Soundtrack of My Misspent Youth - II

This is the second part of a chronicle of my old high school band.

Do You Wanna Dance?

Dance tunes began to appear in The Others set-list; mostly R&B songs that we learned from various cover versions by local bands:

Let The Good Times Roll - The Del Counts
Foot Stompin' - The Underbeats
Little Latin Lupe Lu - The Chancellors
Turn On Your Love Light - The High Spirits
Mickey’s Monkey - C.A.Quintet
Ain’t Got No Home - Gregory Dee and the Avanties
Road Runner - The Accents
Hey Joe - The Stillroven
Sam - The Castaways
The Crusher - The Novas
Shakin’ All Over - The Guess Who (actually from Winnipeg, but close enough.)

But we hadn’t yet given up on instrumentals:

The Grind - Gregory Dee and the Avanties

The influence of the regional Minnesota groups on The Others (and hundreds of other Twin Cities garage bands) can’t be overstated.

These bands released many records that got local and regional airplay from 1962-1966. These mostly cover versions were often just as popular as the releases by national acts (although nowhere near as accomplished). Outside of The Trashmen, the local bands The Del Counts (still active!), The Underbeats (who went on to be the house band at The Whiskey-a-Go-Go in Los Angeles in 1969-70 as Gypsy), and The Castaways (who had a national hit with Liar, Liar) had some enduring success. Even the novelty number by The Novas (that emulated a popular professional wrestler) was later covered by The Cramps.

More on this subject tomorrow…