The Troggs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Troggs | |
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 The Troggs in a promotional image. |
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| Origin | Andover, Hampshire, England |
| Years active | 1964–present |
| Genres | Rock Rhythm and Blues Garage rock |
| Members | Reg Presley Chris Britton Pete Staples |
| Past members | Ronnie Bond David Maggs Richard Moore Colin Fletcher |
The Troggs were a successful English rock band of the 1960s, who had a number of hits in Britain and America, including their most famous song, "Wild Thing". The Troggs were from the town of Andover in southern England. The band's name comes from shortening the word troglodyte - meaning "cave dweller".
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[edit] Biography
The Troggs were signed by the manager of The Kinks in 1966 and recorded on Larry Page's Page One Records. Their most famous hit was the single "Wild Thing" (written by Chip Taylor), which reached #1 in the United States in June 1966. Its combination of a simple heavy guitar riff and flirtatious lyrics helped it to quickly become a garage rock standard. Because of a dispute over U.S. distribution rights, "Wild Thing" was released (along with the first album of the same name) on two labels: Fontana and Atco.
They also had a number of other hits, including "With a Girl Like You" (a UK #1 in July 1966, U.S. #29), "I Can't Control Myself" (a UK #2 in September 1966 -- this was also their second and final dual-label release in the US, with Fontana retaining the rights to all subsequenet releases), "Anyway That You Want Me" (UK #10 in December 1966), "Night of the Long Grass" (UK #17 in May 1967), and "Love Is All Around" (UK #5 in October 1967 and US #7 in February 1968). In the early 1970s, in an attempt to re-create their 1960s successes, the Troggs re-united with Larry Page, now running Penny Farthing Records, but the resulting cover version of the Beach Boys hit Good Vibrations did not capture the public's imagination.
The Troggs still exist and still play gigs. Their original drummer Ronnie Bond died in 1992.
[edit] Band members
- Reg Presley - born Reginald Maurice Ball
- Chris Britton - born Charles Christopher Britton on 21 June 1944 in Watford, Hertfordshire - Guitar
- Pete Staples - born Peter Lawrence Staples on 3 May 1944 at Andover War Memorial Hospital, Andover, Hampshire - Bass Guitar
- Ronnie Bond - born Ronald James Bullis on 4 May 1940 in Dene Road, Andover, Hampshire. Died on 13 November 1992 at Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Romsey Road, Winchester, Hampshire - Drums
[edit] Legacy and influence
The Troggs are widely seen as a highly influential band whose sound was one inspiration for garage rock and punk rock. For example Iggy Pop of the Stooges has cited the Troggs as influential to their sound, and the early version of British pop-punk pioneers Buzzcocks featured "I Can't Control Myself" live repetoire. Ramones are also amongst punk bands who cited the Troggs as an influence.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience famously covered "Wild Thing" during their appearance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, introducing it as the British "national anthem", and climaxing with Hendrix burning his guitar.
In 1990, the first hit for the band Spiritualized was a cover of "Anyway That You Want Me." This cover was later used in the movie Me and You and Everyone We Know.
"With a Girl Like You" is featured uncut in a school dance scene from the 1991 Nicole Kidman/Noah Taylor movie Flirting.
In 1994, "Love Is All Around" was covered by Scottish band Wet Wet Wet, whose version of the song spent fifteen weeks at number one in the UK.
A modified version of "Love is All Around" was featured in the film Love Actually and released late in 2003 performed by actor Bill Nighy and the band Radiohead.
An in-studio tape of Reg Presley's running commentary on a recording session, filled with in-fighting and swearing (known as "The Troggs Tapes") was widely circulated in the music underground, and is believed to be the inspiration for some of the dialog in the comedy film "This Is Spinal Tap." (Some of this dialogue was sampled by the California punk band The Dwarves on their recording of a cover version of a Troggs song, "Strange Movies".)
