The Music Machine | 60's Garage Rock Pioneers
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 พ.ค. 2024
- Back in the 60s, the music scene in Los Angeles spawned major bands from that era such as the Byrds, Love and the Doors.
The Music Machine was one of the most underrated groups to come out of that scene.
Their dark rebellious image and untamed musical approach proved to be a major influence on punk bands from the 70s and beyond.
And it was also an influence on bands from the Los Angeles scene such as the Doors.
Let's take a look at the history of the band and explore the singles they released during their brief but brilliant career. - เพลง
![Joe Meek | The Freakbeat Singles (1964-67) [Mini-documentary]](/img/n.gif)
Summer of 1966 The Music Machine had a guest spot at the Whisky a Go Go and they came on stage all dressed in black leather. For 1 minute into their first song all band members performed with their backs to the audience, then turned around facing the crowd for the remainder of the show.
As the audience danced around him, Jim Morrison stood in front of the stage dressed in blue jeans and hippie/Sunset Blvd. garb, staring at Sean Bonniwell for the entire set, and The Doors had not been signed yet.
Anyone on the scene in those days knew that Morrison lifted some of his persona from Bonniwell, Van Morrison and Arthur Lee.
2 years later Iron Butterfly went Platinum with their 2nd album, lifting almost everything from the Machine, except the incredible fuzz bass Keith Olsen created from a few bucks' worth of equipment he bought at Radio Shack. Every cover version of Talk Talk in the world fails to match Keith's explosive 2 note fuzz bass detonation, and that's why Talk Talk can never be covered by another group...because the bass always wimps out. Keith never divulged his secret
I have said that parts of inna gadda were lifted from The People In Me and that the Music Machine's vocals, floating fuzz guitar and organ sounds seems to have influenced Iron Butterfly's sound.
@@memphismick7010 On page 105 in his autobiography "Beyond The Garage" Sean does mention that Iron Butterfly borrowed musically from The Machine, and Butterfly frontman Doug Ingle also wore a medallion around his neck like Bonniwell.
Ingle just passed on May 24, 2024, and I'd have to admit to being a big fan of Iron Butterfly too.
Music Machine lead guitarist Mark Landon was friends with Ed King, of Strawberry Alarm Clock and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and they seemed to share some early guitar experimentation techniques.
I grew up in LA my band was playing the whisky a go go when I was 16 being so young we would hang outside the clubs to hear the bands and learn from the older guys I'm 71 now and luckily have great memories of 60's hollywood music scene the music machine was my first experience of what I think of as proto metal NOBODY sounded like these guys and they were tight live while many bands sounded sloppy live even famous ones thanks YP glad you're hip to the Nusic Machine CHEERS From Lost Angel's!!
Cheers Jerry!
Interesting post.
Of the better known bands, who was sloppy? I imagine, or hope, that Love sounded good live.
Talk Talk is one of my favorite Garage Rock singles.
"Talk Talk" is, IMHO, the greatest rock single ever released.
1966 - The Year of Garage. Heavy fuzz and keyboard-driven background. Well-conceived lyrics and hard-as-nails vocals. Heavy and memorable. Thanks, YP!
Cheers!
@@YesterdaysPapers Let the great sounds continue! Cheers!
Fuzz supposedly was a box made by Keith Olson.
Cool video on a basically forgotten band. I had gone out to see my brother at his college back in the late 90s, and he was working in the local record shop. He suggested to me I buy the nuggets boxed set, as I was a big 60s and 70s rock music fan. I of course had heard some of the more popular songs that were hits back in their day, but for the most part hearing those simple garage rock songs, really had an impact on me from that day forward. I then went out to try and buy the records or cds of the individual bands on that boxed set. I would come to find out, that many of them recorded the same cover songs like Gloria, Hey Joe, 96 years, Louie Louie, etc. But there were some definite b sides gems in there, and even if there was only 3 great songs on a particular album, I deemed it worthy. It just broadened my musical horizons, through its simplicity and swagger. The bad cover band that I was playing with at the time, was annoyed at my insistence we play Hang on Sloopy, thinking it was just some bad 60s tune, but it was because of Nuggets that I started liking those rudimentary 3 chord garage rock Athems. The music machine had some of the sickest fuzz tone of any of those bands back then, far ahead of their time. Glad ppl would even watch a video about them, makes my heart happy.
