Count Five: Legacy of “Psychotic Reaction”.
During the British bands’ boom in the early ’60s, the North-Americans needed to aspirate a new formula to run into the industry. Thus, they responded in a truly American way based on Blues, Surf and Beat.
Adopting styles from The Rolling Stones, The Who, Yardbirds, The Kinks, and many others, the Garage Rock, known as Proto-Punk, emerged with many groups like The Sonics, The Remains, The Standells, Sir Douglas Quintet, The Electric Prunes, Guess Who, The Human Beinz, The Banshees, Fifth State (formerly The D-Men), The Stooges, MC5, et cetera.
Forgot someone? Yes. One of my favorites and underrated bands in the history I choose to talk apart from the list: The Count Five.
Many of these cited bands were successful over the time. However, unfortunately, the quintet from San Jose (California) survived just one album and one big hit.
“Psychotic Reaction” is a massive song that appears in the charts in February 1965 and July 1966. In October 1966 the group released the first full-length album, called the homonym hit, produced by an independent label Double Shot.
The masterpiece begins with the explosive “Double-Decker Bus”, which is my favorite track. Containing The Who covers “My Generation” and the last one “Out In The Street”, the whole album has interests songs like “Pretty Big Mouth”, “Peace Of Mind” and “They’re Gonna Get You”.
Listening to it, I could see the potential inside the guitar fuzzes (John “Mouse” Michalski and John “Sean” Byrne), the drums (Craig “Butch” Atkinson) and bass (Roy Chaney) dictating the rhythms directions with the great vocal by the harmonica man Kenn Ellner.
But the album did not get attention and sold too poorly. The band broke up in 1969.
In 2013, The Bicycle Music Company released a compilation called “Rarities-Double Shot Years” that contain singles and four of 16 tracks never released before, including the “Psychotic Reaction” an alternative version. Available on Amazon and Spotify.
Despite the failure, the band’s legacy overcame the media charts and the business. The sound help to open the new generation eyes towards the Punk Rock in the ’70s, enhancing by MC5, The Stooges, and New York Dolls. And make sure that the band is so much more than this unique hit.
To finish, I would like to link some tributes: The Cramps, Television, Joey Dee and The Starlighters, Brenton Wood.
