Well that's a smart and hearty answer and good reasoning behind a Swamp Rats answer than just blurting out "SWAMP RATS" with out regard to the premise(?). I love their version of "Psycho" but "Louie Louie" kind of left me cold good as it is.
Ryan Hatt said:
I agree with the Swamp Rats voters which, yes Rod, means that technically I vote for The Sonics but let me explain why I think that's not exactly true. Until late middle school I wasn't allowed to listen to much more than what the "oldies" stations were playing in LA, which means that the Kingsmen version was the first rendition of Louie Louie I ever heard and I always thought it was just ok. While in college a couple of years back with (forgive me) absolutely no knowledge of The Sonics I picked up one of the Back From The Grave comps and was completely blown away by The Swamp Rats doing their Sonics cover. We're talking constant repeat, nearly wrecking my car because I was rocking while driving sort of stuff. I did the research and learned it was their version of The Sonics arrangement so I went to check out The Sonics and was utterly disappointed by just how toned down and "Ed Sullivan" their version felt comparatively. Sorry. I think The Sonics have the better arrangement, but, like some of Dylan's work, I don't think they utilized its potential.