THE BRIKS -THE MUMMIES (1966 - 1991)

 

I don't see where this song by the Texas band The Briks was ever released as a single in the 60's, but it is on this 1986 release called "TEXAS PUNK 1966:Volume 7" that besides The Briks, also featured another Texas band, The Chaparrals.

THE BRIKS - "Keep Down" 

 

The Mummies are one of the most ridiculous bands there has ever been, and that's the reason you have no choice but to love them!

 

 

The Mummies were from the Bay Area, and I'm really sorry I never got to see them perform live. I'm sure they were 100 times more entertaining than another costumed band named KISS.

From 1991, here's a very insane performance from a cable access TV show. These guys literally had no filters, thank goodness!

Two songs, two generations, two keyboards!  

THE MUMMIES - "The Fly" 

MARTY STUART AND HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES - "Graveyard" (2025)

 

Rich here. A mere handful or fewer of you may recall that a few months after I first started contributing to this excellent blogsite last year, I opined that the definitive Surf Guitar song of all time was "Miserlou" by Dick Dale back in 1962, which was not only the record that came to define the sound of  Surf Guitar, but also was the first commercially successful surf song, instrumental or vocal.

 

Now it's true that Surf Music hit its commercial peak not long after "Miserlou" hit the charts. And the genre was mostly forgotten by the time of "Rubber Soul," so much so that by the end of the Sixties Jimi Hendrix jokingly declared: "you'll never hear surf music again." Although no surf guitar records have topped the record charts since then, Surf Rock never died and has had a revival or two. And particularly since the Eighties, Surf Rock has remained a consistently popular underground phenomenon up to the present day, with bands like The Aqua Velvets; The Blue Stingrays, a band led by  Mike Campbell, the lead guitarist from the late Tom Petty's band The Heartbreakers; The Surfragettes, an all-female surf-rock band; and Laika & The Cosmonauts from Finland, of all places! And all of them revitalizing the sounds of the heyday of Surf Rock.

 

But here in 2026 who would have foreseen that the best surf group in the world may arguably be a band best known as a hip country band, Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives, who last year released "Space Junk," an album chock-full of the retro-future sounds of Surf and Space Rock guitar, including this song.

 MARTY STUART AND HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES - "Graveyard" 

B. BUMBLE AND THE STINGERS - "Nut Rocker" (1962)

 

There is so much to the story of  B. Bumble & The Stingers, all I can do is hit on some of the highlights.

The song "Nut Rocker" was written by whiz kid Kim Fowley, and was released in 1962. 

Kim had secured a copyright to an arrangement from Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Nutcracker. 

B. Bumble & The Stingers was not a real band, but a bunch of very talented studio musicians.

The first version was recorded by Jack B. Nimble And The Quicks, and when that didn't sell well, it was re-recorded by a different group of studio musicians as B. Bumble & The Stingers.

 

The single  made it to  #23 in the U.S. and was a number one hit in the U.K. which went against all the rules at the time.

The BBC had a very strict policy against playing records that parodied or mocked classical music, but a committee reviewed the song and decided it was a harmless homage rather than an offensive parody.

The song was so successful, they had to throw together a touring band to support the single that didn't include any of the original musicians.

They also had another hit in 1961 titled "Bumble Boogie," but you can only push a concept so far, and "Apple Knocker," and "Dawn Cracker" went nowhere.

B. BUMBLE AND THE STINGERS - "Nut Rocker" 

TONY JOE WHITE "...Continued" (1969)

 

 I think Tony Joe White is one of the most underrated, and underappreciated musicians of all time. To most people he's like a one-hit wonder with his killer hit "Polk Salad Annie." 

But his songs are all stories, he's got a deep and soulful Southern voice as good as any, he plays an insane guitar with effects Jimi Hendrix would be proud of, and he always surrounds himself with the best players on bass, drums, and keyboards, and last by not least, his music is totally unique!

His second album was titled "... Continued," and came out in 1969. He kept cranking them out for decades. 

Damn, he died in 2018, and I never even knew it.  

Here's to you Tony, you were the Boss!

TONY JOE WHITE - "Elements And Things" 

 

I'M A HOG FOR YOU BABY (1959 -1966)

 

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were two of the greatest songwriters of all time, if not "The Best."

They wrote so many hit songs, I couldn't even attempt to list them all. 

They wrote "Yakety Yak," Charlie Brown," "Poison Ivy" and "Searchin" for The Coasters.

They wrote the giant hits "Stand By Me," Jailhouse Rock, "Hound Dog," "Love Potion Number 9," and "Kansas City," which have all been recorded by multiple artists. There's just basically no end to the list, and one really fun song, "I'm A Hog For You," has been recorded by not just The Coasters, but groups as divergent as Dr. Feelgood, The Drifters, and The Grateful Dead.

Here's three glorious versions I enjoy a lot. 

This was the first recorded version from 1959!

THE COASTERS - "I'm A Hog For You" 

 

Before they became The Kinks, they recorded this demo as The Boll-Weevils in 1963.

THE BOLL-WEEVILS - "I'm A Hog For You, Baby" 

 

The first time I heard this song, it was probably 1966, and by The Surfaris when it was the B Side of their monster hit "Wipe Out."

THE SURFARIS - "I'm A Hog For You"  

THE PIXIES THREE - "Party With The Pixies Three" (1964)

 

 I  really don't know what else to say, and I sure don't know about you, but I'm ready to "Party With The Pixies Three!"

They look like a lot of fun! 

 

Debra Swisher, Midge Bollinger, and Kaye McCool.

Every guy's dream come true in Anywhere, U.S.A. circa 1964!

THE PIXIES THREE - "442 Glenwood Avenue" 

THE LADY BIRDS - "Why Must I Be Lonely" (1965)

 

The Lady Birds were from Fullerton, California, and only had a couple of singles.

This was the B side, and the A side was a cover of The Drifter's "Sweets For My Sweet." 

 

 

One cool thing, they asked Ladybird Johnson for permission to use the band name. 

 

Do not confuse The Lady Birds with this 60's Brit duo and trio,

The Ladybirds.

These birds sang the background vocals on Marc Bolan's first release "The Wizard," were the Mood Mosaic voices, and also sang background vocals on songs by John Entwistle, and many others.

 

And whatever else you do, don't confuse The Lady Birds with The Ladybirds who claim to be "the world's first all-girl topless rock band." 

 

THE LADY BIRDS - "Why Must I Be Lonely"