

Before he became Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, Lenny Kaye compiled the 2 album set, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. Released in 1972, the two-LP set covered American garage rock and psychedelia from the years 1965-1968 and was a major influence on punk rock. Rhino Records reissued an expanded version of the set in 1998, with 118 tracks in total. I’m profiling and rating each of these 118 tracks, working backwards.
Track 48/118: I Wonder by The Gants
Release Date: 1967
From: Greenwood, Mississippi
Aphoristic Rating: 9/10
I WONDER – The Gants [2:14]
(Sid Herring)
Personnel/SID HERRING: vocals, guitar * JOHNNY SANDERS: guitar * VINCE MONTGOMERY: bass * DON WOOD: drums
Arranged by DALLAS SMITH
Produced by DALLAS SMITH
Recorded in Nashville, TN
Liberty single #55940 (1/67)
Sid Herring started his musical career playing in a band named The Kingsmen (different from the band who recorded ‘Louie Louie’). He formed The Gants, taking the band name from a popular brand of shirt. Their first single was a cover of ‘Road Runner’, and they opened for The Animals. Because two of the band members were still in high school, they never committed fully to their music career, but they were clearly accomplished.
Released in 1967, ‘I Wonder’ recalls 1965-era Beatles, belying the band’s Mississippi origins. Herring sounds similar to John Lennon, while the melody is reminiscent of ‘In My Life’ in places. It’s lightweight, but in the best possible way.
The band released three albums, and their 1966 single ‘Little Boy Sad’ helped pioneer the talk effects unit. But they’d drifted apart by 1967 – Herring continued in the music business as a staff writer for Liberty Records, but the other members returned to Greenwood. They reunited in 2005, but by the end of 2012 Herring was the only surviving member of the band.
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Nuggets: Shape of Things to Come by Max Frost & The Troopers

Nuggets: Primitive by The Groupies

Nuggets: Louie Louie by The Kingsmen

Nuggets: The Witch by The Sonics

Nuggets: I’m Five Years Ahead of My Time by The Third Bardo

Nuggets II: Flight from Ashiya by Kaleidoscope

Nuggets: Mr. Pharmacist by The Other Half

Nuggets: Farmer John by The Premiers

Nuggets: Incense and Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clock

Nuggets: Tobacco Road by Blues Magoos

Nuggets: Follow Me by Lyme & Cybelle

Nuggets: I Think I’m Down by the Harbinger Complex

Nuggets: Blackout of Gretely by GONN

Nuggets II: Pictures of Matchstick Men by The Status Quo

Nuggets: Open My Eyes by Nazz

Nuggets: Live by The Merry-Go-Round

Sugar and Spice by The Cryan’ Shames

Nuggets: You Burn Me Up and Down by We The People

Nuggets: Just Like Me by Paul Revere & the Raiders

Nuggets II: Get Yourself Home by The Fairies

Nuggets: Falling Sugar by The Palace Guard

Nuggets: Lies by The Knickerbockers

Nuggets: Psychotic Reaction by Count Five

Nuggets: Respect by The Vagrants

Nuggets: I Live in the Springtime by The Lemon Drops

Nuggets: I’m Gonna Make You Mine by The Shadows of Knight

Nuggets II: No Good Without You Baby by The Birds

Nuggets: Can’t Seem To Make You Mine by The Seeds

Nuggets: Little Bit O’Soul by The Music Explosion

Nuggets II: I Wish I Was Five by Scrugg

Nuggets II: Bat Macumba by Os Mutantes

Nuggets II: Sad by The (Australian) Playboys

Nuggets: Stop! Get A Ticket by Clefs of Lavender Hill

Nuggets: Mindrocker by Fenwyck

Nuggets: Laugh, Laugh by The Beau Brummels

Nuggets: Out Of Our Tree by The Wailers

Nuggets: Love's Gone Bad by The Underdogs

Nuggets: Little Girl by Syndicate of Sound

Nuggets: A Question of Temperature by The Balloon Farm

Nuggets: Night Time by The Strangeloves

Nuggets: Run, Run, Run by The Third Rail

Nuggets: Open Up Your Door by Richard & the Young Lions

Nuggets: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love In) by The Chocolate Watchband

