Reconsidering the Troggs

Imagine being in a band trying to bust loose in England following the British Invasion and having these lyrics presented to you for consideration:

Wild thing you make my heart sing
You make everything groovy

Especially if your band's original name happened to be The Troglodytes.  At the time the Troggs were given a choice of recording either "Wild Thing," written by Chip Taylor, or John Sebastian's "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?" which Sebastian had written after meeting two sisters at a summer camp. 

As we all know the Troggs made a good choice, taking the unlikely "Wild Thing" to No. 1 in the summer of 1966 (coincidentally it was replaced on the Billboard chart by the Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer in the City." Taylor is still cashing royalty checks and "Wild Thing" still astounds us every time we hear it.

They were not a bad band at all, the Troggs, scoring two other hits with "Love Is All Around" and "With a Girl Like You."  And with frontman Reg Presley they were the perfect protagonists to pull off "Wild Thing." The video above of "Wild Thing" cracks us up, but it's also worth watching a clip of "With a Girl Like You."

The lads gave garage rock a GOOD name.