re: Psych-Out, or Riot On Sunset Strip

The Lowdown on Motown

It may seem hard to believe now, but Detroit had a thriving garage rock scene in the '60s. Mitch Ryder, The MC5, The Stooges, The Amboy Dukes (w/ Ted Nugent), and Bob Seger (whose best work IMHO was in the '60s), among others, all came out of the Detroit scene.

Those acts generally stressed a harder rock, but early on many Detroit bands were influenced by the folk-rock sound of San Francisco's Beau Brummells.

The Young Men - "A Thought Of You" (1966) -- This band recorded for Detroit's Maltese label. Nothing else is known about them.

The Human Beings - "Because I Love Her" (1965) -- Well produced, with some better-than-average drumming, this was a actually fair-sized local hit (making the top 20 on one Detroit radio station's playlist).

The band was somehow able to work this local success into an appearance on the nationally syndicated TV show Shivaree out of L.A., where they lip-synched their record.



This appears to have been the band's only release. They got a national TV spot, and then nothing... Very curious. Maybe the band split because some members got drafted, or left town to go to school, or perhaps they just hated each other.

But at least they got a little bit o' immortality, which is more than most of us end up with.