GONN - Musical Highlights

Musical Highlights

Over the years, "Blackout of Gretely" has acquired a life of its own. Singer Craig Moore begins by intoning: "The universe is permeated with the odor of kerosene" over Gerry Gabel's muscular Vox organ, followed by his "blood curdling scream". Rex Garrett's infectious, fuzz-drenched guitar riffs take over at that point, which might be described as an amped-up interpretation of the opening guitar chords on "Satisfaction", or The Standells' "Dirty Water", which it closely resembles. The influences of the Standells and Count Five are also apparent. Moore screams while the howling vocals by Gerry Gabel are a tale in several verses where the singer cannot understand why everything looks so dark, only to discover when he arrives home that he has been wearing sunglasses the whole time. Greg Shaw states that "'Blackout of Gretely' is without doubt one of the Top 10 great punk records of all time" and noted that it had sold for as much as $1000.00 by the mid-1990s. In 2008, the UK publication MOJO Magazine also listed it in the Top 10 garage psych singles of all time.

The unusual title is taken from a 1942 mystery thriller written by J. B. Priestley called The Blackout At Gretley. Gerry Gabel had been reading it and had the book with him at a rehearsal, so with a few minor changes, it inspired the name of the song. Craig Moore took the opening lyric from a throwaway line used humorously by Peter Tork in an interview segment in an early episode of the Monkees television show, except that Tork had said "turpentine". Moore altered the line somewhat, since he thought "kerosene" sounded more sinister. The remaining lyrics were Moore's attempt to tell a short story with a twist at the end, in the manner of O. Henry, since he had been a long-time admirer of the famous author.

Their intended second single, "Doin' Me In" features more screaming: "Girl . . . what are you doin'???" is the opening line of a long litany of love-life complaints. About this song, Greg Shaw continues: "he planned follow-up single, 'Doin' Me In' . . . was just as homicidal as the previous monster and much good to languish for 20 years before being heard." This song is more accessible and has been covered by numerous garage rock, punk rock and post punk bands, such as The Cynics, The Untamed Youth, Hellbilly Storm, The Fingers, the Mourning After, the Dutch band The Beavers, the Swedish band the Blacks, and many more. One particularly memorable cover occurred when a copy of "Doin' Me In" was spirited out of the Bomp! Records studios by Greg Shaw and presented to the late Paula Pierce. A few nights later at a club in Chinatown, she introduced Craig Moore as the "godfather of punk" just before her band the Pandoras tore into a screaming rendition of "Doin' Me In."

In his on-line article "Sifting through the Pebbles", Brent Bozman says of this song: Of all the gems unearthed in the Pebbles series, this one is the most stunning – a tense back-and-forth over two chords on the verse, building into an explosive call-and-response chorus. “Doin’ Me In” stands up next to “I Can See For Miles” by the Who or “You Really Got Me” by the Kinks or any other '60s rock anthem you’d care to name, and it’s a perfect example of why the garage rock genre still fascinates listeners today. . . .