I can hear a little Iron Butterfly in there. This group seemed to have a lot of influence on bands to follow.
R.I.P. Doug Ingle, keyboards and lead vocals with Iron Butterfly (May 27, 2024).
Have to appreciate how bands that had that "ahead of their time" sound still sound current today. Thanks for bringing to attention a band that deserved much more success.
Bass player Keith Olsen went on to a career as a super producer, most notably bringing Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks into Fleetwood Mac, producing Jessie’s Girl by Rick Springfield and helping to develop Surround Sound.
This band deserved so much more… Definitely ahead of their time. Thank goodness for all the recordings.
Like so many of the rock and pop groups of the mid 60s, the members of the Music Machine had come from the folk revival. Sean Bonniwell had been in a Kingston Trio like group called the Wayfarers, who put out three albums on RCA. His new sound with the Music Machine was a world away. I remember in late '67 that every local band around had added it to their set. The Music Machine was not just a lucky one hit wonder. they were an exceptional band that was just too ahead of the times.
Bands that were synonymous with the idyllic, California beach culture like The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean, a new breed of band were experimenting with aggressive, simplistic sounds. Not from the LA area, but north from the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Jose came The Syndicate of Sound. They had the hit song, Little Girl. You see concert clips of them in suits playing very aggressive sounds. The juxtaposition of the two is quite amusing. Also, from San Jose, was Count Five. Their hit, Psychotic Reaction, was another example of proto punk/ garage. I get misty.-eyed every time I see that clip of LA’s Sunset strip. Hearing on the radio,the real Don Steele on 93 KHJ Boss radio. Sigh…Thank you, YP for highlighting The Music Machine in this very well done doc.
Cheers! I love the Syndicate of Sound and Count Five. "Psychotic Reaction" is one of my all-time favourite garage tunes.
Psychotic Reaction rules!
@@YesterdaysPapers admit it, we are all children of Nuggets😌
And you had the hard garage rock-n-roll coming out of the Pacific Northwest like the Sonics and others.
"The People in Me" was the stand out for me, with its dark vibe, dark chord changes and vocal.
Thank you for making this video. I grew up in LA during the 60s and still feel the music of that time is the best. There is a guy, named Kent who has a website called Forgotten Hits. He focuses on mostly music of the 60s and 70s. He did a series of regional hits. Such as Live by The Merry-Go-Round. Big in LA but not so much the rest of the country. And It’s Cold Outside by The Choir who hit it big in Cleveland. Anyway, I love your channel and look forward to the next video.
Cheers! I love "It's Cold Outside" by The Choir. Great tune.
Talk Talk is one minute and 58 seconds of perfection
It really is a fantastic song..
Thanks for paying homage to my hometown. Yes, here in LA in the 80s many 60s revival bands appeared and it started a movement known as the Paisley Underground. Looking at their clothes also tells me they laid the path for goth. Also in the '70s and '80s, there was a nightclub in Los Angeles called the Music Machine which is now in the dustbin of history.
Cheers Chris!
You could see The Bangles ( Bangs ) , Dream Syndicate & Three O'Clock all on one bill at The Music Machine on Pico Blvd.
@@davidellis5141 I remember it well
Love the Paisley Underground movement - particularly The Rain Parade and the Long Riders 🤓👍
@@davidellis5141 Great bands and Green on Red and others.
Keith Olsen, the original bass player, went on to produce the Buckingham Nicks album and the first Fleetwood Mac album with them, along with many other groups and artists.
When I found out that Keith Olsen was the bassist for The Music Machine and later mega music producer, I quickly sent him an email because I really loved the used of fuzz tone on the song Talk Talk. He quickly got back to me saying that the EKO violin shaped bass that he used was crushed while in air travel and that he then got a Hofner bass. The four not fuzz bass fill really made Talk Talk for me as I had just purchased a bass guitar that year. There were a couple of those EKO violin shaped basses around town so they were obviously affordable. Les Claypool has one that was gifted to him which he says sounds better than a Hofner Beatle Bass but doesn't have the finish and craftsmanship.. They sound best if played with a pick.
RIP Sean and Keith
I had the honor of working with Keith Olson at Sound City when I was still in high school and he taught me literally everything I know about recording consoles and date machines and the Art of recording. Sadly he is no longer with us. RIP Keith ❤
Never stopped to release strong tracks 'till the very end of The Machine.
What is missing still is a compilation capturing the essentials from all incarnations.
