In praise of: the Troggs

On 6 August 1966 the Troggs topped the US charts with their single “Wild Thing”. In the 70s I was in a band whose female singer insisted on performing it: a gay thing, possibly. Much as I liked the Troggs – as did Iggy Pop, the Buzzcocks and the Ramones, among others – playing this song always embarrassed me until I thought, if it’s good enough for Jimi Hendrix…

Here, sound-only, are the Troggs arguing in the studio about how best to record a new song called “Tranquillity”. They were from Andover in Hampshire, most of them, and had truly rural accents. And OMFG they could swear. A sample:

It’s your fuckin’ wife, that’s the problem, you can’t do the solo because of your fuckin’ wife.

The tape circulated widely among musicians and is one of the inspirations for Spinal Tap. Here is a transcript, and here are the Troggs miming “Wild Thing” in 1966, down the Tube for some reason:

And here is Jimi Hendrix live at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, with his version. It’s not how we played it: