With all the sorts of musical styles and genres out there, probably buried in all of the pop, hip-hop, classic rock and even alternative, is a style which pretty much has been confined to the underground for perhaps the past fifty-five years or so....Garage rock.
The form was very popular in the mid-sixties, and although there were countless number of bands that formed (most likely in the wake of Beatlemania, although the genre, which also included surf rock and frat rock, first developed before that), only a handful of artists actually broke thru with big pop hits. Those songs likely made them "one-hit wonders", and chances are, you've heard them many times on those oldies stations or the "60's on 6" SiriusXM channel, or perhaps some web-streaming sites like Rewound Radio. Songs like "Little Girl" by Syndicate of Sound, "Dirty Water" by The Standells, "Pushin' To Hard" by the Seeds, "Liar Liar" by the Castaways, and many, many others.
By 1968, however, acid and heavier rock pretty much wiped out the Garage phenomenon, and many of these bands faded away. The tern "garage", incidentally, was coined referring to the amateurish production and playing; the inference is that a bunch of local kids would practice in their garage, but that in reality was the exception than the rule.
With rock and pop going in so many directions in the ensuing years, with the singer-songwriting, glam, heavy metal and others holding away, classic garage rock (which was also called "punk", well before the late 1970's movement of the same name) was pretty much an afterthought, although in 1972, an album, entitled Nuggets, took a look at the classic garage/psychedelic area from 1965 to 1968, in a two record set.
With nostalgia for the 1960's cresting in the 1980's and 90's more compilations came out. The aforementioned original Nuggets set was expanded and issued on CD, in 1998. While the songs are well known to those who followed the rock scene in the mid 1960's, they were just the tip of the iceberg. Many CD's, issued by other companies came out with bands that didn't chart at all, on very small record labels, that, perhaps were regional hits but never spread outside of those localities. One such series, "The Cicadelic 60's" had a series of at least seven volumes of obscure garage-rock heaven. Another, "Pebbles" (probably a take-off on "Nuggets"), also offered many volumes of songs that perhaps never saw the light of day, or whose record label pressed only a few hundred copies. Many others focused on just a local scene, such as Texas, the Midwest, and so on. Hunting down and discovering this music was just as rewarding as uncovering new music....heck, if you haven't heard it before, then it's new to you, right?
A 21st century version of garage rock, dubbed "neo-garage" surfaced in the early 2000's. Headed by The White Stripes, band like The Vines, The Hives, and The Strokes became popular, in part due to a backlash against forms like nu-metal, post grunge, and pop/rock bands like Creed and Matchbox Twenty. Others, like The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, and most significantly, The Black Keys, found success later in that decade. While those bands threw a new twist on the genre, others, like Caesars ("Jerk It Out") and The Satelliters ("Lost in Time"), harkened back to the style's halcyon days. An honorable mention is the band The Sonics, which started back in 1960 and, while not one of the "name bands" back then, were still together and released a new album in the past decade.
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| ScreenAge, a New Jersey alternative band with a nod to garage rock, has the #1 song for a second week with "Blue Eyed Addiction" |
Which brings us to the here and now. My number one song this week, for the second week in a row is "Blue Eyed Addiction" by New Jersey band ScreenAge. Self described as a garage band, they add a new spin on the garage experience. Like another band I love, The Outcrops, they have that laid back feeling while still rocking...no doubt a perfect setting is at a festival playing that "all day music". ScreenAge's has the perfect production technique....a rawness that is a throwback to that formative era, while sounding very fresh and 2020-ish. The members are from Edison, Freehold and Milltown.
While I am on the subject of ScreenAge, I had written on their Facebook page that last week "Blue Eyed Addiction" was #1 on my blog playlist. I had gotten a nice response from the band's lead singer Emily McMahon thanking me for putting the song atop of my chart and congratulated me for ten years of writing the blog. And thank YOU, Emily and the band for the shout-out and for making awesome music!
ScreenAge formed in 2016,, describing themselves as alternative, with one of the influences coming from Hippo Campus, a band that has made my list several times, including a #11 standing ("Suicide Saturday") and a #20 ("South"); as well as Deerhunter, which also had two top 20 songs on my list, including the #7 "Revival" and #16 "Snakeskin". The band released their first album Station 42 in early 2019. The first single "Crook" was released that same year. ScreenAge played many of the local festivals, including Maplewoodstock and the Roselle Park Arts festival, in my hometown, which is how I had heard of them, about a year ago. It was then I jumped on their second single, "Vague". The song reached #7 on my list earlier this year. For a follow-up, the band released "Blue Eyed Addiction", which presumably is on their forthcoming second album.
ScreenAge released a video to YouTube with a new original song, "Going Back". It's another garage-heaven jam that will only enhance their profile. They have gotten notice as far away as England. It's very refreshing, in a world obsessed with sparse pop that people are still willing to rock, and will add the song soon as it becomes commercially available, which should be really soon. I do hope to catch the band live, finally, hopefully soon, as I'm keeping my eyes peeled for their next live gig.
Another rocking band, Off Guard, based in Long Island is another to watch. Hopefully that band, fronted by Matt Weiss, will get together and release new material soon.
While those bands are putting a new spin on the garage rock experience. There are several bands that have captured the original sound, two of which are climbing my list. The Mystery Lights move 37-21 with "21 and Counting", while Animal Island's "Tonight" is the Top Debut this week at #67. These, as well as other songs were featured in television shows such as Shameless and Sneaky Pete, which we have been binge watching. To my amazement, checking out these songs, which might suggest they were from the 1960's, were my new bands that started up in the past few years. Both these songs were released about three or four years ago, but both have more recent albums, with Animal Island releasing a second set this year. If both of these songs have staying power, I will add the more recent songs as follow-ups.
