I agree: less is more.

I would, if I were setting up a "garage punk hall of infamy", stick to the bands that were the raunchiest, most subversive, and notorious (in both sound, appearance, and/or demeanor).

LOL! oh man, sounds complicated. let's not take this too seriously, 'k?

Ken said:

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.

I DON'T THINK ANYONE WOULD THINK IT MALICIOUS OF YA. I INTERVIEWED CHRIS BRITTON FROM THE TROGGS. HE SAID THE DRAG PART OF DOING CABARET (OLDIES SHOWS , TO MY  COUNTRYMEN.) WAS  ''THE " BLUE RINSE BRIGADE" THAT COME TO SEE GERRY MARSDEN , AND PILE ALL THEIR WALKERS AND ZIMMER FRAMES LIKE SO MUCH SCAFFOLDING IN FRONT OF THE FIRE EXITS ''. I KNEW WHAT HE MEANT , BUT , WE DON'T SAY "ZIMMER FRAME" IN THE STATES , SO IT WENT OVER MY HEAD FOR A MINUTE.
 
Mike Humsgreen said:

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

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?

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.

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

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.

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?

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.).

I found a record called 'Real Cool Time' which is a comp of great Swedish garage punk bands some of which sounds like the music the kid is playing on his cassette playing in 'Let the Right One In'

i know they were already mentioned, but everything the Heartattacks put out rules. By far one of my favourite Garage Punk bands of the 00's.

Awesome selection.

Daniel M said:

L7 "Fast and Frighting"

Do you know where I can find this song? I haven't had any luck.

melissa scott said:

"The Girl of My Dreams" (is giving me nightmares) by Machine Gun Fellatio. Not a garagepunk song, but MGF isn't easy to categorise, besides just being bloody good fun.

L7 "Fast and Frighting"

Los York's "vete al infierno"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud0VW2yXvgw

No time to translate the whole lyrics but the chorus says:

" I want you to go to hell" (Referring to his girl. A very cold and troublesome one).

Cheers.

iT'S PRETTY F'IN GOOD.

Alison said:

I think the best biker song is "Leader of the Pack."

I gotta' throw the Mummies as #1....they even had that kick ass ambulance.  Cross town fiends/rivals the Rip Offs were great as well!  "Got A Record" is still one of the best album covers.

The Velvet Tinmine comp was mentioned on the first page. Did anyone post this yet:

BRIARD, yeah. Miss World CD with bonus track is really good. Better than Pelle. They re-pressed a Briard 45 too. All Finnish imports though Im afraid. 
John Battles said:

Thank , Thank , Thank , Thank you Duke , Duke Duke , Duke of Earl...

There's a short interview with  Brett Smiley , by Greg Prevost , in the new Ugly Things....I did'nt know his proposed album was finally released in '03. I thought he was dead , but , then I found out he's still in NYC , PERFORMING WHEN HE'S PHYSICALLY ABLE (HE HAS HIV , BUT , NOT FULL BLOWN AIDS) ..... Well , of course , "Schlong Rock" would have to start with Black Oak Arkansas , then Iggy Pop , in general ,and , well , I don't go around lookin' at 'em too much , to tell the truth. GPH member and Battlefraynt , James Porter , interviewed Syl Sylvain , and had the nuts to ask him "Did you and Johnny stuff for that picture onthe backof the first Dolls ALBUM?" , TO WHICH HE REPLIED "DID WE STUFF?! JOHNNY WAS ITALIAN , AND I'M JEWISH ! OF COURSE WE DID'NT STUFF !!!". THERE YA GO.  Syl also told me a cop confronted Johnny , because he was wearing that same red leather suit in that photo. The Policeman thought Johnny had a bag of POT down his pants, when he saw the lengthy protrusion , and demanded that he take his pants off . "AH AIN'T GAAHHT NO UNDAWEAH !!!" , PROTESTED THUNDERS. THE COP SAID , DROP 'EM , JUST THE SAME . AND BOY , WAS HE SORRY HE DID ! He probably can't even look at the elephants in the zoo , anymore .

Briard? was that Andy and Michael Monroe's early band? I heard they were great , bu t, I've never actually heard them

 
Duke Of Earl said:

Schlong rock, hahah. It be neat if anyone could comprise a list of top10 schlongrock bands, and also the defining qualities seperating "butt" from said "schlong"rock genre.

Glad Im reminded that blackie lawless was in Kane band. Might have forgot about that one. Wasp was definately schlong-metal Id say.

