In The Past: Garage Rock Podcast

Prepare yourself for a feast! The main course is “Pork and Gravy”, a delightful delicacy from the De-Los , a wild doo-wop number from 1958 that features a tale of loss and vengeance that is worthy of epic poetry (1:37). You’ll need something to sop up the sauce, so we’re putting some “Bread and Butter,” prepared by The Newbeats on your plate (38:38). Wash the entrée and appies down with some “Kick...

Episode 35 comes alive with a feature on the garage rock nugget, "Bloodhound," originally laid down in 1961 by the shaggy dog himself, Larry Bright (1:48). We spend some time scrutinizing his slick guitar work, evoking burly session musicians making puppy sounds in the studio, and contemplating the place of meanness in garage rock lyrics. The second in the litter is Downliners Sect , who...

The latest episode expounds on a classic Ellie Greenwich-penned ditty from 1963. Exhibit A is the original "Do Wah Diddy" by The Exciters , who really should have an exclamation point after their name (2:05). These three gals and a guy journey from Jamaica, Queens to the Brill Building and beat us all over the head with beatitude! We get breathless over the song's antiphonal aspects...

This week we’re gabbing about the 1961 classic, “There’s No Other Like My Baby.” The original version by the Crystals is the first on our dance card (@1:22), so do like us & let Barbara Alston and those other Brooklyn gals in prom dresses lead you into the ballroom of great 1960s music, with soaring singing and Phil Spector’s swelling strings starting things off soft & somber (& keep y...

In Episode 32, you’re going to “Louie Louie” University!! This is our wildest and most comprehensive podcast yet, full of Hot Takes! Wild Theories!! New Terminology!!! and Revisionist History!!!! We trace the song's journey from a Cuban cha-cha-cha tune to Richard Berry and the Pharaohs ' transformation of the groove into a doo-wop number about a sailor, with Godoy Colbert’s delightfully...

Episode 31 contemplates the conundrum expressed in T he Troggs ' 1966 hit, "I Can't Control Myself." Reg Presley and the boys find some flakes of the same fairy dust they sprinkled over their former hit, "Wild Thing" and, like all discussion of the band, our talk drifts towards the topics of minimalism and negative space in their work (2:00). Big Maybelle had a fling...

Springtime is a time of fecundity & increase, so your hosts celebrate the season by throwing a bonus episode, from a bonus series, with a bonus song at ya!!! "It Ain't Me, Bob" looks at Bob Dylan soundalike songs, from the garage and beyond! We commence the series with Dylan's home-state mates The Trashmen , and their 1966 track "Same Lines" (1:50). Is it a protes...

One frigid night in late January, our two intrepid hosts recorded three episodes back-to-back, in an experiment public health officials have described as both “insane” and “totally wicked rad."  All three shows are part of our now-renowned “Always a B-Side, Never A Bride” series, where we flip over a song we previously discussed on the pod and listen to the reverse. For secret reasons, we’re...

In Episode 28, we’re taking it to the rooftops to shout about the sweet-soul classic “It’s Gonna Take A Miracle.” First off is the original 1965 version by Baltimore’s greatest girl group, the Royalettes   (@ 2:50) – and we double the fun by discussing both the song and the incredible video (found on our podcast’s Facebook page) . Like us, you'll get lost in Sheila Ross’s eyes and bounced aro...

In Episode 27, we discuss the class of 1965 slow-burn serenade “Can’t Seem To Make You Mine” by the Seeds and its sonic spunk of twangy guitar, wild Wurlitzer, and Sky Saxon’s sui generis doo-wop spoken-word section (1:04). The middle child this week is the philosopher of bad vibes, Alex Chilton , and the reverent mockery of his 1978 version (47:20). Spank Rock and Diplo are at the hot corner with...

This week’s episode is for the fashion plates: we play & discuss four songs about “krazy klothes.” First up is Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsburg and the 3Ds advertising a local clothier in “Pal Mal Rock” (3:33) – listen up so you’ll know what to wear when you go to the hops! Next up is The Royal Teens and their immortal treatise on the proper display of the gluteus maximus : “Short Shorts.” (35:58) Who...

Paul McCarthy is in shambles! The third in our “ Better than the Beatles ” series features the Dave Clark Five, the southern rivals of the Fab Four. Both Erik & Weldon list their reasons why the DC5 are superior in every way and scientists and philosophers alike have described their logic as “airtight.” Our discussion of “ Bits and Pieces” (5:24) reveals Dave to be a true 60s auteur who beats...

We announced in January that 2021 is the “Year of the Cha Cha”, and Heinz ’s 1964 track “Questions I Can’t Answer” (3:36), along with our selected covers of same will keep you quick-stepping into Spring! Erik brings his full music theory and philosophical knowledge to bear on the original and Weldon thinks the whole world was in the studio for this Joe Meek jam. Later that year, Don Atello (aka Be...

