Troggs – Wild Thing

I had an obsession with this band when I was a kid. I wanted to know everything about them, but back then, you could not search Google or find many any books on The Troggs. I did learn about the Trogg Tapes, which were hilarious! A friend of mine had a bootleg cassette of them in the 80s. It’s them in a session and probably breaking the record for the number and variations of f**k in a session. It probably has more than Scarface did with Pacino. It was better than many comedy albums I bought back then. “Put a Little Bit of F***ing Fairy Dust Over the Bastard!” It doesn’t get much rock and roll than that.

Some songs arrive like lightning. This song showed up like a Molotov cocktail tossed into the tea party of mid-’60s pop, three chords, one brain cell, and more raw tension than a teenage first kiss. This is pre-punk, garage rock, and sexual threat, all crammed into 2 minutes and 34 seconds of glorious slop. The opening chord staggers into the room like a drunk on a bender.

If you were in a garage band in the sixties…or now, you probably have played this song. This is the Troggs’ claim to fame in the history of Rock and Roll. They had other good songs, but nothing that had this much influence. The song is as raw as you could get at the time. It’s also a song like ‘Louie Louie’ that every garage band has played or at least tried to play once. 

Reg Presley, one of rock’s unlikeliest frontmen (a former bricklayer with a sneer in his voice), had just enough voice to get him through. They were not stocked with great talent, but they sounded raw, and they had songs that were tailored for them. Instead of excellent musical chops, they had enthusiasm and just enough talent to make it exciting. And it worked. 

The band combined a pop touch with a garage band style, resulting in two top ten songs and four songs in the Billboard 100. This song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK, and #2 in Canada in 1966.

Many people will remember the Jimi Hendrix version at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Comedian Sam Kinison also did a version in 1989. The first version of this song was by The Wild Ones in 1965. Secondhandsongs shows 153 versions of this song. 

Chip Taylor (whose real name was Chip Voight) was a singer-songwriter who wrote this song. Taylor is the brother of actor Jon Voight and the uncle of Angelina Jolie. He has made a fortune on this song because it’s been in countless movies and TV Shows. He also wrote Angel of the Morning. 

Chip Taylor: “I was on the floor laughing when I was through. Wild Thing’ came out in a matter of minutes. The pauses and the hesitations are a result of not knowing what I was going to do next.”

Reg Presley: “There was a guy there (at DJM) called Dennis Berger, who had a heap of demos on his desk. The first one I picked up was Wild Thing. I took a look at the lyric sheet and read: ‘Wild Thing-you make my heart sing-you make everything groovy.’ It seemed so corny, I thought, Oh my God, what are they doing to us! Then I played Chip Taylor’s demo- just guitar and him- and it was incredible. The other boys all liked it too. Chip Taylor later told us our version was just what he wanted.”

Wild thing

You make my heart sing
You make everything groovy
Wild thing
Wild thing, I think I love you
But I wanna know for sure
Come on and hold me tight
I love you

Wild thing
You make my heart sing
You make everything groovy
Wild thing

Wild thing, I think you move me
But I wanna know for sure
So come on and hold me tight
You move me

Wild thing
You make my heart sing
You make everything groovy
Wild thing
Oh, come on, wild thing
Shake it, shake it, wild thing

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

37 thoughts on “Troggs – Wild Thing”

  3. You were on when you wrote this: “like a Molotov cocktail tossed into the tea party of mid-’60s pop, three chords, one brain cell, and more raw tension than a teenage first kiss.” !!!

    Hard to believe that “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning” came from the same brain.

    But the ocarina solo elevates garage rock to high art. 😉

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  5. I was sixteen when that song burst into my ears. Remember it like it was yesterday! Just listened to it for the first time in many, many years, and I was transported back in time from that first guitar slide. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

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  6. Such a fun song! That said, the first version I heard of “Wild Thing” was “Wahnsinn” (madness) by my longtime favorite German band BAP. They took the song’s melody and gave it new satirical lyrics about the opening of a nightclub. In their original recording, they combined it with “Hang On Sloopy.” The transition to “Wahnsinn” starts at around 4:12 minutes! 🙂

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  8. maybe the ultimate definition of a garage rock song! It’s so weird that it’s written by the same guy who came up with ‘Angel of the Morning’. Well, I guess writers have range like musicians do too! (Then again, why am I surprised when I remember that the ‘Wichita Lineman’ songwriter also gave us that cake out in the rain in ‘MacArthur Park’?)

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    1. Yea that was a weird combination of work! But…I can see it. I’ve written things totally opposite before. Yea….this is garage rock 1.0

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  10. One of the defining tunes of the ’60’s. It was a song that always tested positively when listeners were asked. You would think that as many times as it plays, listeners might want a little less of it, but they love it!

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  11. Ground zero for garage, punk, possibly power pop. I didn’t know Taylor was Jon Voight’s brother. Surprised you didn’t post “Almost Independence Day” by Van.

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    1. Yea its a mixture of both… I think I did a few July 4ths ago…I’ll have to check! I have two American artists coming up tomorrow…so American that they are apple pie lol.

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      2. Yea I did it on July 4th. I did X’s July 4 one year and Jimi Hendrix two years I believe…the Star Spangled Banner

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    1. Thanks Randy….I actually thought that cover total would be even higher! Of course this doesn’t count the bars it’s been played at.

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  13. I guess those complex chord changes took… months… minutes…moments to master Max?🙄

    Yes Max, your excellent write-up sounds spot-on. On first hearing this 45 as a kid it was a simple ‘WTF is this!?!?’ moment, it made you prick up your ears, plain and simple, articulating a lot more than the words said. I’m sure there were a few parents who heard that that song and started worrying about their squeaky clean-cut pure sons and daughters futures.

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    1. Thanks obbverse! Oh weeks! G – C – D…thats it! See…I don’t know what it was like real time. I can only imagine…but it affected me in 1979 or so…so I can only imagine at that time.

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    2. Obbverse…if you never have which I think you probably have…check out the troggs tapes on youtube…it has to be where Spinal Tap got their idea.

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  14. Classic OTT loveable rockpop. The Troggs came from not from where I live on the South Coast of England and spoke proper rural and plain. What’s not to love, even Reg’s obsession with crop circles/UFO’s 🙂

    Comedy troupe The Goodies did a great glam rock pastiche on their sitcom – the group try to become rock stars and do a riff on Wild Thing. Still amusing, especially the line “Hold me. Tight……..Not. Quite. That. Tight!

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    1. lol…yea I’ve always liked them and their music. The Trogg Tapes I will listen to every now and then as well. They have their place in Rock history no doubt!

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    1. That is awesome. I would give anything to have that set! THAT is pure seventies. I asume they are comedians…I never heard of them before. Well something else to check out!

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