You sure have a brilliant mind for details John. I enjoy reading your posts. Apparently Peter Frampton was the guitarist on Jobriaths debut I read. Funny to see the Jobriath vids. Cracks me up. I kinda liked Jobriath though. Damn entertaining. 

What are the best underated/unknown UK Glam acts. All kinds sprang up in the mid 70s. Im curious to find more Brett Smiley material, like how do you get the tune cherry hookers. I also wonder about his band vice.

Andy Mccoy s band briard I thought was a punk gem as well. Tuff to the songs from the other finnish album he did pre-hanoi. Still searching it out(no home internet which which makes this quite the task) .Theres some fuzzy youtube vids though.

 
John Battles said:

 i WAS THINKING THE SAME THING....Not Metal , but Hard Rock. I'm certainly not a fan (Tho' David Lee's book is HILARIOUS.), But , I'd never call them Glam
.... Glam was over by the time VH's first LP came out (Early '78?). Whoever was still around from that era had moved on to other things , or reworked their sound , drastically ( "Love is Like Oxygen " , while a good song , is miles removed from "Hellraiser" or 'Ballroom Blitz". Of course , David Lee Roth got his schtick from Jim Dandy , so maybe , instead of , or along with , "Butt Rock" , we should call it "Schlong ROCK"..

Joanie Lindstrom said:

Not at all IMHO.  I'd say hard rock.

I heard 2 pelle albums but never the one with Andy Mccoy. Apparently they were finnish only releases. 
 
The Fnords said:

Pelle Miljoona was Andy McCoy's best-known pre-Hanoi Rocks band; I've none of their records though. D.

That's about what I have to say on the matter. Pleasant Dreams.... and Subterranean Jungle. Hmm, Too Tough to Die also. I was introduced to the Ramones via Road to Ruin my sophomore year in high school (1978?) then worked back thru the previous three. I kept up thru Animal Boy before I started spending my money on beer instead of records. 

Fuzzmeister said:

Pleasant Dreams. Simply because it was full of great songs!

HA HA HA HA ! "Cop Killer" ! THAT'S HILARIOUS ! "My name is Dee Dee King , I'm gonna dust off some cops...." Maybe not if I'd BEEN there, tho'.    I remember him doing great versions of "Dust My Broom" and "Ace of Spades"the second time I saw him , plus a ravin' "I Just Wanna Make Love To You" as per The Stones' version.
 
Rev. Norb said:

I mean...they were pretty out of it. They did covers of like "Cop Killer" and "Ace of Spades" and "Dust My Broom." It was just weird. 

John Battles said:

Rev. Norb , Now I get you. At first , I did'nt know who you meant . I did'nt know you were in Boris The Sprinkler , then , it dawned on me , you might have been.....

I DON'T DOUBT THEY DID SOME TERRIBLE SHOWS. IT MIGHT HAVE DEPENDED ON WHAT SUBSTANCES , AND HOW MUCH. BUT , BOTH SHOWS I SAW WERE GREAT. IT WAS BEFORE THE PUNK REVIVAL HAPPENED A COUPLE OF YEARS LATER. MOST PEOPLE COULD'NT HAVE CARED LESS ABOUT THE 70'S PUNK STUFF. THE DICTATORS HAD PLAYED THE SAME VENUE TO ABOUT 150 PEOPLE , MAYBE LESS. BUT DDRand The CDs kicked out The Ramones/Heartbreakers jams , with a hint of VERY early Stones when I saw 'em.

I met Dee Dee , briefly , he was very nice , and very funny.....A friend of mine saw him try to change a C-note at a Qwick- E -  Mart.

 
Rev. Norb said:

Dee Dee's band. We were ok i guess.

John Battles said:

Do you mean Boris The Sprinkler or Dee Dee's band?
 
Rev. Norb said:

Boris The Sprinkler's first-ever show was with Dee Dee Ramone and the Chinese Dragons. They were godawful.

It just so happens that Halloween is my favorite day of the year, and that I wrote and recorded a Halloween song not long ago.

"that Hall of Fame is a piss stain"

-Sex Pistols letter to Cleveland Museum of Rock and Roll

http://stereogum.com/img/sexpistols_hof.jpg

.....I'm too lazy to find it , but , I know , somewhere , I said Gary sang a total of two songs in America (R&R Pt.s 1 and 2 , of course , and I'm The Leader of The Gang ( I Am) at the "Soccer Rocks The Globe" show , when The World Cup was held in Chicago , in '92 , I believe.) , but , I just remembered he did the umpteenth "Quadrophenia'' tour with The Who , Billy Idol and Zak Starkey, in '96 (?), as "The Godfather". I'm sure a LOT of people in the audience did'nt know who he was.....