The Band Talk Talk took their name from a Music Machine song & titled their last album Laughing Stock after a Love song.
I didn’t know that! Big love fan
Worth mentioning that the mono version of the first LP is much more in your face compared to the stereo version. Saw Sean play in Spain with a great set of musicians in 2004. He had lost none of his vocal skill and was just amazing. R.I.P.
When I was 21 I was in a band that played Talk Talk, and our drummer’s other band had a guitar player who was Sean’s cousin, long story short Sean came to one of our practices, we played ‘Come On In’ with him and smoked some Thai stick (he was kind of in his transitional phase heading towards Christianity, he had real long hair and played his acoustic 12 string) then we tried to play Talk talk, which he couldn’t remember, weird. Fast forward to 2006 and one of my partners and clients worked on the ‘Music Machine, the Ultimate Turn On’ on Big Beat/Ace , again familiarizing myself with one of my favorite bands from the 60s remixing outtakes and doing some stereo mixes, I had the original 1” 8 track tapes on my machine I was in heaven! RIP Sean❤️
Hey YP, this is amazing! Got a nice DOUBLE cross-reference you can add to your files:
Paul Buff used to own Pal Studio in Cucamonga, CA until 1963. While there, he developed a 5-track deck(!), recorded bands, and licensed tapes to various labels in the area, including Original Sound and Del-Fi/Donna. Buff's work finally paid off when he produced the hit "Wipeout" by The Surfaris! It made Buff rich enough to sell Pal Studio (with his prototype 5-track machine and other equipment). This is where a surprise twist in history strikes again...
The new owner was a skinny kid who renamed the place "Studio Z", and he took over recording bands to shop out to labels...
It was a young Frank Zappa, barely in his 20s. His tapes from this era are still part of "The Zappa Vault". Zappa had those 5-tracks properly working before he passed (Studio Z tracks in stereo on "Lost Episodes" CD), so it would be great to hear previously-released mono cuts (by Zappa or any others) remastered in stereo.
(One step further though--just imagine if the "Wipeout" 5-track still existed, and a proper stereo mix could be done...? WOW!)
Overall, well done on Music Machine, YP!!!!
Cheers Recordhound! Very interesting story, I didn't know that!
Speaking of Los Angeles, the most eye-watering garage rock single for me is the Green Beans' "(Don't Give Me No) Friction". It wasn't even included in any Nuggets compilation, but it's one of the most blissful tunes I've ever heard. It can stand toe-to-toe with the best of 90s power pop. I'm still in utter disbelief a song like that was recorded in 1965.
thanks for the tip. Never heard it before
Talk talk is a proto-hardcore punk song. Absolutely love Music Machine. Huge influence on me.
Check out Bad Girl by Zakary Thaks (1966) That's way more proto-hardcore!
@kelechi_77 yeah Zakary Thaks is great! Haven't listened to them in awhile. You're absolutely right
Stunning episode Yesterday's Papers 😎! Great that you let these sinister proto-punkers see the light of day again! "The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly", "Double Yellow Line", "The People In Me", "Dark White", all Garage Rock classics! I have a number of albums by the gentlemen. Greetings!
Cheers, Edwin! Agreed, all those songs are brilliant.
Mystical timing on this one - I've been absolutely obsessed with "Dark White" over the last week, it's an absolute masterpiece. Glad to know YT agrees!
Brilliant song.
As a member and guitar player in The Beau Street Runners, Franconia, Virginia when Talk Talk was released, after about 10 attempts to learn and cover this song we gave up. Why?...Too many tempo changes and we sensed that no one would request the song anyway. We stuck to our repertoire of Animals, Stones, Yardbirds, Kinks and Wilson Pickett. Including Secret Agent Man, Dirty Water, Gloria, Baby Scratch My Back. And the hated 'Hanky Panky'. Thanks for the retrospect, YP.
Superb to hear from a member of an original Garage Band! Your music isn’t forgotten and inspired many to pick up some gear and have a go. Loads of bands over hear particularly the Punk ones were indebted to the original 60s Garage Bands from the USA and their UK Freakbeat equivalents 😃✌️
I saw The Music Machine along with Sky Saxon & The Seeds, Arthur Lee & Love and Big Brother & The Holding Company with a Janis Joplin sound-a-like at a Psychedelic 60's reunion concert at the Universal Amphitheater back in January 1989. The entire concert was a blast. I remember the lead singer for the Music Machine that night had a huge long black beard or it was a prop for the concert, I couldn't tell.
