If one had to point to a single initial salvo that launched the garage rock revival movement in the 1970s and '80s, it would have to be the release of
Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 in 1972.
Elektra Records had approached rock critic
Lenny Kaye (not yet the guitarist with the
Patti Smith Group) with the notion of compiling an album of great, overlooked rock tunes, but what
Kaye came up with was something significantly different -- an overview of the great, wild era when American bands, goaded by the British Invasion, began honing in on a tougher and more eclectic rock & roll sound, and kids were reawakened to the possibilities of two guitars, bass, and drums. Coming up with a simple definition of this period and its sound proved daunting -- the word "garage" appears nowhere in the liner notes to
Nuggets, and his notion of "the first psychedelic era" quickly fell by the wayside -- but the frequent bursts of fuzztone, Farfisa organ, and vocal sneering in the 27 tunes
Kaye selected codified a musical approach that flourished in the mid-'60s, and at a time when rock was becoming more self-consciously serious and arty, the primal power and sheer sense of fun audible in this music seemed like a minor revelation that became a clarion call to musicians, fans, and music scribes around the world.
Nuggets proved to be of seismic importance in the years after its release, but just as importantly, it's a blast to listen to;
Kaye's sequencing gives the album the joyous flow of a great afternoon of AM radio, and the album blends hits both big ("Pushin' Too Hard" by
the Seeds, "Psychotic Reaction" by
Count Five) and small ("You're Gonna Miss Me" by the
13th Floor Elevators, "Hey Joe" by
the Leaves) with high-quality obscurities ("Don't Look Back" by
the Remains, "It's A-Happening" by
the Magic Mushrooms) and early efforts by future stars (
Leslie West in
the Vagrants,
Todd Rundgren in
Nazz,
Ted Nugent in
the Amboy Dukes). And while many of the garage compilations that would follow would focus relentlessly on the obscure and the noisy,
Kaye's set not only demonstrates that some of this stuff actually made the charts, but that there was as much great pop as snotty proto-punk pouring out of America's rec rooms back in the day. And
Kaye's liner notes were nearly as important as the music in defining the importance of this music and its era. Very few "oldies" compilations have had an influence approaching that of
Nuggets, and even fewer are as rewarding to listen to; if you care about rock music in the '60s, you need to own this album. [In 1998,
Nuggets would be expanded into a superb four-disc box set, but the original two-LP set remains available as a standalone CD release.] ~ Mark Deming
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