Next, dig into the story of the Mercer Arts Center and how its literal collapse led to the rise of CBGB's and punk rock: ua-cam.com/video/GxkZ8dQp51E/v-deo.html
That was a great feline interruption. First in the background, then you notice, then the kitty drops into the scene! I love the Sonics! I remember hearing The Witch on the radio sometime in the late eighties, and I had to get a hold of that. But it took several years before I secured a CD of the band’s music. Their version of Louis Louis is my favourite.
I always thought that The Who were pretty much the first well known punk band, but I can accept that there is no "first" when it comes to this kind of thing. The Sonics may well have been an early form of American "punk" but there were punks in every era and every genre of music dating back to long before we ever thought of the concept.
lol at everyone arrogantly saying "Los Saicos" in the comments, as if they even knew of the band's existence prior to that Noisey produced documentary that came out in 2013. They don't predate the Sonics, and the Sonics were called "punk rock" retroactively as early as April 1973 by Mark Shipper. Great video.
Nice video. I'm a big fan of The Sonics (and Wailers) and happy to have first and second pressings (red and magenta labels respectively) in both stereo and mono of Here Are The Sonics, though I'm always looking for copies in better condition.
Yep! I don't think I showed the label for The Sonics Boom in this video, but it's a magenta mono pressing from '66. While I've been able to trade up on Here Are The Sonics over the years, my copy of The Sonics Boom is the only one I've found in the wild, and I was lucky to score a relatively decent copy. I'd give it a VG grading with a VG+ sleeve.
@@AndyFenstermaker My only vintage copy of Boom is a mono copy that is G+. It is harder to come across that one in the wild, even here in the PNW. I also have the Sonics 50 box, which includes Boom.
those Sonics and Wailers records are awesome, I will mention if you pickup any of the etiquette originals the mono and stereo versions sound almost like totally different records, great stuff, cheers!
Fair! I think a lot comes down to the question of whether they are punk in the first place, which is questionable to a lot of folks. Always enjoy giving them some added love!
@@AndyFenstermaker For me, building family trees in pop music is always. Sounds may be related for any number of reasons but the intentions of the bands can be completely different. But the sound of the Sonics are certainly a big influence on certain strands of punk’s evolution. But what’s matters most is just they are huge fun. Great band. Thanks for making the vid.
First North West punk band. Tommy James was doing Hanky Panky in Niles Michigan. There were many. The Sonics did, influence Daily Flash and probably Beau Brummels and others.
Lux and Ivy (The Cramps) often talked about wild Rock n Roll artists who pre-dated punk circa late 1950’s. Eskew Reeder aka Esquerita and Hasil Adkins among them. It would be a stretch to call them proto-punk but it wasn’t Pat Boone either
Also agree. Demolicíon is for all intents and purposes, a complete and fully formed punk song, from the music to the lyrics. And I think that came out in 64.
Per Discogs and Wikipedia, Demolicíon came out in '65 with The Witch hitting in '64. More punk? Yes. So it comes down to perspective -- Were The Sonics punk at all? Maybe... maybe not. I'll be doing a follow up here in another week or two looking at a handful of bands that people have commented on here as being the first, including Los Saicos and The Monks.
As someone else here said, Los Saicos were before the sonics, and they don't even require a "proto" prefix. They were fully punk in 64. Check out Demolicíon, that song is pure punk, not just the music, look up the lyrics translation, its pure punk.
Los Saicos nor Sonics are punk so sick of this silliness. Sonics sound like raw Little Richard, Los Saicos are barely more raw than Surfing Bird which was released the year previously in Peru and also do not predate The Sonics anyway. The lyrics are like 2 lines about destroying a train station , I mean punk I guess?
I definitely dig Los Saicos, but they didn't predate the Sonics. Los Saicos formed in '64, the same year The Sonics released "The Witch". The Sonics formed in 1960. The Sonics also had a compilation out in 1974 called "Explosives" that showed some of the best tracks from their first two albums. The liner notes say the term "punk rock" more than once.