I envy you, man.
Great music that deserved a better reception
Finally crossing the pond
I was about to say precisely the same thing - glad I saw you comment before I cranked up the keyboard!
A band way ahead of its time that has influenced me the most in my music. I even have a sealed original copy of Turn On.
Very cool, i'd love to have an original copy of that record. My copy is just a vinyl reissue from (I believe) the early 2000s.
Great content and very well researched. I knew of Talk Talk, but have now discovered their other works, thanks. Sadly an all too similar story too many acts eaten up by rotten managers in the Sixties. ✌️
That Farfisa organ tone really dates their sound.
Maybe but I love that Farfisa organ tone.
Thank you so much for this. Sean was brilliant and sadly unrecognized, in a musical world where mediocacy can often be promoted to the top. The Music Machine also brought the Vox Continental, which had an unmistakable sound. RIP, Sean passed in 2011 having never achieved the popularity he so richly deserved.
‘MEDIOCRITY’
He was mediocre
@@nathandodge665 I wouldn’t mind reading why you think so and what is your statement based on. Any reasoning backing up your comment?
@@sazatornill it's based on the concept of talent.
@@nathandodge665 The concept of talent suits perfectly Sean’s work by definition. Hard to believe how can you find his work mediocre and hard to believe the way you understand talent is completely contrary to what I understand as talent. Sean Bonniwell managed to put together a unique body of work. A few extremely memorable albums with really well crafted songs under an exceptional vision with a unique image.
You need talent to write unique songs specially without a reference as they created their own vision different to any other band from that period which ended up influencing loads of bands after for many decades. You need talent to create, articulate and materialize that vision in a convincing way.
You need talent to create a new sound coherently. You need talent to create a strong image for a band to deliver that unique message in a unique and interesting way which had a lot of influence on loads of bands (they probably played a critical role on the ramones image for instance and many other bands…).
Strong songs, strong albums, strong sound and a strong band image equal 🟰 strong skills and strong skills equal 🟰 by definition, talent.
Those are some of the reasons in a nutshell why I find it very hard to understand how can’t someone see talent in their work. Even more if you use the word mediocre.
The music machine were many things but definitely not mediocre.
Looking forward to hearing the reasons why you chose to use that word.
Previous to The Music Machine, Sean was in a Folk group The Wayfarers who released two singles and an album for RCA in the States in 1963. He usually only sang backing vocals. Their sound was like a cross between The Limeliters and The Journeymen, who both obviously got their influences from The Kingston Trio. But The Wayfarers really sounded like third generation. But there was no hint of future Psychedelia or Punk here.
I.E. I only printed this once. How it has got on to this page twice, I do not know. I have had this before.
Great Vid. Sadly Underrated. Had Nuggets and Remember their Re-Discovery in the 80's. You forgot The Fleshtones, another 70's/80's "Garage Rock" revival band. There were loads of those Bands in the 80's.
We had a covers band in the late '60s and Talk Talk and People In Me are still special memories. Both were so much fun to play. Another great job of research and presentation from YP!
Cheers!
I used to know Mark Landon and he was truly amazed at the cult status of his band. He's got a lot of great stories and is a really sweet guy. Works as an animator now, I believe. Another great film YP!
Cheers.
My ex-girlfriends brother , borrowed a guitar from them once in 1970,but we never gave it back , it was used on the song " Strong Unsuitable" The guitar, a Fender IIV Threnger, still has that grickey leather jacket smell.😮😊
I believe ‘Bottom Of The Soul’ was also recorded with the original lineup.
It’s worth noting original bassist Keith Olsen became a very successful producer. He did Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’
Yeah, I forgot to mention that.
@@YesterdaysPapers Keith produced a bunch of albums, but I'd trade most of that work just to have the Music machine catalogue. Ron Edgar, who had played with Curt Boettcher in the Goldebriars, rejoined Curt with Doug Rhodes for for the Millenium and other projects.
Fun fact: after Sean left the Machine he wrote and recorded the soundtrack for a weird little film called "The Night of the Witches"
As ever a superb back story to a cosmic garage band. I bought that Rhino Best Of…back in the mid 80s when I first got into Psychedelia!
Imagine a bill with these, The Chocolate Watch Band (who I was lucky to see at a gig in the big smoke back in I think 2005?), The Electric Prunes and The Seeds.
