Here Are the Sonics

If I have to hear one more YEOOOWWW I’m going to lose it. 29 mins and felt like a lifetime, not for me

I mean, I like the aesthetics of this. The screamed vocals, overdriven guitars and rhythms we will later call punk. It’s just that the songs aren’t all that good, I mean it’s either pretty bad covers of Chuck Berry or pretty bad original songs. I’m sure it inspired a lot of bands I like, but I don’t like the album as is. This only belongs on such a list for historical significance I guess. Right after this one Spotify gave me The Chocolate Watchband, this really drove the one star home. The Chocolate Watchband were an amazing example of how good garage rock can be, and The Sonics are not such an example.

Their covers are not that good

I like the Lo-Fi garage rock sound and DIY spirit - amping up the fuzz, shredding the vocal chords, direct raw performance, and pushing the recording into the red - but they have literally 0 ideas. They're even derivative in who they're ripping off! I'm sure this was a fun band to be in and to see live at the sock hop in 1966, but my god the mid 60s are the most over-represented era. It's as if the world would end if every micro step in the evolution of white guys learning how to play Chuck Berry and Little Richard songs wasn't represented in excruciating detail. Can't we just have the Nuggets compilation instead of all these mediocre 'proto-something interesting' albums with one ok song?

Total waste of time. Their obscurity is utterly justified. And wardrobe really should've done a better job for the album cover photo shoot.

was not into it

Really outdated and sounds like shit. It actually seemed to get worse as it went on, maybe from all the unnecessary screams into audio equipment that couldn't handle it

Some of the most obnoxious songs ever recorded

Marked down for every fucking scream. Whilst edgy on a 45 fucking annoying on an LP. Didn’t finish.

Even in 1965 this music couln't have been cutting edge. It plods, is bland and I had to turn it off after 3 or 4 songs. Its like being in an inescapable Dirty Dancing themed holiday camp. To think The Beatles were producing Rubber Soul and Revolver around the same time...

Ironic name, it sounds like it was played through blown out speakers

!!! Introducing Sonic the Hedgehog !!! Well this makes me appreciate some of the other albums from 1965 a lot more! Mostly covers, and I know one song from an advert (and their own 'Psycho' sounds almost identical). Not great on the ears. !!!Una Estrella!!!

Malogen, poorer covers of some great songs

!!!it’s shit!!!

Bad sound quality recording. Tracks are not really my taste either

It’s a decent garage band album……that’s it. The covers were not exceptional - just ok. They also live to wail…..too much.

Rockabilly music. Think “Johnny B Goode”. It would’ve been okay but the singer’s constant screaming really made me dislike this album.

Nope

YEOWWWWW!!! This sounds like it was recorded through a walkie talkie. I understand that it was the 60s and quality equipment wasn't as plentiful as it is today, but Jesus does it make it difficult to listen to. I wouldn't mind if it was just a poor recording as much if it wasn't for the repetitive and obnoxious songs. It's just a scream, basic rock jam, scream, repeat. I don't care how influential they are, they're not for me. 2/10 Would I listen again? It would be very difficult for someone to make me listen to this again.

Although I love 60’s music never heard of The Sonics before. Probably because as far as I can tell they never had any success in the UK. Listening through the album I don’t know how they made this list. Maybe because according to Wiki some quite influential musicians say that they themselves were influenced by them. The few original songs are just standard 60’s rock and roll. The remainder (and majority) are second rate covers which bring nothing new to the originals. The recording quality is chronically bad. I know it’s just 60’s tech but even allowing for that it sounds as if it was done on a low budget. The number of covers also indicates just one or two takes so the whole thing could be done it has little time has possible. I streamed this on Tidal and all I was getting was sound from one speaker. That could be Tidal’s fault but the whole listening experience was poor only helped by the fact that the album was less than 30 mins long. I think overall and not meaning to be rude to our American cousins, this album is very American centric and came in response to the real explosion of UK groups about that time and who put The Sonics week into their shadow. 1/5 28/4/24

This is a pretty rotten album. Production is terrible, vocals are awful, its almost all badly performed covers. 1/5

good lord the number of shit early/mid 60s albums on this list that were just nothing but rock & roll staple covers. It's bad! same goes for Rolling Stones' debut album!

Minimum of three “screams” per song. Best song was Strychnine (L was thinking about taking some and screaming by the end of the album.) Too many cover songs. Was that kazoo heard on a couple of songs? Or just out of tune instruments? Either way, it gets (0.3*s)

Not really my vibe. Interesting pick!

Guys, if it’s showing as red, you need to turn your instruments down or move back from the mic. I don’t understand why the fuck anyone would choose to listen to this. You could be listening to The Beach Boys or The Beatles or Chuck Berry or Rufus Thomas or literally anyone who didn’t record their album using a paint tin suspended from a light fitting.

I give up on trying to find a funny response to this album, it sapped all the energy in me

oh boy. this album is mostly... irritating. lame uninspired progs, songs that sound so similar you wonder if the player is skipping, ear-bleeding mastering. speaking of ear-bleeding this singer. whoever he is. he looooooves to just hold that microphone really close and SCREECH. like he's SCREAMING into that mic. every single song he does it. UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGHHH!! is it that necessary?

Not my cup of tea

Not my type.

The Sonics would be fantastic if you heard them in a bar in 1965 but on a list of must to albums?? No. The 4 original songs aren’t bad but we don’t need another bad quality recordings of Roll Over Beethoven and Good Golly Miss Molly. 3.8/10

Old, bad covers album.

ik rock standards are just part of the package with this era of recording but i'm not super into this being mostly covers. still can't believe how square this is to be considered early punk. 1.5

This sounds like a rock album made in the 60s. Not sure how to describe it in words, but I would be able to pick the era pretty easily on first listen. I was not a fan of this album at all. I will be glad to never hear another "woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow" screech again.

1965. 1 star for the kind of bearable track "Do you love me". This album is a drone of the same song over and over, very simple/uninteresting writing, riddled with annoying screams throughout songs. The three exclamation marks in the upper left corner of the album art is the most exciting thing about this album. Nope.

It’s not the Sonics’ fault, but this is extremely dated music. The loud, fuzzy punk sounds are reminiscent of the Kinks, but a year earlier they were putting out stone cold classics. This is a covers album. Apparently this influenced early punk acts like the Stooges. Good for them. I liked the 2 originals.

Hated it after just 2 songs and stopped listening.

WOOOWOOW 1/5

Early Pink Floyd meets early Beatles haha this is utter trash

Uitgezet na eerste twee nummers haha, klinkt als een dronken gast die mee aan het schreeuwen is

A lot of cover versions, not as good as the orginals,

this was so so so so terribly bad

Fun for one song, gets monotonous real fast.

Me aburrió. O sea, sí, supongo que hay que escucharlo para entender que influenciaron a otros grupos posteriores, pero no me gustaron

Eh not really my taste.

”Baby do you LHOOVE MHEE” ”RhYThm ÄND bLUEs” ”TAKE MY LOOVE AND RHAN AWAY WHAAAAAAAAAAA” ”TRY TY TYYY TYY TYY TRTY TY TYY TYYY TYYY” ”BEIBEE CREISEE….. PSAIKHOO” "WHOOOOOOOO-O-O-O" Paskaa Paskaa Paskaa

Not my style.

I couldn’t make it through this album. I tried but this music is just not for me. It sounds outdated and feels generic for the time. 2/10 Fav track: none Least fav: dirty robber

I’m not sure how important this album can be since every cover sounds way worse than the original. Get this off the list ASAP.

Puwing.

This is an album that has expired. I get that this is the basis of rock and roll, but it's just all bleached bones to me now to hear. My Dad would be tapping his foot!

Mixing is rather awful, I don’t care for listening to albums that “maybe” created a sub genre. unless it’s an album that’s actually doesn’t want to make me poke holes in my ear drums with a pin. There cover of good golly miss Molly is considered a hate crime in 38 states

Can’t tell an album by the cover, I suppose. I was expecting some harmonies, maybe some sweetness, but these guys sound like a completely unskilled and totally overexcited cover band from some region not known for its music or art scenes … oh, wait, that’s what they were.

More of the same american pie on cocaine crap. Lame.

this one can stay in the attic

I had to read some reviews to understand why this album might be included in a list of 1001 historically important albums. It seems that this is debatably a precursor to punk, a proposition that nonetheless seems to be disputed. Without this historical association I struggle to find any reason to elevate this album above the rest of the beatlesesque sounds of the mid 60s. If anything the shitty audio quality (which normally doesn't at all affect my judgement of an album) renders this album not only uninspiring, but almost unlistenable. 2/10

Somebody told this guy that he should do the James Brown "WAAAAOOOWW!!" scream as often as possible, and he took that advice to heart. At first it was mildly annoying, but by the end of the album (which feels much, much longer than 30 minutes), I was making a mental note to avoid this band in the future at all costs. Best track: Whichever one has the lowest WAAAOOOWW to time ratio. I'm not going to listen again to figure it out

First Listen: I hate bands that just have a bunch of other people's hits and don't do anything original with them. This is a 1/5 for me. This might have been great back in 1965, but now, it is just a compilation of other bands' hits. Nothing to see here folks. Next.

Not sure I understand the hype on this one. Pretty generic sounding bar band. I guess this came out around '65, sure doesn't sound innovative or forward looking. Sorry not drinking the Kool aid on this one. 1 🌟

blodige ører pga. lydkvalitet. De hyla kunne de vært foruten. Sonic weapon burde det hett. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_weapon

Hated it

I understand that it’s a classic but could not vibe

The music is too loud for me

Classic rock and roll recognised some of the tracks generally very enjoyable

Not my style