@@thereagauze Mark Shipper! in April 73. But you are correct about Lenny Kaye! Greg Shaw and Mike Saunders used the term a lot too. Mark Shaw used it in 1971, I believe. From what I understand, the term "garage rock" came after the term "punk rock", specifically when the punk movement finally took off and developed an official sound/style. Writers started referring to the 60s punk bands as "garage" to make things less confusing.
I actually picked up the Burger Records cassette back when it was released in about 2013 or so. A lot comes down to the question of whether The Sonics are punk in the first place, I think. The band formed in 1960, and The Witch dropped in '64, whereas Los Saicos formed in '64 with their first single in '65. I do actually plan on a follow up video touching on a lot of the comments here and looking at other bands people often list as the first, from Los Saicos to The Monks to Death.
“Porto-punk” is such a wide open term that could refer to many different sounds, vibes, lyrics or even fashion. Maybe the Sonics had some punk elements or maybe the same could be said for MC5, the Stooges or Los Saicos, but the fact is that punk truly and undisputably began with the Sex Pistols. Of course, not everything they did was original, but they are the first band to have every element that we consider to be punk today. This may be the least interesting answer,but it’s the truth and the genre only existed because of them.
Next, dig into the story of the Mercer Arts Center and how its literal collapse led to the rise of CBGB's and punk rock: ua-cam.com/video/GxkZ8dQp51E/v-deo.html
That was a great feline interruption. First in the background, then you notice, then the kitty drops into the scene!
I love the Sonics! I remember hearing The Witch on the radio sometime in the late eighties, and I had to get a hold of that. But it took several years before I secured a CD of the band’s music. Their version of Louis Louis is my favourite.
I’d love to dissect Louis Louis at some point. There are some great stories about that one from around the time of The Sonics!
I always thought that The Who were pretty much the first well known punk band, but I can accept that there is no "first" when it comes to this kind of thing. The Sonics may well have been an early form of American "punk" but there were punks in every era and every genre of music dating back to long before we ever thought of the concept.
Shot Down is an absolutely killer song
lol at everyone arrogantly saying "Los Saicos" in the comments, as if they even knew of the band's existence prior to that Noisey produced documentary that came out in 2013.
They don't predate the Sonics, and the Sonics were called "punk rock" retroactively as early as April 1973 by Mark Shipper. Great video.
Nice video. I'm a big fan of The Sonics (and Wailers) and happy to have first and second pressings (red and magenta labels respectively) in both stereo and mono of Here Are The Sonics, though I'm always looking for copies in better condition.
Yep! I don't think I showed the label for The Sonics Boom in this video, but it's a magenta mono pressing from '66. While I've been able to trade up on Here Are The Sonics over the years, my copy of The Sonics Boom is the only one I've found in the wild, and I was lucky to score a relatively decent copy. I'd give it a VG grading with a VG+ sleeve.
@@AndyFenstermaker My only vintage copy of Boom is a mono copy that is G+. It is harder to come across that one in the wild, even here in the PNW. I also have the Sonics 50 box, which includes Boom.
MC5 is what I always considered early punk.
those Sonics and Wailers records are awesome, I will mention if you pickup any of the etiquette originals the mono and stereo versions sound almost like totally different records, great stuff, cheers!
Oooo! Good to know! Might have to keep an eye out for those
I don’t know about your proto-punk thesis. Different eras. But whatever… the Sonics are awesome. Glad to see them getting some modern love.
Fair! I think a lot comes down to the question of whether they are punk in the first place, which is questionable to a lot of folks. Always enjoy giving them some added love!
@@AndyFenstermaker For me, building family trees in pop music is always. Sounds may be related for any number of reasons but the intentions of the bands can be completely different. But the sound of the Sonics are certainly a big influence on certain strands of punk’s evolution. But what’s matters most is just they are huge fun. Great band. Thanks for making the vid.