Shame they didn’t have more success as they had some great songs. 🤓👍🎸
What a great piece of music at less than 2 minutes.
I was momentarily confused at first. I saw 'Talk Talk' and immediately thought you were going to leave the 60's and talk about Mark Hollis. You got me on that one.
Talk Talk is the song that got me into Rock and Roll.
Fascinating deep dive on a group I did not know much about.
This is a very nice introduction to Bonniwell's \ Music Machine's contribution to the world. Dare I say that, when listening to David Bowie, one couldn't help but notice an evidence to Bonniwell's vocal approach and influence, which has stretched far beyond the limited commercial success SB had. SB deserved much better !
Great episode...I didn't realize The Music Machine was that solid. Thank you.
Perhaps she you can do something on The Monks?
IT'S MONK TIME!!!! Second this, even tho none of their records were released in UK or US...still a fascinating story.
Maybe in the future, I love the Monks.
"Complication" is an absolutely crazy song!
At this point the Monks need to be quoted!
".. We don't like the army.
Who cares what army?..(..) James Bond
Who was he....Stop it Stop it I don't like it
It's too loud for my ears.."
Dear YP, thanks for giving Bonniwell and the Music Machine, always so neglected, at last, their due
I am a HUGE admirer since Russell Mael (hero)
introduced me to them on his 1980 spot on Radio 1. What a FANTASTIC, whirling, wurlizing, frenetic sound and Sean's growling 'Tom Jones' register. Pure garage-proto-punk-psychedelic. Soul too!
All the songs mentioned in the comments are FAB and I must add "Bottom of the Soul" which kicks off 'The Bonniwell MM : Beyond the Garage"20 - track compilation which features Sean's finest work. ❤As always to U, and all the YP community.
“Complication” was effectively used in German blockbuster “The Baader-Meinhof-Complex” to illustrate the overall mood towards the late 60’s. Perfect choice!
I was living in LA in the late 70's and early 80's and had a 1954 Les Paul Junior which I was selling at the time. Mark Landon showed up to my apartment and bought the guitar from me. I was pretty stoked as I loved the Music Machine and most bands from that era
YP, Many multitudinous thanks for this piece! I did not realize that the Music Machine was yet another band that got swindled out of owning their own name. LA contemporaries were another band who lost their name to the producer - and lost members after their second album, Underground, as a result. Sometimes I wish that I had the Wayback Machine of Peabody (and his pet boy Sherman) to go back and remove a bunch of music moguls.
But this band was great. If the first album did not have those covers (96 Tears? Taxman? Cherry Cherry?), it would be in my top five for '66. But Sean's voice was/is a real pleasure to hear, and the band is so tight (garage sound with garage limitations) that you have sent me back to my stacks yet again.
And the shots of LA streets sure don't like London with the double-decker buses! YP shines even brighter in this piece.
Cheers!
Instant like before even watching. Love the Music Machine!
This was very well researched and produced. You even featured the obscure but brilliant "Dark White." Great job!
my first ever concert in 1967. they were great. i remember it well to this day. i still have a copy of 'turn on', 'the bonniwell music machine' and the 45 of 'eagle never hunts the fly'.
Superb piece on a truely GREAT short lived band...Fantastic post 👍👍👍
I saw them live in San Francisco on the same bill as The Seeds and The Beach Boys. Talk Talk is a great tune, which I still listen to from time to time. Garage Rock Forever - thanks to Little Steven and his Underground Garage.
Talk talk, I knew the song, but never heard of the band. Thanks for your fantastic work.
Cheers.
Another band I'd totally forgotten ..but they were indeed so influential back then...great band
Rest in peace Keith Olsen and Sean Bonniwell, Keith went on to make some of the greatest music ever recorded during the 60s with Curt Boettcher.
This episode was absolutely fantastic. Thank you YP! For all their original awesomeness…I absolutely love their take on cherry cherry.
Cheers!
The Music Machine is another band I first heard when I was a 13 year old and has remained one of my favorite groups. Sean Bonniwell also did the soundtrack for a movie called Day of the Wolves from 1971. The title track has a Sean Bonniwell vocal and is pretty interesting. He was so talented and deserved a bigger career. Thanks and Cheers.
Ramones totally stole that look. and the Cars' 1980 "Panorama" totally has MM sound all over it. Glorious.
