Song:Wild Thing
Album:Hit Single Anthology
The British Invasion band The Troggs will forever be identified with the 1966 chart topper Wild Thing. They had other hits and were actually a pretty good band. The Troggs were from the British seaside resort town of Andover. The lead singer and main songwriter was Reg Ball who named himself Reg Presley. Other members were Dave Wright on rhythm guitar, Chris Britton on lead guitar, Pete Staples on bass and Ronnie Bond on drums. They were discovered by former Kinks manager Larry Page. In England they were on Fontana Records and in the US they were on Atco Records. Wild Thing was their second single and it quickly became a garage rock standard. Even a dispute between the two record companies over distribution didn't prevent Wild Thing from topping the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966. It was a huge worldwide hit. Though Reg Presley wrote most of The Troggs songs, Wild Thing was written by US songwriter Chip Taylor. He is the older brother of actor Jon Voight and Taylor also wrote Angel In The Morning. Wild Thing was first recorded by The Wild Ones in 1965 and I assume Page heard that version and had The Troggs record it. Of course Jimi Hendrix performed Wild Thing at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and proceeded to wreck his guitar. The Troggs other hits including With A Girl Like You and their 1968 US top ten hit Love Is All Around were more standard Britpop. They were a good band but somewhat underrated because of the huge success of Wild Thing. You can get all their hits on this budget comp. The Troggs split up in 1969 and after the various members attempted solo projects, they reformed in 1974 and Reg Presley and Chris Britton still lead The Troggs today. Ronnie Bond died in 1992 and Dave Wright died in 2008. Here's the video for Wild Thing by The Troggs.
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