Monday, October 12, 2009

The Evolution of "Wild Thing"

Maybe I should have waited a couple months, considering the title... But that's irrelevant now.

That drew... Getting me on a Condo Fucks/Troggs trip. I ended up picking up a Troggs record last time I was out and about on payday. And this latest little indulgence into music history is the result.

So's, the original was written by Chip Taylor circa 1965 and recorded first by The Wild Ones in the same year.

We all know how well The Troggs did in '66, moving then to Monterey Pop where Jimi Hendrix added his obviously acid-fueled twist on the song before setting his guitar on fire.

Most notably for me, though, isn't the Major League rip by X.

It's this, the point to which the decade of the 80s allowed this song to fully degenerate.



(I still like it.)

Where's the song now? In the hands of one Prince, disturbing the very fabric of space and time like he always does.

6 comments:

Eric said...

We should have just all changed our names to symbols.

Oh God... It's Lou. said...

If only destiny were so kind...

Craig said...

(What was this post about?)

Oh God... It's Lou. said...

Sometimes I just don't know anymore. I'm the lost puppy of the O dub Y.

Craig said...

You're still okay in my book, Lou.

My old roommate played "Crimson and Clover," like, every single day. I'm not really sure why. His favorite musician was Kid Rock. So I guess that kind of explains why.

Oh God... It's Lou. said...

Well, when I was doing my research, I discovered that when Prince covered that song, he took "Wild Thing"'s chorus and incorporated it into some crazy classic rock mash-up ala eunuch Lenny Kravitz, appropriately enough debuting it on "Ellen."

What was once our favorite Ricky Vaughn intro has been either reduced to or transcended to whatever Prince made it, depending on perspective. And it started with the banshee wails of one Sam Kinison, 'cause no one really messed with the meat and potatoes of that song til he got a hold of it.

"When I kiss you, I taste what other men had for lunch..."

Still too classic for even me to hate.