Nuggets II: Vacuum Cleaner by Tintern Abbey

Nuggets: Beg, Borrow, And Steal by The Rare Breed

Nuggets: Moulty by The Barbarians

Nuggets II: Nothin’ by Ugly Ducklings

Nuggets: My World Fell Down by Sagittarius

Nuggets: Put the Clock Back on the Wall by The E-Types

Nuggets: I Want Candy by The Strangeloves

Nuggets: So What! by The Lyrics

Nuggets: Action Woman by The Litter

Nuggets: Journey To The Center Of The Mind by The Amboy Dukes

Nuggets II: Break It All by Los Shakers

Nuggets: No Friend of Mine by The Sparkles

Nuggets: Why Do I Cry by The Remains

Nuggets: Sweet Young Thing by The Chocolate Watchband

Nuggets: An Invitation to Cry by The Magicians

Nuggets: Oh Yeah by The Shadows of Knight

Nuggets II: I’m Just A Mops by The Mops

Nuggets: Why Pick On Me by The Standells

Nuggets II: Dance Around the Maypole by Acid Gallery

Nuggets II: I’m Your Witchdoctor by Chants R&B

Nuggets: No Time Like The Right Time by The Blues Project

Nuggets: Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Nuggets: Get Me to the World on Time by The Electric Prunes

Nuggets II: Slaves Time by The Slaves

Nuggets II: No Presents For Me by The Pandamonium

Nuggets: Blue's Theme by Davie Allan & the Arrows

Nuggets II: Why Don’t You Smile Now by Downliners Sect

Nuggets: Sit Down, I Think I Love You by The Mojo Men

Nuggets: I Wonder by The Gants

Nuggets: I See the Light by The Five Americans

Nuggets: Mirror Of Your Mind by We The People

Nuggets: Voices Green and Purple by The Bees

Nuggets: Let’s Talk About Girls by The Chocolate Watchband

Nuggets: Johnny Was A Good Boy by Mystery Trend

Nuggets: Double Yellow Line by The Music Machine

Nuggets II: Real Crazy Apartment by Winston’s Fumbs

Nuggets: Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs

Nuggets: Maid of Sugar – Maid of Spice by Mouse and the Traps

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Nuggets: Jack of Diamonds by The Daily Flash

Nuggets: Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love) by The Swingin’ Medallions

Nuggets: It’s Cold Outside by The Choir

Nuggets II: Rosalyn by The Pretty Things

Nuggets: Diddy Wah Diddy by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

Nuggets: I Need You by The Rationals

Nuggets: You Must Be A Witch by The Lollipop Shoppe

Nuggets: 7 and 7 Is by Love

Nuggets II: How Does It Feel to Feel by The Creation

Nuggets: Hey Joe by the Leaves

Nuggets II: Bad Little Woman by The Wheels

Nuggets: Going All the Way by The Squires

Nuggets: I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) by The Electric Prunes

