Pop from Ann Arbor, premiered with their self-titled debut album. They recorded their 1970 follow-up, Funhouse, and in 1973 Iggy Pop reunited with the Stooges (now billed as Iggy & the Stooges) to record, Raw Power, which began with the cathartic anthem, "Search and Destroy". Also from Ann Arbor came, the Up, who lived with the members of MC5 in John Sinclair's commune and recorded songs such as "Like an Aborigine". The Alice Cooper band relocated to their home town, Detroit, where they began to gain success with a new "shock rock" image, and recorded 1971's Love It to Death, which featured their breakout hit "I'm Eighteen".

In the waning days of the Detroit scene, a group called the Punks recorded a batch of songs, including "My Time's Comin'" and "Drop Dead", that display a thrashing sound indicative of later punk and hardcore, which was posthumously released on their 2003 anthology The Most Powerful Music on Earth. In 1974, Death, made up of brothers David, Bobby, and Dannis Hackney, who were African American, recorded a series of demos in their home rehearsal space and went to Detroit's United Sound Studios to record seven tracks to an album that remained unreleased for over 30 years, ...For the Whole World to See.

In Boston, the Modern Lovers, led by Velvet Underground devotee Jonathan Richman, gained attention with their minimalistic style. In 1974, an updated garage rock scene began to coalesce around the newly opened Rathskeller club in Kenmore Square. The Real Kids were founded founded by former Modern Lover John Felice Between 1969 and 1974, there were other movements further removed from the American garage rock tradition, such as Glam and pub rock in Great Britain, as well as Krautrock in Germany, that nonetheless displayed hallmarks of proto-punk and had an influence on the mid-late 1970s punk movement.

Emergence of punk aesthetic and movement 1975-1978

Critical identification of garage rock by certain critics in the early 1970s (and their use of the term "punk rock" to describe it), as well as the 1972 Nuggets compilation exerted a marked degree of influence on the subsequent punk movement of the mid-to-late 1970s. As a result of the popularity of Nuggets, and critical attention being paid to primitive-sounding rock of past and present, a self-conscious musical aesthetic began to emerge around the term, "punk", that, with the eventual arrival of the New York and London scenes, grew into a subculture, having its own look, iconography, identity, and values. Iggy and the Stooges and others of their generation carried garage rock and protopunk into the early 1970s.

But the mid- to late-1970s saw the arrival of the bands most often viewed as the quintessential punk rock acts, most notably the Ramones, from New York, some of whose members had played in 1960s garage bands, and who are usually considered the first punk band as the term is now commonly understood, followed by the Sex Pistols, from London, who struck an even more defiant pose and effectively herald the arrival punk as a cause célèbre in the larger public mind. Both bands spearheaded the popular movement from their two respective locations. Though garage rock and protopunk influenced many of the bands from the New York and London scenes of this period, punk rock now emerged as a movement with a subculture all of its own, and the garage band era of the 1960s came to be viewed as a distant forerunner.

Revivalist and hybrid movements 1980-present

Garage rock has experienced various revivals in the ensuing years and continues to influence numerous modern acts who prefer a "back to basics" and "do it yourself" musical approach. The earliest group to attempt to revive the sound of 1960s garage was the Droogs, from Los Angeles, who formed in 1972 and pre-dated many of the revival acts of the 1980s. In the early 1980s, revival scenes linked to the underground music movements of the period sprung up in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and elsewhere, with acts such as the Chesterfield Kings, the Fuzztones, the Pandoras, and the Lyres earnestly attempting to replicate the sound and look of the 1960s garage bands. This trend fed in into the alternative rock movement and future grunge explosion, which embraced influenceces by 1960s garage bands such as the Sonics and the Wailers.

Out of the garage revival, a more aggressive form of garage rock, known as garage punk emerged in the late 1980s, which differed from the "retro" revival, in that its acts did not attempt to replicate the exact look and sound of 1960s groups, and their overall approach tended to be louder, often infusing garage rock with elements of Stooges-era protopunk, 1970s punk rock, and other influences, creating a new hybrid. Several notable garage punk bands were the Gories, thee Mighty Caesars, the Mummies and thee Headcoats. Garage punk and revival acts persisted into the 1990s and the new millennium, with independent record labels releasing records by bands playing fast-paced, lo-fi music. Some of the more prolific independent labels include Estrus, Get Hip, Bomp!, and Sympathy for the Record Industry.

In the early 2000s, a garage rock or post-punk revival achieved the airplay and commercial success that had eluded garage rock bands of the past. This was led by four bands: the Strokes of New York City, the Hives of Fagersta, Sweden, the Vines of Sydney, and the White Stripes from Detroit, Michigan, christened by the media as the The bands, or "The saviours of rock 'n' roll". Other products of the Detroit rock scene included; the Von Bondies, Electric 6, the Dirtbombs, the Detroit Cobras, and Rock 455 Elsewhere, other acts such as Billy Childish and the Buff Medways from Chatham, England, the (International) Noise Conspiracy from Umeå, Sweden, and Jay Reatard and the Oblivians from Memphis, US enjoyed moderate underground success and appeal. Out of Japan came Guitar Wolf from Nagasaki and the 5.6.7.8's from Tokyo. A second wave of bands that managed to gain international recognition as a result of the movement included the Black Keys, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Death from Above 1979, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Killers, Interpol, and Kings of Leon from the US, the Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, the Editors, and Franz Ferdinand from the UK, Jet from Australia, and the Datsuns and the D4 from New Zealand.

The mid-2000s saw several underground bands achieve a certain level of mainstream prominence. Artists such as Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Black Lips and Jay Reatard, who initially released their records on traditionally garage punk labels such as In the Red Records, began signing to larger, more well-known independent labels. Several bands followed them in signing to larger labels such as Rough Trade and Drag City.