Over the years, there have been many bands who play like they don’t know the 60’s ever came to an end. This is great news.

On most stops along my magical musical tour, I’ve listed Known For for each band, to remind the reader where they might have heard of the bands before. But most of these bands are not known for anything, at least that I’m aware of. So I’ve replaced that with a Sounds Like, to give you a clue of who else they might remind you of.

These are “my” bands. The bands that helped shape who I am, roughly in order of how much they mean to me.

Dave Mattingly: The Musical, Part 15

Garage Rock

• Mystic Eyes
  • Sounds Like: The Animals, Van Morrison/Them, Sweet, The Standells, MC5
  • Memories: The first song I heard from Mystic Eyes was “From Above” back in 1986. I thought that the singer, Bernie Kugel, sounded like Elmer Fudd with a cold (and I mean that in the best way possible), and loved him for it. The first line of their opening track, “she’s got a reason” sounds a bit like “she’s got a weasel”, which makes She Don’t Cry No More even more fun. In 1993 or so, I was on a business trip to Pittsburgh, and got to town a day before my conference, so I stopped by Get Hip headquarters, the label that produced their albums. It was great to meet the folks there, and pick up the band’s second album (that I didn’t even know existed).
  • Favorite Songs: From Above, Calm Me Down, I Lost My World, She Don’t Cry No More, I Believe You, I Can Only Give You Everything
  • Links: There’s a great retrospective here and their whole first album here.

Surf Pop

• Guantanamo Baywatch
  • Sounds Like: The Cramps, The Ventures
  • Favorite Songs: Sea of Love, Mr. Rebel

• The Shelters
  • Sounds Like: Castaways, The Electric Prunes
  • Favorite Songs: Rebel Heart

• Beach Day
  • Sounds Like: The Shangri-Las, The Dixie Cups, The Ronettes
  • Favorite Songs: I’m Just Messin’ Around, Don’t Call Me on the Phone

Psychedelic Rock

• Turbo Fruits
  • Sounds Like: The Byrds, The Zombies, T Rex
  • Favorite Songs: Show Me Something Real

• Jellyfish
  • Sounds Like: The Turtles, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Queen, Lovin’ Spoonful
  • Favorite Songs: Now She Knows She’s Wrong

• The Temples
  • Sounds Like: The Byrds, Count Five
  • Favorite Songs: Shelter Song

• Quilt
  • Sounds Like: The Zombies, The Turtles
  • Favorite Songs: Searching For

Girl Power Pop

• Got a Girl
  • Sounds Like: Nancy Sinatra, Petula Clark
  • Favorite Song: There’s a Revolution

• God Help the Girl
  • Sounds Like: The Ronettes, Belle and Sebastian
  • Favorite Song: God Help the Girl

• Boom! Bap! Pow!
  • Sounds Like: She & Him, Honeyhoney
  • Favorite Song: Suit

• Belle and Sebastian
  • Sounds Like: The Association, Stereolab, The Cowsells
  • Favorite Song: Write About Love

Go back to Part 14: Halloween Music or on to Part 16: Love Songs