THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,684) The Missing Links — “You’re Drivin’ Me Insane”
The Missing Links’ (see #1,328) first A-side is “a wild, pile-driving original . . . totally unique in Aussie rock in 1965” (Peter Markmann, http://www.milesago.com/artists/missinglinks.htm), “tremendous ’60s punk, with blistering, feedback-ridden guitar and cord-shredding vocals”. (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-missing-links-mw0000884876).
Mike Stax writes that:
The song churns on a crude two-chord riff, with urgent Morse code organ, jungle drums, and swaths of feedback threatening to engulf the vocals. The track reaches a crescendo of savagery . . . . It was extreme stuff for 1965 . . . .
liner notes to the CD comp Nuggets II (Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969)
As to the Links, Richie Unterberger writes:
One of the best Australian bands of the ’60s, though they weren’t even stars in their home country, the[y] started as a very raw, Kinks-like combo, gaining a number two hit in New Zealand with “We 2 Should Live”/”Untrue.” The first lineup folded in 1965, and a second, with entirely different personnel, took the name. This aggregation cut the rawest Australian garage/punk of the era, and indeed some of the best from anywhere, sounding at their best like a fusion of the Troggs and the early Who, letting loose at times with wild feedback that was quite ahead of its time. They didn’t find commercial success, and split after several singles, an EP, and an album. Various members turned up in other Australian groups like Running Jumping Standing Still and Python Lee Jackson; the most notable of these was guitarist Doug Ford, who joined Running Jumping Standing Still and then graduated to the Master’s Apprentices [see #297] . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-missing-links-mn0000498637#biography
Peter Markmann tells us in the definitive Milesago: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-1975 that:
In 1965 when they were billed as “Australia’s wildest group” it wasn’t just the usual “industry” hyperbole or rhetoric – it was a statement of fact. . . . In early 1964 nothing unbelievably wild, frenzied or manic had happened in the Australian music scene. It was just about to. . . . . Although their fame never spread far beyond Sydney . . . and their career lasted barely more than two years, they’ve achieved a mythical status in the history of Australian rock. . . . Glenn A Baker . . . : [“They were] the first to play guitars like The Rolling Stones used . . . the first guys to sport very long unruly hair . . . the first group to implement destruction into a stage act . . . the first with a lot of things, bless their pioneering souls.” The Missing Links’ are widely acknowledged as the first Aussie band to deliberately use feedback as part of their music, and they were almost certainly the first local band to use reverse tape effects on record. They were one of the first Australian bands to tap into the tough new blues/R&B style being pioneered by the Stones, The Pretty Things and The Yardbirds. They were writing and playing their own extraordinary original material, plus a selection of highly idiosyncratic covers of acts as diverse as Bo Diddley, James Brown and Bob Dylan . . . . [There were] two distinct line-ups . . . . The first lasted from early 1964 until March 1965 and . . . . the second line-up settled into place around July 1965, lasting until April 1966 . . . . an even wilder outfit than the original. . . . [T]he new Links were signed to the Philips label, and . . . [then] began recording tracks for an album. . . . produc[ing] some of the seminal artefacts of 60s Australian rock. . . . The songs are firmly rooted in blues and R&B, yet the album also predates whole slabs of Sixties rock which were yet to come. The buzzing guitar feedback and echo-laden Farfisa organ anticipates Pink Floyd by a good two years; Doug Ford’s slashing guitar work is pure heavy metal, and there’s a strong psychedelic feel to the whole affair. . . . The new Links built up a small but rabid following with their over-the-top shows . . . . [c]ommon stage exploits includ[ing] . . . swinging from the rafters . . . . They . . . frequently appeared in fancy dress outfits, dressed as gorillas, pirates, gangsters or mummies. . . . “Wild About You” . . . [the second A-side is] as Peter Markmann succinctly puts it, an “unadulterated slice of 60s punk mayhem … almost too crazed for words.” . . . The third single . . . was perhaps the most outrageous of all. “H’Tuom Tuhs” . . . is in fact the band’s 5’40” version of Bo Diddley’s “Mama Keep Your Big Mouth Shut” [see #1,326, 1,328]— except that the entire track is played backwards! The idea originated . . . when the boys heard the tape of “Big Mouth” being rewound by the engineer and liked the sound of it! It is surely one of the earliest uses of reverse tape in rock history . . . . [I]t naturally enough sank like a lead balloon . . . . In mid-December [came] the classic The Missing Links LP . . . . one of the primal Australian Albums of the 60s . . . . [T]he Links splintered due to the increasing personality conflicts.
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,100 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊 