In The Past: Garage Rock Podcast

This week we buzz awhile about Slim Harpo 's 1957 concoction, "I'm a King Bee." A slow and syrupy groove, a slightly sinister mood, and drums which sound like someone's hammerin' a nail. Even the harmonica solo sounds like it's emerging out of the swamp! 7 years later, the song travelled from the Bayou to the Thames and The Rolling Stones beeswaxed the song. Appa...

It's always good to hear The Coasters , and this week we're studying their Goofy Great, "I'm a Hog For You." Written by Leiber/Stoller , loaded with A-pluses, hogsnort sax work, with a one-note guitar solo - this'll make you happier than pig in poopy! The second swine is by The Deejays , a bunch of British piggies who went to Sweden and waxed the track with added Mers...

Three versions of "Hey Joe"! But they're all by  The Leaves !! The first one is chaotic, the second one is cleaner, the third one is canonical ( Nuggets )- but which one blows OUR minds the most? Listen in to hear the song's lore, including the suspicious "original" demo, and more. It's a wild tale, and a wild tune.

Back with another one of those block-rocking themes! All of this episode's songs center on laughter, but very few of our subjects this week seem too mirthful. The first funny guy is "Ho Ho Rock n' Roll" by Peter Roberts &  Sid Ramin . This 1956 tune is mostly instrumental, featuring the goofy guffaws of broadcaster PB set to a "Las Vegas Grind" arrangement. The se...

The very first  Righteous Brothers release was "Little Latin Lupe Lu" in '62. It has a slight rockabilly/surf feel, with the great vocals we came to expect, plus the immortal love song line, "She's My Mash Potato Baby"! In 1964, our frat friends  The Kingsmen trashed the song, a la "Louie Louie." It's clubfooted, stiffarmed, not soulful, and great. We f...

This week, we take on one of the greatest "she done me wrawng " songs of all time - " Bad Little Woman" by The Wheels . We analyze the religious slant of the song written by these Northern Ireland velocity boys - is the singer's woman dating the literal devil?? Wild screams, a sparking organ, a malevolent atmosphere - this must have went over gangbusters at Belfast's...

Did The Tymes  come up with their 1963 hit "So Much In Love" by repurposing the official song of the United States Army? That's Erik's theory, and we talk about it as well as the tune as doo-wop's "swan song" -its gentle and elegaic quality serves also as a goodbye to a more innocent era. Later in the 60s, Cleveland's The Munx did a bombing raid on the song,...

At In The Past ,  we always take things to the next level - some people are still satisfied with "Name That Tune," but we've invented "Name That Vid!" In this episode, your hosts read the Wikipedia descriptos of notable music videos, and  try to guess which tune it belongs to. If you grew up in the MTV/Much Music Generation, then you better think quick! As always, the boys...

We've weathered several recessions and a pandemic, but there's an ever-present threat of ... Green Fuz. It all started back in 1968, when The Green Fuz had everything go wrong at the Crossroads Cafe in Bridgeport, Texas, and there's been several sightings of the escaped mold spores ever since. The original is primo primitive, a legendary tune amongst the garage gang - just ask your...

The latter phrase comes early on in our discussion about band names - the good, the bad, and the shitty shitty! This is Part 2 of "Shitty Shitty Band Names!" - a popular new series that we're assured has created a lot of discussion around the family dinner table, and caused overturned tables at the local boozer. In this edition we talk about short names, long names, but we're g...

If you have a dog, you have to understand your responsibilty - "Walking the Dog" isn't as simple as you might think. Therefore, we start with Rufus Thomas and his instructional record of the same name from 1963. Is it a goofy great? It's definitely great, because a million bands have covered it. The Rolling Stones took the dog out in 1964 and Brian Jones sounds appropriately wo...

This week we pick a Canuck classic that's two songs in one - "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" by The Guess Who . The lyrics are faux-profound, but Burton Cummings' pipes and scattin' will spike your blood sugar. We scoured the record bins for our second version - a dirtbag bubblegum version by Steel Wool . They bring the song back to perfect popsong length by axing &qu...

