1960s Garage Band Goodies: Barry and The Remains, The Barbarians, Seeds, Standells, and Shadows of Knight

The other day I was thinking of how long it had been since I heard Don't Look Back, the 1960s classic by Boston's Barry and the Remains, one of my favorite 1960s  garage bands.

Good Lord! Are they clean-cut or what?

God bless YouTube!

I then thought about some of the other garage bands I loved and found some gems.

Remember Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl? by The Barbarians? They were from Cape Cod and I actually saw them perform there. One of their 'hooks' (pardon the pun) was one-armed drummer Victor "Moulty" Moulton who used a hook on his left arm, having lost part of it in an explosion at age 14. His accomplishment in overcoming his disability was recalled in the humorous song Moulty. The Barbarians had their 15 minutes of fame when they appeared in the T.A.M.I. Show.

How about The Standells? From LA, singing about Boston, with the raunchy (remember, this was 1966!) Dirty Water:

I can't forget Chicagoland's Shadows of Knight and their cover of Them's (Van Morrison's group) classic, Gloria. That song meant something to me at the time (1966) becau se I had just returned from three weeks in Puerto Rico and was smitten with a girl named Gloria del Carmen Rodriguez I'd met there.

I'd add Cleveland's The Outsiders (and many others) but time won't let me. Oh, yeah, and SoCal's The Seeds, but that would be pushin' too hard.

Years ago I remember reading an article about Seeds' founder Sky Saxon (aka Richard Marsh). At the time he was living in a commune and worshipping dogs, since 'dog' is 'god' spelled backwards - in English, anyway. One trip too many, Sky. He died in June 2009.

Too many garage bands, too little time! Brings back those WCWM memories.

Some more later. And those meaningful lyrics...

"You're either a girl or you come from Liverpool" - Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?

"I can't believe how many memories I'd forgotten." -- Yogi Berra, upon returning to his childhood home in St. Louis
 

Comments

[Michael]

Hi, Gayle.

Oh, yeah! Next to the all-night shift on SiriusXM or a clear-channel 50,000 watt AM station, that's the gig I want!

[Gayle]

This post qualifies you to host the late-night infomercial for the surely-coming-soon Time Life music collection!