When most people think of "garage bands" from the 60's, they immediately think of a brilliantly moronic Fuzztone riff and a lead singer screaming about "You get outta mah HAY-air, bay-BEH" and all that, but perhaps we are reaching the point where there are very few truly scorching screamers left to be discovered. And maybe that's not such a bad thing, because there was an amazing a variety of cool sounds being served up by the nation's suburban teens that went way beyond genre archetypes like Nobody's Children and Gonn. For a good example check out the Ikon Records Story, an awesome two-record set (or double CD with bonus tracks) devoted to the incredibly rare 45s of a legendary California label.

If you've been following Little Hits for some time, you know we love the jangly garage pop that seemed to a favorite with Midwestern bands (and not just because they tend to be quite a bit cheaper than the gnarly sounds). Here are two good 'uns; the Ricochettes from Milwaukee with primo jangly folk rock on Chicago's well-known Destination label, and the Only Ones from Detroit with a much more crude but similarly-scrubbed effort.

Quick plugs: Erik Meinen's fabulous Beat Behind the Dykes mail order, where I scored the Ricochettes 45, and the mynd-blowingly cool "Searchin For Shakes" 60s comp database on-line at the Ugly Things website, a massively cool and invaluable resource.