The Great Scots — “The Light Hurts My Eyes”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — March 4, 2022

373) The Great Scots — “The Light Hurts My Eyes”

‘66 A-side from “the most kick-ass garage band ever to don kilts” (https://sundazed.com/great-scots-great-lost-great-scots-album.aspx) and “Canada’s answer to the Beatles”! (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-great-scots-mn0000070866/biography). Utterly fantastic song — compelling riff and the message that sunlight isn’t always the best disinfectant.

Cub Koda informs us that:

[T]he biggest group from Nova Scotia: the Great Scots . . . cut three singles of wild punk music, loaded with solid playing and great screaming vocals. . . . Hailed in the Canadian press as “Canada’s answer to the Beatles,” the group flew down to California in 1965, looking for bigger horizons to conquer. [They] capitalized on their Scottish heritage and wore Nova Scotian tartan kilts onstage, causing quite a stir everywhere they played. [They] sported solid harmonies and a wide musical palette that embraced everything from blues to rock & roll to a smattering of jazz. Their fame in California grew by leaps and bounds, doing guest shots on both American Bandstand and Shindig! [and] receiving the key to the city from the mayor of Santa Barbara, California. But the good times came to a quick end by 1967 because of the Vietnam War. The members had permanent visas, meaning they were all eligible for the draft. When [one member] was [drafted,] the others . . . called it a day and moved back to Canada.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-great-scots-mn0000070866/biography

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