The Movement That Never Was

In 1972, Jac Holzman (founder of Electra Records) and Lenny Kaye (guitarist for Patti Smith and Jim Carroll) put together one of the best compilations ever assembled: Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968. It contained 27 obscure garage bands, highlighting a group of artists that would've otherwise been forgotten, including Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Electric Prunes, Shadows of Knight, and Count Five. All of these bands, and even more that made the inevitable Nuggets box set released in 1998 by Rhino Records, sat in the shadows of the British Invasion, but with the original Nuggets and the later box set, there is a recorded testimony for all music fans to remember bands that can easily be counted as some of the most influential to come out that era. Names like Captain Beefheart and Love still get thrown around as influences, and The Sonics could even be seen as the godfathers of punk.

30 years later, in the late 1990s, those who were paying attention saw a similar type of moment happening in rock and roll, with a number of bands forming and following in the practically invisible footsteps of rock revivalists like The Gories, Thee Headcoats, '68 Comeback, Gibson Bros., Cheater Slicks, Flat Duo Jets, and The Oblivians. But by 2002, there was an accelerated repeat of the grunge era's final years, where the big media began noticing the surge, shamelessly touting every new band as the next big thing, and the major record labels started snatching up every band they could possibly fit into the marketing tag of "garage rock." The term was not only inaccurate in most cases, but it also quickly became the label of death - for the bands branded and also for a rock and roll movement that never happened.

Detroit got the most attention, but bands were popping up everywhere - New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, Memphis, Toronto, London - Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. There were many bands mining similar sounds, but the diversity of the music was actually quite impressive, and the quality gave many the tingling feeling of a possible rock and roll movement about to explode - after all, we were, and are still over due. However, like the underground movement in the mid-to-late '60s, there are only a few bands from this most recent period that found success and that remain on the international scene today. Most have either dismantled, changed their sound to be more marketable, have been demoted to the basements of major label PR departments, or simply have never got popular enough to consistently tour and play in front of large audiences.

The White Stripes and The Strokes are the only two bands out of the 1997-2005 crop that have gold records hanging on their walls, and some others who got exposure by the media actually saw a backlash from the underground rock dwellers, but in the end, it was an exciting and prolific time for modern rock and roll. And just because we no longer have a viable environment for another rock and roll movement, due to our over zealous media trying to force revolutions instead of allowing them to evolve, doesn't mean we have to forget the bands and the songs that could have made a much bigger impact on the history of rock and roll and also the current music world.

Hopefully, someday, someone will compile an official release so that these great songs and artists won't be written in the wind. Until then, The Crutch is happy to provide blocks of an unofficial compilation: The Crutch: The Movement That Never Was 1997-2005.

CLICK HERE FOR BLOCK #1