Written by After the British invasion inspired a generation of mop-top-sporting kids to pick up guitars and make their own crude but often thrilling racket in basements, bedrooms and outhouses across North America, plenty of them soon found that the record industry was only too keen to snap them up to make a record or two.
Relatively few made it into the charts, or past a couple of covers-filled albums, and the haste in which they were signed and milked for potential hits meant few were particularly polished in their performances.
But the best of those records would be rediscovered in later years and would prove to be highly influential, meaning Garage Rock has since become a genre in its own right, characterised by ebullient energy, snarling rock’n’roll spirit and feral R’n’B punch – as well as a distinct touch of trippiness in some cases. Here are our pick of the must-have long-players from the golden age of garage (1965-67) and beyond.