Nuggets: Who Do You Love by The Woolies

Nuggets II: Come On by The Atlantics

Nuggets: Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl by The Barbarians

Nuggets: Strychnine by The Sonics

Nuggets II: Kicks and Chicks by The Zipps

Nuggets: At the River’s Edge by New Colony Six

Nuggets: Outside Chance by The Turtles

Nuggets II: It’s My Fault by The Rattles

Nuggets: Fight Fire by The Golliwogs

Nuggets: Spazz by The Elastik Band

Nuggets: Too Many People by The Leaves

Nuggets: Time Won’t Let Me by The Outsiders

Nuggets: What Am I Going to Do? by The Dovers

Nuggets: The Trip by Kim Fowley

Nuggets: Knock, Knock by The Humane Society

Nuggets: (Would I Still Be) Her Big Man by The Brigands

Nuggets: It’s A-Happening by The Magic Mushrooms

Nuggets II: The Train to Disaster by The Voice

Nuggets: Run, Run, Run by The Gestures

Nuggets: Journey to Tyme by Kenny and the Kasuals

Nuggets: Bad Little Woman by The Shadows of Knight

Nuggets: Psycho by The Sonics

Nuggets: Story of My Life by The Unrelated Segments

Nuggets II: No More Now by The Smoke

Nuggets II: Here Come the Nice by The Small Faces

Nuggets II: One Third by The Majority

Nuggets II: The Bitter Thoughts Of Little Jane by Timon

Nuggets II: My Life by Thor’s Hammer

Nuggets: You Ain’t Tuff by The Uniques

Nuggets: Codine by The Charlatans

Nuggets: Nobody But Me by The Human Beinz

Nuggets: She’s My Baby by The Mojo Men

Baby, Please Don’t Go by The Amboy Dukes

Nuggets: Pushin’ Too Hard by The Seeds

Nuggets: (We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet by the Blues Magoos

Nuggets: Complication by The Monks

Nuggets II: When The Alarm Clock Rings by the Blossom Toes

Nuggets: Talk Talk by The Music Machine

Nuggets: A Public Execution by Mouse

Nuggets: Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White by The Standells

Nuggets: Last Time Around by The Del-Vetts

Nuggets: Dirty Water by The Standells

Nuggets: Don’t Look Back by The Remains

Nuggets: You’re Gonna Miss Me by The 13th Floor Elevators

Nuggets II: The Madman Running Through The Fields by Dantalian’s Chariot

Nuggets: Optical Sound by The Human Expression

Nuggets: Bad Girl by The Zakary Thaks

Nuggets: The Little Black Egg by The Nightcrawlers

Nuggets II: Touch by The Outsiders

Nuggets: One Track Mind by The Knickerbockers

Nuggets: She’s About A Mover by Sir Douglas Quintet

Nuggets: Steppin’ Out by Paul Revere & the Raiders

Nuggets II: But You’ll Never Do It, Babe by The Boots

Nuggets: I Ain’t No Miracle Worker by The Brogues

Nuggets: Hold Me Now by The Rumors

Nuggets: Romeo and Juliet by Michael and the Messengers

Nuggets II: Glendora by Downliners Sect

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Pretty pleasant tune. I also love the trivia about the talk box. “Little Boy Sad” isn’t a bad song either!
Yeah, I was surprised to learn that the talk box was so old.
Definite Beatles flavor to it. I think of The Smithereens as well…
I don’t really know The Smithereens – I’ve always assumed I’d like them, but so many bands, so little time…
That is so funny cuz I always thought the exact same thing you did, how it sounds like In My Life. It would have sounded like the Beatles anyway just cuz it’s so British Invasiony. I didn’t know Gant was a brand of shirt. Maybe it was like London Fog shirts like my father used to have and was a big brand back in the sixties and seventies. And they made these Mod-sy shirts that Mod people used to wear. They were like a regular button-down shirt that were usually pin-striped except sometimes the collar was white and the rest of the shirt was like blue or pink and sometimes they had a Nehru collar. And you wore them with your peg leg pants. I used to go up in our attic and go through the boxes of old ’60s clothes that my father had saved and it was awesome.
I think the In My Life thing is pretty obvious.
Looks like Gant is a brand: “For GANT, it all began with shirts and we’ve never stopped reinventing them. Born in 1949, it’s a shirt that is rich in legacy and history.”
My dad didn’t have such cool clothes. He liked to wear knee socks with roman sandals and short shorts.
I’m going to have to look up Gant and see what their shirts were like. You can buy actual vintage London Fog shirts online but I never did. It’s fun looking at them though. I wouldn’t mind having a paisley one.
Look at this list from a poll we had at RYM. Look how much better it is than the Rolling Stones list. Ain’t it? What do you think?
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/bobohead61x/the-2023-rolling-stone-top-200-singers-of-all-time-continued-on-rym/
So you just added a bunch of extra singers at the end – that’s pretty cool. You got some of my favourites like Carl Wilson.
No Celine Dion? I guess RYM HQ can expect a protest too….
I think someone nominated Celine but nobody voted for it so she didn’t get very far. First everybody nominated whoever they wanted and then they were voted on.
I’m surprised she even got nominated on RYM.