Interesting stuff. I don't think I'd ever heard any of their music before. 🎶
Yesterday papers esperemos pronto subas algo de grupos americanos en la segunda mitad de la década de los 60s.
Grupos como Seeds, Blues Magoos, Red Krayola, etc.
Como siempre: felicidades por tu trabajo.
I've never heard of The Music Machine before. You learn something new every day. Cheers mate 😉
Thank you! Well-done! And another thank you for mentioning The Chesterfield Kings and The Fuzztones.
Come on in is a phenomenal track...love his styles and later work , great video as always !
Thanks.
if i'm not mistaken this is the first yesterday's papers episode that focuses primarily on an american topic. music machine is a great beginning. looking forward to more episodes of 60s music from britain, america, and beyond.
Great to see you tackling American music - and choosing one of the greatest bands.
Superb band. Some of the filthiest, gnarliest and nasty fuzz tones ever cut to wax. Fuzzbox built by the bassist (Keith Olsen RIP 2020) who is much more well known as a producer for Whitesnake, Ozzy, Fleetwood Mac, Scorpions etc. Wish I knew what circuit and transistors he used.
Nice one. I played guitar in a MM cover band for a minute. It was fun to learn these songs.
Groundbreaking, underrated band…have initial album on vinyl as well as Bonniwells Music Machine… cover of Hey Joe is great
Never heard of this band, but now I have. Thank you, awesome band.
A delightful tribute to a fascinating band - thanks!
One minor correction, though: inexplicably, The Music Machine were NOT featured on the original NUGGETS double-LP. They did later appear on various Rhino Records compilations under the NUGGETS umbrella, including the 4CD set that includes the original album.
I love this band. Thank you for this.
I could clearly see that The Doors and Iron Butterfly could have been influenced by this group. Cheers! ✌️
Excellent stuff! Really good sound!
Always have spectacular videos. Thank you 💖💖💖💖💖💖
Discovered MM in the early eighties, one of the greatest bands of all time..
Great vid. Band were well ahead of their time and influenced many more. I initially bought that best of vinyl compilation back in the 80s
Great garage rock. Document some more, please
When I was 16, my friends and I saw The Music Machine at Melodyland, across the street from Disneyland, April 8, 1967, with the headliner, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, plus The Merry Go-Round, The Yellow Balloon, and The Knack. 'Tis a magical musical memory, still turning in the windmills of my mind. Musically, IMO, The Bonniwell Music Machine was a notch below The Music Machine. As they say, Accept No Substitutes, Beware of Imitations.
I had the album with Talk Talk on it. Every song was good !
Interesting Video, YP. Always liked "Talk Talk" by the group. Kinda nice to hear some of the other recordings the band made.
Thank you so much for this portrait of The Music Machine and its brilliant leader, Sean Bonniwell (1940-2011), true innovators often exploring darker territory than much of the flower-power, love-and-peace-oriented bands of the '66-'67 moment- the '60s version of what we now call "cancel culture" (a theme explored a few years later by Alice Cooper in their song "No More Mr. Nice Guy," whose narrator even gets punched in the nose by a minister in a church), government surveillance, etc. True story: After securing my financial independence allowing me to retire early and coming to terms with unexpected widowerhood, I met my son's challenge to follow through on my long-standing promise to take up guitar in middle age (he is a much more talented musician with me, but I do the best I can). As part of that, living here in Chicago, I took lessons and group classes at the famed Old Town School of Folk Music, which spawned Jim-later-Roger McGuinn, Steve Goodman, and John Prine, among many others. After a year or two, I began to play in the ensemble classes there.
I joined the '60s Ensemble, which promised to cover all the range of pop and rock styles in that decade from Del Shannon to early Pink Floyd, James Brown to the Left Banke. The leader encouraged suggestions from members for performance at our once-every-eight-weeks "graduation" gigs, plus additional occasional gigs. At the beginning of one eight-week cycle, I submitted "Talk Talk," which I had painstakingly tabbed out for practice/rehearsal. At the first session we played through the song, and, at the end, our teacher-leader, a man of supreme talent and taste and for whom I have enormous respect, got a look of severe consternation or worry on his face. "I think this song is too dark. I can understand where it's going and its influence on later rock genres, but I can't accept it this round." The song was thus excluded. Meanwhile, a contingent within the ensemble gained prominence and ensured we would be performing relatively anodyne tunes by the likes of Ronny & The Daytonas, The Monkees, and Paul Revere and the Raiders. I've got nothing against any of that, but it wasn't really the stuff I was interested in playing. Not long after, I dropped out of the '60s Ensemble and took up with the Grateful Dead Ensemble, led by the same man, and have happily explored the vast panorama of music that band delved into during its long, strange trip, and where more unconventional music styles were encouraged and welcomed. So it all ended up pretty ok, except that I've never played "Talk Talk," a seminal song of anger and pain, before any audience.
