
As many of you may know, in addition to our prides and joys, The Ripple Effect and Ripple Radio, we also run a site over at last.fm and a fun-filled, ball-of-fun group, From The Garage. Over at FTG, we celebrate all things garage rock, from the punky and scuzzy to the glammy and rocky. Most recently, in addition to our normal run of group discussions, we're in the final Round of our second annual Battle of the Bands. The finalists: The Cramps vs The Mummies in a heated battle, the winner of which will take on last year's champ, The Sonics.
In the spirit of that epic Battle, we're presenting a brief Battle of our own between two garage rock Giants. Sit on back at ringside, toss back your brew, place your bets and get ready to rumble.
And now folks, it’s time for our main event. Brought to you by The Ripple Effect and fully licensed in the state of California, tonight’s headline bout features a battle of the garage rock pioneers. In one corner, coming from L.A., featuring the heavy weight songwriting of Sky Saxon, we have the neo-psychedelic fuzz of The Seeds. In the other corner, from the rain-soaked garages of Tacoma, Washington, we got the five-piece underground legends, The Sonics. It’s time to bring these two Garage Heavyweights into the center of the ring, stand em up toe-to-toe and let ‘em have at it. Since production on all these early garage classics usually left a lot to be desired, it will be ignored for our fight tonight. Instead, our judges will rate the fight on a four point scale, giving one point each for: Creativity; Urgency, Musicianship, and Heaviness. May the best band win.


So, how do our judges call the match? For Creativity, the nod has to go to The Seeds. When The Sonics wanted to crush out an original, it was pretty fucking impressive, but with only 4 originals on the original version of the album, it hardly compares to the productivity of Sky Saxon’s 17 songs. True, not all Saxon’s songs were that original, recycling his own arrangements, but then, The Sonics were pretty simple themselves, straight-forward, 50’s soul-fired rock and roll. Edge; The Seeds.
For Urgency, there’s no dispute. The Sonics literally blow the doors off the garage with this beast. This was everything punk would become, minus the safety pins and Mohawks. Edge; The Sonics. As far as musicianship goes, we got another non-contest. Search hard for a drum fill on The Seeds album, really hard. You’ll find one, somewhere, but in the meantime, The Sonics will have pounded a battering of garbage cans down your throat, thrown in a couple of guitar solos and screamed like a wild man the whole time. Edge: The Sonics. And finally, I think the question of heaviness has already been answered. At times The Seeds can get a little dark and disquieting, like the nasty, tasty organ riff on “Girl I Want You,” but too much of the cutesiness of flower pop rears its head to make the album a plower. The Sonics, on the other hand, must have scared the shit out of every kid who’d mistakenly played their disc instead of Introducing Herman’s Hermits, or Sounds Like the Searchers. God bless em, the edge here goes to The Sonics
So as the ring announcer steps to the center of the ring, we get the final call of the judges’ tally. The Seeds put up a good fight, but in the end, The Sonics are still the undisputed champs.
This whole piece was written in the spirit of fun, with respect to both bands and musicians and a special nod of respect to the recently departed Sky Saxon. R.I.P. Sky. Thanks for all the great memories.
--Racer
Comments
I have to agree with you and award the overall title to The Sonics. I always considered them the missing link between Link Wray and Motorhead.