The Music Machine/Nuns connection

[massb]

I don't know how many of you appreciate early punk rock but I really dig this cover version.

And who remembered the Music Machinein the USA in 1977?

https://soundcloud.com/massimo-b-538286548%2Fthe-nuns-talk-talk

 

[MopTopMike]

I knew who the Music Machine were in 1977, I already had "Talk Talk" and "The People In Me" on 45s.
Punk rock had no bearing on my discovery of '60s garage.

 

[13th Floor Garage]

Thanks massb. The majority of us (in his same age range) are probably unlike MTM. In my early teens, I only knew what was in my older Uncle's LP collection and what was fed through AOR radio. I liked what little "garage" was played on the radio (Seeds, Electric Prunes etc.) but never heard Music Machine back then (70's radio when they played "oldies") . As Punk/New Wave was just starting, the press and music being heard on the left end of the dial provided something quite refreshing to a lot of us. Not until after discovering Punk/New Wave, did I read about Nuggets, Pebbles etc...

Although the Saint's first LP was a turning point for me, it was years later when the Nomad's LP "Outbursts" (which sported some garage covers) prompted me to look further into 60's garage Perhaps someone listening to the Nun's "Talk Talk" had a similar experience.

 

[Laurent Bigot]

Many punk bands did covers of garage classics in the late 70s.

 

[MopTopMike]

"Talk Talk" was a Top 10 hit in my area in the fall of 1966. When I heard it again in 1976 on an oldies format station, I immediately recognized it - I knew I'd heard it before. The local record shop had a few unsold copies of that and "The People In Me" which I didn't immediately recognize, I bought it just because it was another 45 by the same group. Soonafter, I found out about their other dozen or so recordings, and made it a quest to hear them, or find them to buy for the collection.
I had no idea what punk rock was, or even that it was going on 90 miles away in New York City. I didn't hear a Ramones song until the fall of 1977, I caught it on a NYC Fm radio station. I liked "Sheena.." but it didn't make me ditch everything I had ever heard or knew regarding music. It didn't change my world, unlike people who cite punk music as their personal savior.
By the '80s, I had heard a lot of that style of music, liked some of it, not all. I was far more interested in discovering and learning about what I missed out on, and not what was going on or recent.

 

[Laurent Bigot]

Last night I read a piece from an old french rock mag' (Rock & Folk feb 77) by Philippe Garnier (the Sponge Records guy) who mention the Music Machine as a reference without further explaination, meaning his readers knew who he was talking about, so they were not that obscure even in France. By the way, in a previous issue from early '74, there is a review of Nuggets in which they use the word "garage".

 

[bosshoss]

I can remember people talking about "garage bands" in the late '60s or very early '70s. It just meant bands that rehearsed in a garage, meaning young unprofessional bands. It was one of those fairly common phrases bandied around, like "progressive" rock. Everyone interested in rock music knew what it meant. As far as the Music Machine is concerned, none of my friends at school ever heard of them, of course. But I found their LP with 2 Standells and some other weird and forgotten LPs, in a warehouse sale in western Sydney. It would have been 1971/72 or thereabouts because it was way before I started White Light records. Someone had brought a container full of LP "cut-outs" from the USA and was selling them cheap, in boxes lined up in rows on the floor of a warehouse. It was advertised in the Herald classifieds. I wish I could remember more, and I'd love to know what I passed over through ignorance. All I can remember is coming home on the train with The Music Machine, and Standells LPs, looking at the covers and thinking "wow!". I wasn't particularly impressed with the Music Machine LP, except for "Talk Talk". I was too harsh on them, as now I know the LP is fantastic (but not as good as the Bonniwell Music Machine LP).

Concerning the Nuns - when I visited San Francisco and LA in 1977, I can remember seeing posters for The Nuns up in quite a few places around town. And posters of Crime as well. From my limited observations, those 2 bands had the best exposure of the west coast punk bands in 1977.

 

[Rythmn Boy]

Being an ex-Sydneysider I can really imagine you Mark sitting on that old red rattler looking at those LP covers. I did the same thing many times going in the opposite direction (going back to the West) looking at the records I had bought at Phantom, Anthem, White Light or one of the few other worthwhile record shops. Later when I lived in the inner-city (late 70s) I went to a similar sought of sale as you described. The only thing slightly garage I bought there was Safe as Milk by Captain Beefheart. I am just old enough to remember hearing the early records of bands like the Easybeats and the Masters Apprentices on the radio, but I had probably never heard the term 'garage' music used to describe a genre before BFTG. I do remember one of my neighbours having a garage band much earlier than that. I can still hear them belting out Jumping Jack Flash