On this episode, we discuss the 1964 song “I Took My Baby Home”, the B-side of the second Kinks single, and the first Ray Davies-penned song ever released (1:21).  Erik and Weldon discuss the semiotics of Beat-era “whoa whoa whoas” and “yeah yeah yeahs” and some serious eggheadery ensues. We then examine the Pickwicks even beatier version from the same year, and no – Jimmy Page isn’t on it (40:09)...

In the first episode of a new series, we flip over the Count Five ’s 1966 hit “Psychotic Reaction” (discussed in Episode 2), to check out its B-side, “They’re Gonna Get You.” And we think it might be even crazier than the A-side!! Is this a simple song about a young rocker being afraid of the barbershop – or something even more scary? We make the discovery early in the series that B-sides are ofte...

Now that Valentine’s Day is over, let’s acknowledge that love stinks!! Just like this song by Rob Thomas from 2005 – another one of the Worst Songs Ever!– “This is How a Heart Breaks.” How can so many one-syllable words mean so little? How much cocaine did the band snort in the studio? How long can Erik & Weldon talk about it? If you love bad vibes and good conversation, then join us in this H...

Our latest episode arrives just in time for St. Valentine’s Day, so three versions of the Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman classic, “Sweets for my Sweet” are just what Cupid ordered. First off is The Drifters ’ original version from 1961, and it’s a cha-cha calypso party in the studio with the swaggery Charlie Thomas on lead and Dionne Warwick on backing vocals! (1:00) Next up is those Merseybeat treblemaker...

In this week’s episode, we discuss a rock’n’roll jam written all the way back in 1953!: Giddy Up A Ding Dong. first up is Freddy Bell and the Bell Boys ’ 1956 performance of the song from the movie Rock Around The Clock, and along the way we have things to say about poetry, Wikipedia entries about music videos, and “tail sales” (0:48). The song was only ever a hit in the Commonwealth, so we then m...

In this week’s episode we celebrate the classic “Little Bit o’ Soul,” penned in 1964 by the British beat songwriting duo of John Carter & Ken Lewis. Your hosts Erik & Weldon spin the original 1965 version by long-haired Coventry combo the Little Darlings and discourse on the song’s profane and holy implications (0:39). The Music Explosion ’s boffo box-office 1967 version reached the top of...

The Gruesomes take over the podcast! We visit (via videoconferencing) the Montreal castle of rock and roll legends Bobby Beaton & John Davis, who aren’t L7 and give us the 4-1-1 on The Haunted ’s 1966 undisputed masterpiece “1-2-5” (versions found at 3:53, 47:34, and 1:12:45). These guys analyze the subversion of garage tropes in this song and tell us how harmonicas are supposed to sound and r...

In this episode, we play the song that inspired our podcast: the remarkable “In the Past” – written by Wayne Proctor and recorded by his band We The People back in the very psychedelic year of 1966 (1:08). Gearheads will love Erik’s discussion of WP’s “octachord,” which gives the song (and our intro) its way-out sound. We also listen to & discuss the Chocolate Watchband ’s precision version, w...

Special bonus episode! Every once in a while on a Wednesday, we may be dropping a surprise episode on y'all - here's the first one! It’s time once again to investigate why some bands do the Beatles better than the Beatles: Erik and Weldon break down The Eyes ’ superior version of “Good Day Sunshine” (0:58), then The Score ’s epic retelling of “Please Please Me” (20:07). When Merseybeat m...

This week's episode features three versions of the crazy, Allen Toussaint-penned semi-classic "A Certain Girl": Ernie K-Doe's inimitable New Orleans strut n' sass original (1:08), British beat combo First Gear's raved-up version with a roving spy movie bassline (32:05), and the Ne'er Do Wells seriously fun 90s rewrite titled "Carn't Tell Ya" (51:40...

This week’s episode features a song so nice, we play it twice! Namely, The Carnaby ’s 1965 fuzz-powered, mod-bubblegum, cha-cha rhythm confection “Jump and Dance.” Is this the ultimate sheep-shearing song? Does it even have a chorus? Don’t stop the New Year’s revelry until you’ve heard Erik & Weldon hip you to this track! Contact us at: inthepastpodcast@gmail.com

In this final episode of ITP in the pandemic year of 2020, we discuss the simple, fun, and infectious dance track “Hully Gully” by the Olympics (0:55), along with Paul Revere and the Raiders ’ explication of an urban myth in “Crisco Party,” (31:13) and we applaud “Doin’ The Mod” by Van Dyke and The Bambis   (1:00:00) and its treatment of rockers.