Glad that you're exploring the West Coast now. SF and LA were certainly, outside of London and perhaps Detroit, the centers of pop and rock innovation for much of the '60s. But I hope at some point you explore the New York/Eastern Seaboard scene as well- Dylan, The Lovin' Spoonful, Al Kooper/Blues Incorporated/Blood, Sweat, & Tears, The Velvet Underground, The Blues Magoos, The Young Rascals/Rascals, The Band, The Fugs, Vanilla Fudge, to name just a few. In any case, thank you for another beautiful and delightful vid. And long live Sean Bonniwell.
Cool story, Mack! Thanks!
Mack. At the time of your first band. "Your social life was a dud, you're name was really Mud you were up to here in lies, guess it was no surprise.. - Talk Talk.
Great look at an influential genius. Masculine intuition is my personal favorite off of 'Turn On'
🤔 Did Jimi heard Hey Joe by Music Machine before he made his own version ? Interesting... 🧐
Jimi is said to have taken his inspiration from Tim Rose’s slowed down version, who again had nicked it from the harder hitting The Leaves. Playing with tempo-arrangements became a huge thing after House Of The Rising Sun, which allegedly had to be slowed down by The Animals when another band at a bandstand had just played an energetic rendition of Nina Simone’s version before them and they didn’t have enough material to replace the number… maybe an old myth, but one that I like to believe. 😃
Thanks for giving this underrated band its due. Bonniwell had an amazing voice. Excellent video!
Great stuff! I must check them out again!🙂
Cheers Graham!
I saw an oldies show in the late 80s with LOVE ,SEEDS , MUSIC MACHINE and BIG BROTHER...
More vids like this, these are your best
Another smashing vid! In the early '90s, I lived not far from Art Laboe's ORIGINAL SOUND Records on Sunset Blvd. Loved the old film footage of Sunset farther west from ORIGINAL SOUND, down where the ROXY and the RAINBOW are today. One of my favorite lyric lines comes from "Talk Talk" -- "...my social life's a dud/my name is really mud..."
Talk Talk the perfect rock song will live forever with music lovers. Thank you.
They were the really first all out punk rock band without it being called punk rock
Great organ.
I remember being blown away the first time I heard Talk Talk. The drummer was brilliant.
03:53 As a New Zealander I was amazed to see the red and yellow poster on the left. It names Ray Columbus. He was a Kiwi artist who had some success in NZ and Australia as vocalist with a band called The Invaders. When they broke up he spent two years in the USA. This is the only evidence I have ever seen on YT of his time there.
thanks for the work you do
Boss Radio 93 KHJ Los Ángeles wirh afternoon drive. The legendary Real Don Steele. Does anyone know that KHJ, "Boss Radio" was on Melrose Ave. It was next to RKO Radio Pictures and Paramount studios. Greetings from Hollywood California.
You didn't mention their original bassist, Keith Olson, who became a major record producer after leaving the Music Machine.
Thanks for this i discovered Garage /Psych around 1980 when the UK Punk scene ran out of ideas In reality it was over by the end of 78 .The Music Machine were a unique band Lyrically and musically way ahead of their time .With better promotion and management they should have been big but promotion was pretty poor back then and only terrible bands like the Rolling Stones etc managed to get proper promotion and the world missed out on some truly great bands I was in correspondence with Sean before he passed away around 2011 I ended up buying all his back catalogue along with signed stickers and poster and his book .He was mainly doing religious music at that point Dark white is my favourite song but i like love me again and both sides of last single on bell .are my favourites i have all the music machine records i have all the OS singles in band cover sleeves and close and also a signed copy of the Wayfarers album Sean is my favourite male singer his voice is very flexible I've no real interest in the US but i would have loved to have seen The Music Machine and some of those other bands CA Quintett We the people etc
Sean amazing songwriter. One of my favorite bands from the 60s.