Yeah well perhaps I souldn't have used the word 'originals'. There are no originals, there's always something that's come before! See for example this page about Misirlou: http://www.dinosaurgardens.com/archives/297. There was even a better one with videos embedded that I found some months ago but I can't find it any longer.
The legacy of the Rivingtons is huge. Papa-Oo-Mow-Mow (or Mama-Oo-Mow-Mow which is even better) and The Bird's the Word have inspired hundreds of fantastic songs, some of them little known like Surfin' Bird by Wade Curtiss or Papa-Oo-Mao-Mao by the Deviants.
But what I like is suddenly discovering that a song I was so familiar with had in fact an 'oroginal'. For example, I was so delighted when I finally got to hear the 'original' version of Tainted Love (Gloria Jones) or I Want Candy by the Strangeloves and not Bow-Wow-Wow...