Sonic Boom, The History Of Northwest Rock From "Louie Louie" to "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

True, I usually write about the more progressive or esoteric corners of musical obscuria, but don't pigeonhole me! I do love me a good and simple three chord anthem.  I've just finished reading Peter Blecha's new book Sonic Boom, The History of Northwest Rock, from "Louie Louie" to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and I'm jonesing to dig through my attic to find all my old "Garage Punk Unknowns", "Back From The Grave", "Teenage Shutdowns" and other similar comps.  The book, which focuses almost entirely on the inception of rock through the mid 60s, does a great job of making sense of the complicated scene that brought about greats like The Sonics (whose incredible second record, Boom, is the source of the book title), The Wailers, The Ventures, Paul Revere and the Raiders and, most famously, the Kingsmen.  And, perfect for FMU fans, all of the obscure, short lived bands and the hits that never were are documented in passionate detail. 

Peter Blecha attacks history from numerous angles.  He covers the racial impact of rock and roll.  He's got insider information on the publicists and marketers who made the deals that made the hits.  He's got behind the scene anecdotes from the bands.  For instance, in one of many sections on the Kingsmen's famous recording of "Louie, Louie", Blecha reveals that during the first take, the band's manager physically forced the recording engineer out of the studio.  During the second (and final) take, The Kingsmen did not even know that they were recording a final take.  They just thought they were running through the song for practice!  After hearing the playback, which The Kingsmen thought was absolute crap, the manager demanded that the band pay studio fees - when the band couldn't pay, one of their moms fronted the fifty bucks!  A good investment on her part, I must say...

The book doesn't have much coverage even of the late 60s - the way Blecha treats the subject, the late 60s were a time of decline rather than explosive growth.  As easy as it is to see where Blecha's allegiances lie, there's not much reason to discount his taste.  Sonic Boom is a par none document of the murky, little known events that bred one of rock and roll's strongest regional sounds.

Comments

[Andrew]

Sold. I just ordered it from Amazon. Thanks for the info.

[mIKES]

R.I.P. - Bob Bogle - Trashmen

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/arts/music/17bogle.html?_r=1&hpw

[charlie]

i read this book too, fun stuff until the 80's, then this guy clearly doesnt know what he is talking about

[charlie]

i should say early 90's

[john]

See also: Loser
http://www.amazon.com/Loser-Seattle-Music-Updated-Second/dp/1929069243

[eric]

I hate how they incorporate grunge into the garage category.The Loser book never mentioned Back from the Grave(which should have it's own book!) but they do mention Supercharger,which is just ridiculous in my opinion(connected to grunge)

[Rev. Syung Myung Me]

Boom's the second album -- the first is "Here Come The Sonics!"...

[Larry In Seattle]

Pity not much is said for Olympia (the capitol of WA), the one town the major record conglomerates could NOT break. The DIY spirit is still very thick there. As well as to some degree, Bellingham, WA some 80 miles to the north (original home of Death Cab For Cutie and The Posies.) Olympia is mostly pure raw punk (Bikini Kill, Some Velvet Sidewalk, probably the only "hit" maker of that scene with their song "Mousetrap" being used in MTV's Jackass The Movie) whereas the Bellingham sound sounds more influenced by Big Star and even Fairport Convention, which probably made Bellingham more accessible to the majors. But not by much.

Both towns today have far more vibrant local music scenes than Seattle by a long shot......

[calzone45]

I do hope that the fabulous Wailers are well represented in this tome!

[joe 12-pk]

The Reverend's right: "Boom!" is the second Sonics record, but the first one is actually called "HERE ARE THE SONICS!!!"

Also, listen carefully to the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie"...Famous for the controversy and subsequent FBI investigation following rumors of profane lyrics (no one in the Bureau thought to track down a more intelligible version for comparison-- the Wailers version, for example, or better still, the version by Richard Berry, the song's author), the song actually does contain one profanity: fifty-four seconds in, in the space between a chorus and the 2nd verse, you can hear the drummer drop the F-bomb...apparently he hit a rim.

Curious if this is mentioned in the book, since I only heard about after a good friend of mine interviewed some of these guys (Kingsmen, Raiders, Wailers, etc.) for a thesis. If it isn't mentioned, it may be for the same reason I hestitate to mention it even here-- the fear that some do-gooder will get wind of it and try to "fix it", thus totally ruining it.

[James]

Joe --

Dave Marsh wrote a book on the history of "Louie Louie," and I'm pretty sure he mentions the f-bomb (and singer Jack Ely starting a measure too early before stopping himself on the last verse) in the book.

[John Hodgson]

It's always interesting that the myth of northwest music has it all happening in Seattle. the Sonics are from Tacoma,Wa. As are The Ventures. In fact, in the eighties, after Gorilla Gardens was closed, The Community World Theatre in Tacoma was one of the only punk clubs to play. Even today, Tacoma has some of the most exciting bands around.