Absolutely! I doubt they considered themselves punk, but I could be wrong. Wild to think they're still out performing in 2024!
Kitty 💕 4:10
I need to try to slip little Waffles and Milly kitty cat Easter Eggs in my videos for all the cat lovers out there 😆
First North West punk band. Tommy James was doing Hanky Panky in Niles Michigan. There were many. The Sonics did, influence Daily Flash and probably Beau Brummels and others.
what about The Monks?
One could argue the Bo Diddley was the first punk band.
Lux and Ivy (The Cramps) often talked about wild Rock n Roll artists who pre-dated punk circa late 1950’s. Eskew Reeder aka Esquerita and Hasil Adkins among them. It would be a stretch to call them proto-punk but it wasn’t Pat Boone either
first punk band? don't make me laugh, los saicos were the first, and they were punk as fuck
Also agree. Demolicíon is for all intents and purposes, a complete and fully formed punk song, from the music to the lyrics. And I think that came out in 64.
Per Discogs and Wikipedia, Demolicíon came out in '65 with The Witch hitting in '64. More punk? Yes. So it comes down to perspective -- Were The Sonics punk at all? Maybe... maybe not. I'll be doing a follow up here in another week or two looking at a handful of bands that people have commented on here as being the first, including Los Saicos and The Monks.
Los Saicos didn't come first. The Sonics formed in 1960 and released the Witch in 1964. Los Saicos formed in 1964.
Plenty made similar music
?
As someone else here said, Los Saicos were before the sonics, and they don't even require a "proto" prefix. They were fully punk in 64. Check out Demolicíon, that song is pure punk, not just the music, look up the lyrics translation, its pure punk.
Los Saicos nor Sonics are punk so sick of this silliness. Sonics sound like raw Little Richard, Los Saicos are barely more raw than Surfing Bird which was released the year previously in Peru and also do not predate The Sonics anyway. The lyrics are like 2 lines about destroying a train station , I mean punk I guess?
I definitely dig Los Saicos, but they didn't predate the Sonics. Los Saicos formed in '64, the same year The Sonics released "The Witch". The Sonics formed in 1960.
The Sonics also had a compilation out in 1974 called "Explosives" that showed some of the best tracks from their first two albums. The liner notes say the term "punk rock" more than once.
@@LongGone77 did Lenny Kaye do the liner notes? I thought I heard he started using the term in 1972 to describe garage rock bands.
@@thereagauze Mark Shipper! in April 73.
But you are correct about Lenny Kaye! Greg Shaw and Mike Saunders used the term a lot too. Mark Shaw used it in 1971, I believe.
From what I understand, the term "garage rock" came after the term "punk rock", specifically when the punk movement finally took off and developed an official sound/style. Writers started referring to the 60s punk bands as "garage" to make things less confusing.
@@LongGone77 interesting!!
It’s Los Saicos
You should listen to Los Saicos in order to redo this video.
I actually picked up the Burger Records cassette back when it was released in about 2013 or so. A lot comes down to the question of whether The Sonics are punk in the first place, I think. The band formed in 1960, and The Witch dropped in '64, whereas Los Saicos formed in '64 with their first single in '65.
I do actually plan on a follow up video touching on a lot of the comments here and looking at other bands people often list as the first, from Los Saicos to The Monks to Death.
Or you get a clue about the 60s
lolz
“Porto-punk” is such a wide open term that could refer to many different sounds, vibes, lyrics or even fashion. Maybe the Sonics had some punk elements or maybe the same could be said for MC5, the Stooges or Los Saicos, but the fact is that punk truly and undisputably began with the Sex Pistols. Of course, not everything they did was original, but they are the first band to have every element that we consider to be punk today. This may be the least interesting answer,but it’s the truth and the genre only existed because of them.
Growing up in the Culture as a small 'un I see it as a way broader Culture than just '' beginning with The Sex Pistols ''
lmfao