STOOGE YOUR ENTHUSIASM (25)
By:
December 13, 2023
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of proto-punk records from the Sixties (1964–1973, in our periodization schema). Series edited by Josh Glenn. Also check out our proto-punk playlist (a work in progress) at Spotify.
THE KINGSMEN | “LOUIE LOUIE” | 1963
The Kingsmen’s 1963 recording of “Louie Louie” was a happy accident that had it all — a DIY ethos and sound, simple chords, screamed lyrics, a lack of commitment to narrative structure, and sheer, unadulterated thrash. It may seem improbable that some clean-cut, blazer-wearing, dancehall frat rockers birthed punk rock in the Pacific Northwest back in 1963, and yet. If punk was a return to roots from the overly orchestrated progressive rock epics of the 1970s, then The Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie” dug back to those roots almost before the tree had sprouted.
Crucially, it was a cover that was the key. “Louie Louie” was not original to The Kingsmen. It started out life in the fifties as a song by R&B singer Richard Berry, where it surfaced, sounded, and subsided without much fuss. It filled out the 45s on local jukeboxes, a perfectly serviceable blues with a beat. Adding the song to their setlist of covers because (a) it was easy and (b) it was danceable, The Kingsmen, a garage band of strivers in Portland, Oregon, didn’t think it was anything special. And it wasn’t — yet. The Kingsmen played it live dozens of times, and yes, it got the kids dancing. So one night they decided to commit it to vinyl in their first-ever recording of anything: five guys, three mics, one take, the proceedings intended to be an audition for house band on a cruise ship.
They wailed through a few verses and a chorus, exceeding the limits of their abilities almost immediately. It was a mess. The beat was an off-kilter stumble misremembered from a 45 of the original. The lead singer was all but drowned out, arching back to screech through his braces at the ceiling. The band got out of sync and had to start one of the verses again in the middle. The lyrics were indecipherable. The whole thing screamed DIY. The band wanted a do-over. The cruise ship hated it. Indiana banned it. The FBI investigated it. Boston loved it. The recording hit #1.
Like all breakthroughs, the break was more evident before the through could be acknowledged. The Kingsmen had, in spite of themselves, thrown raw sound and physical energy at the room instead of polished, balanced songs for chaperoned co-ed socials. And like the id-based animal that this recording of “Louie Louie” was, it survived, and thrashed, and thrived. Rock had barely been born but already we knew what was fast coming after it, a rough beast ready not to slouch, but to slam.
Louie, Louie, le roi est mort, vive le roi; we gotta go now — yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!
STOOGE YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Josh Glenn | Mandy Keifetz on The Trashmen’s SURFIN’ BIRD | Nicholas Rombes on Yoko Ono’s MOVE ON FAST | David Cantwell on ? and the Mysterians’ 96 TEARS | James Parker on The Modern Lovers’ SHE CRACKED | Lynn Peril on The Pleasure Seekers’ WHAT A WAY TO DIE | Lucy Sante on The Count Five’s PSYCHOTIC REACTION | Jonathan Lethem on The Monkees’ YOUR AUNTIE GRIZELDA | Adam McGovern on ELP’s BRAIN SALAD SURGERY | Mimi Lipson on The Shaggs’ MY PAL FOOT FOOT | Eric Weisbard on Frances Faye’s FRANCES AND HER FRIENDS | Annie Zaleski on Suzi Quatro’s CAN THE CAN | Carl Wilson on The Ugly Ducklings’ NOTHIN’ | Josh Glenn on Gillian Hill’s TUT, TUT, TUT, TUT… | Mike Watt on The Stooges’ SHAKE APPEAL | Peter Doyle on The Underdogs’ SITTING IN THE RAIN | Stephanie Burt on Pauline Oliveros’s III | Marc Weidenbaum on Ornette Coleman’s WE NOW INTERRUPT FOR A COMMERCIAL | Anthony Miller on Eno’s NEEDLES IN THE CAMEL’S EYE | Gordon Dahlquist on The Sonics’ STRYCHNINE | David Smay on The New York Dolls’ HUMAN BEING | Michael Grasso on the 13th Floor Elevators’ YOU’RE GONNA MISS ME | Holly Interlandi on Death’s ROCK’N’ROLL VICTIM | Elina Shatkin on Bobby Fuller’s I FOUGHT THE LAW | Brian Berger on The Mothers of Invention’s WHO ARE THE BRAIN POLICE? | Peggy Nelson on The Kingsmen’s LOUIE LOUIE.
JACK KIRBY PANELS | CAPTAIN KIRK SCENES | OLD-SCHOOL HIP HOP | TYPEFACES | NEW WAVE | SQUADS | PUNK | NEO-NOIR MOVIES | COMICS | SCI-FI MOVIES | SIDEKICKS | CARTOONS | TV DEATHS | COUNTRY | PROTO-PUNK | METAL | & more enthusiasms!