And while I am on the subject, one song which I had heard both on Shameless and Mad Men was from the mid-60's: "Found Love" by Fly Bi Nights, from the Cult Hits: Psychedelic compilation. The song was also featured in the twelfth season of CSI. Not bad for a very obscure song which in its day pressed only 300 copies.
Glad to see this music still resonates.
TO THE CHART: As mentioned earlier, ScreenAge grabs a second week at the top. It's the fourth week in a row that a New Jersey-oriented band has topped the list, following Donna Missal and Real Estate. And next week, the streak could continue...either "Blue Eyed Addiction" would stay on another week, or, waiting in the wings is Elise Farnsworth's "In the Morning Light' which moves 8-2 this week.
New this week, aside from Animal Island, is the latest from James Bay, "Chew on My Heart", easily his best since his #1 "Pink Lemonade". It's a mid-tempo, driving, soulful romp. Nice one. Tame Impala follows their top 10 with the rhythmic "Is It True", as the band has become more "accessible". It's been ages since I went on a Michael Franti song, but "I Got You", with his band Spearhead is what you've come to expect from him. A few weeks ago, in response to similar Hawaiian-based band Pepper, I had added an Iration song...it didn't really stick with me, but I noticed WEQX, a radio station based in Manchester, Vermont, added "Right Here Right Now" to their playlist, which is a better song than was "Chill Out". Moon Taxi, who hit my top spot a few years back with "Two High" are back with "Hometown Heroes", a rather autobiographic song from their fourth album Silver Dream. Finally, Maroon 5 returns on the pop side with "Nobody's Love", kind of what you expect these days from Adam Levine and crew. I just wonder, with the last bunch of releases in that vein, is why Adam actually needs a band backing him.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100 Playlist
August 30, 2020
This Week
|
Last
Week
|
ARTIST-Title
|
Weeks
on List
|
1
|
1
|
NUMBER ONE:
(Single Only)
(2 weeks at #1)
|
16
|
2
|
8
|
7
|
|
3
|
6
|
9
|
|
4
|
3
|
18
|
|
5
|
2
|
10
|
|
6
|
15
|
7
|
|
7
|
4
|
11
|
|
8
|
7
|
15
|
|
9
|
9
|
19
|
|
10
|
10
|
14
|
|
11
|
5
|
13
|
|
12
|
14
|
12
|
|
13
|
11
|
13
|
|
14
|
17
|
20
|
|
15
|
20
|
4
|
|
16
|
13
|
10
|
|
17
|
12
|
14
|
|
18
|
16
|
19
|
|
19
|
19
|
9
|
|
20
|
30
|
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
Album: Kiwanuka
|
3
|
21
|
22
|
8
|
|
22
|
23
|
5
|
|
23
|
18
|
10
|
|
24
|
24
|
8
|
|
25
|
26
|
6
|
|
26
|
37
|
MOVER OF THE WEEK:
"21 & Counting"
Album: The Mystery Lights
|
3
|
27
|
27
|
11
|
|
28
|
21
|
12
|
|
29
|
40
|
3
|
|
30
|
25
|
18
|
|
31
|
44
|
3
|
|
32
|
35
|
13
|
|
33
|
32
|
11
|
|
34
|
28
|
12
|
|
35
|
36
|
7
|
|
36
|
39
|
5
|
|
37
|
42
|
8
|
|
38
|
43
|
6
|
|
39
|
45
|
13
|
|
40
|
48
|
5
|
|
41
|
46
|
14
|
|
42
|
29
|
13
|
|
43
|
34
|
9
|
|
44
|
60
|
3
|
|
45
|
31
|
16
|
|
46
|
38
|
23
|
|
47
|
33
|
15
|
|
48
|
53
|
4
|
|
49
|
54
|
4
|
|
50
|
41
|
14
|
|
51
|
47
|
8
|
|
52
|
57
|
4
|
|
53
|
67
|
2
|
|
54
|
59
|
7
|
|
55
|
56
|
13
|
|
56
|
85
|
2
|
|
57
|
62
|
7
|
|
58
|
63
|
8
|
|
59
|
50
|
6
|
|
60
|
49
|
16
|
|
61
|
51
|
17
|
|
62
|
58
|
9
|
|
63
|
84
|
2
|
|
64
|
69
|
4
|
|
65
|
73
|
4
|
|
66
|
52
|
17
|
|
67
|
---
|
TOP DEBUT:
"Tonight"
Album: Animal Island (EP)
|
1
|
68
|
79
|
3
|
|
69
|
71
|
7
|
|
70
|
81
|
4
|
|
71
|
75
|
10
|
|
72
|
78
|
6
|
|
73
|
92
|
2
|
|
74
|
89
|
2
|
|
75
|
55
|
19
|
|
76
|
---
|
1
|
|
77
|
66
|
15
|
|
78
|
86
|
3
|
|
79
|
87
|
5
|
|
80
|
---
|
1
|
|
81
|
83
|
6
|
|
82
|
64
|
22
|
|
83
|
72
|
5
|
|
84
|
88
|
3
|
|
85
|
---
|
1
|
|
86
|
82
|
16
|
|
87
|
---
|
1
|
|
88
|
61
|
17
|
|
89
|
---
|
1
|
|
90
|
70
|
20
|
|
91
|
68
|
17
|
|
92
|
80
|
26
|
|
93
|
65
|
19
|
|
94
|
76
|
21
|
|
95
|
94
|
2
|
|
96
|
74
|
18
|
|
97
|
77
|
15
|
|
98
|
---
|
1
|
|
99
|
90
|
20
|
|
100
|
91
|
12
|
Songs with the greatest increase in
favorite points over the prior week. ●
Songs with
25 or more plays on iTunes/iPods ▲ Songs with 50 or more plays.
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