It's time to revisit The Kinks Kanon and do "All Day & All of the Night." Have you ever noticed how weird the title is? Probably not, because of the Riff ! It's dirty and has that "Louie Louie" fairy dust which produces misty brain fog where you can't remember how many duh duh s are in it.  And Ray Davies savors syllables - apeman poet! The song travelled acr...

The first in a series celebrating Goofy Greats! : the 1975 K-Tel compilation that turned a generation of kids onto novelty songs, old rock n roll and R & B, and some very questionable tunes, too (we're looking at you, Ray Stevens ) ... we go back to our old friends The Royal Guardsmen and their enduring hit, "Snoopy vs. The Red Baron." A lighhearted song about combat during the...

We're a bit weary of garage rock tropes, so it's time to head to the country. First this week is "The Woods" by The Nickel Bag. This 66er advocates leaving the city, but should you follow this pied piper? I might - the swirling organ has me hyp - mo - tized!! That same year, the "Old Macdonald" nursery rhyme got rewritten by some LA weirdos - The Seeds  called it  &qu...

This one's a doozy - 4 versions of "Be My Baby" and a close relative! The first-born by The Ronettes is so good it's disqualified from the Bo Diddley Awards . We discuss Ronnie's "vibrato in a phone booth," Hal Blaine's boom-crash, the smiley backing vocals and so much more! The second child comes from the same year of 1963, it's by The Georgettes . Gir...

We're back with a great garage tune that is the inverse? obverse? reverse? of 1965's "Satisfaction" - the tune is "(Don't Give Me No) Friction" by The Green Beans , released the same year as the Rolling Stones gem. The lyrics were written by a couple of middle-aged people, so it appears to be masquerading as hip, but of course our analysis finds deeeeeper meaning...

It's early February, and time for love & conversation ... so this week's song is the 1965 classic "She's About A Mover" by the Sir Douglas Quintet  (2:57). A simple groove, great manly singing from SIr Doug himself, and a cavernous, carnivalesque organ sound will keep this in the canon for years to come. The song migrated to Germany later in the year and The Boots gave...

In this episode, we throw the book at The Equals and their 1967 non-hit, "Police on my Back." Written by the indestructible Eddy Grant , the debate centers around the song's rude boy narrative (Stratton 2013) and the question of the narrator's guilt or innocence. The next in the line up is The Stacattos (from South Africa). These guys mess the song up in interesting ways, but i...

We recorded this a few days before the very sad passing of Mary Weiss on Friday, January 19, 2024. We hope that this episode honours her memory, and the other departed Shangri-La's, Marge & Mary Ann Ganser.  Love forever <3. Versions by The Shangri-Las, The Compacts, Die Crazy Girls, The Detergents, Twisted Sister.

Single File is back and we're talking about a real rager: Shelby, Ohio's Shepherd's Heard and their only record "I Know" b/w "But That's Life." The first sounds like a demented version of The Rascals ' "Good Lovin'." The drums and vocals are CRAZY and they're both performed by the same guy, Kim Shepherd, who rightfully named the band...

Our podcast's New Year's Resolution? To be quicker ! Hence, we present you with "We're Pretty Quick," a wild 1967 side  by New Mexico's finest, The Chob (4:32). There are covers by The Fuzztones and The Cannibals that fly by, too. But then we introduce The Lucky Seven Lightning Round Countdown , SEVEN other versions that we have progressively less time to listen to (f...

We end 2023 and start 2024 with some final thoughts and we pick our favourite songs out of all the Bo Diddley Awards nominees. Is the discussion insightful? Maybe. Incisive? Probably not. Insane? Always!!

The categories are: Bo Diddliest Girl Group Song: Dedicated to the One I Love - Shirelles He’s Gone - Chantels Then He Kissed Me - Crystals Uncle Willie - Juliettes Mr. Scrooge - Orchids Bo Diddliest Video: Liar Liar - The Castaways Now and Then - The Beatles Must Be Santa - Bob Dylan You Really Got Me - Van Halen Jack The Ripper - Screaming Lord Sutch Bo Diddliest Song From A Theme Episode: Open...

We kept the tape rolling after the recent episode we did with John & Bobby from The Gruesomes and we said more stuff about John's favourite song ever - "Say It" by the Five Royales . Along the way, we solve the problems of modern music.