About Garage Rock

"Garage rock" is a raw form of rock and roll that enjoyed its original period of wide success in the United States, where it originated and Canada from 1963 to 1967.

The style had been evolving from regional scenes in the USA as far back as 1959. “Dirty Robber” by the Wailers, from Tacoma, Wash., is often cited as the first “garage rock” song. Aside from the Wailers, in these early years very few American bands could truly be called garage artists. The Rumblers, from Downey, Calif., came close in 1962 with their grungy take on surf music with “I Don’t Need You No More” released on Dot (a national label). Some have cited Link Wray's "Rumble" from 1958 as a precursor to both garage rock and heavy metal.

In 1963 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 (Portland), The Trashmen (Minneapolis) and the Rivieras (South Bend, Ind.). This was before the Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show (February 9, 1964), which mitigates somewhat the theory that the British Invasion was solely responsible for the emergence of garage bands.

Nevertheless, 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 amateurish, bands to form. Most garage rock bands were more influenced by those British bands with a harder, blues-based attack, such as 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.

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 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 "1960's 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.

"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 best songs of the genre conveyed great passion and energy. 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 "Psychotic Reaction" by The Count 5 (1966), "Pushin' Too Hard" by The Seeds (1966), "Gloria" by the Shadows of Knight (1966), "96 Tears" by Question Mark and the Mysterians (1966), "Talk Talk" by The Music Machine (1966), "Louie, Louie" by The Kingsmen (1963-64), and "Dirty Water" by The Standells (1966).

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). 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.

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.

Record collectors began to document this music beginning in 1970 as first reported in Greg Shaw’s Bomp! Magazine. In 1972, rock critic Lenny Kaye assembled a collection of some of the more commercially successful songs of the era on a compilation LP called “Nuggets.” This record, with decent record sales, reacquainted many of these mid-sixties bands to the attention of collectors and mainstream rock fans for the first time. It also helped to coalesce an identity for the genre.

In the later 1970s and early 1980s, compilation LPs surfaced which more deeply explored the extent of garage rock than Nuggets ever did. These records became widely known to record collectors. The better of these are the Pebbles, Boulders and Back from the Grave series. Largely because of the success of these compilations beginning in the late 1970s a full-scale revival of the music occurred. This revival peaked around 1987, but the garage rock revival continues into the present, and has helped influenced a similar form of music, garage punk.