The Music Machine | 60's Garage Rock Pioneers

Summer of 1966 The Music Machine had a guest spot at the Whisky a Go Go and they came on stage all dressed in black leather. For 1 minute into their first song all band members performed with their backs to the audience, then turned around facing the crowd for the remainder of the show. As the audience danced around him, Jim Morrison stood in front of the stage dressed in blue jeans and hippie/Sunset Blvd. garb, staring at Sean Bonniwell for the entire set, and The Doors had not been signed yet. Anyone on the scene in those days knew that Morrison lifted some of his persona from Bonniwell, Van Morrison and Arthur Lee. 2 years later Iron Butterfly went Platinum with their 2nd album, lifting almost everything from the Machine, except the incredible fuzz bass Keith Olsen created from a few bucks' worth of equipment he bought at Radio Shack. Every cover version of Talk Talk in the world fails to match Keith's explosive 2 note fuzz bass detonation, and that's why Talk Talk can never be covered by another group...because the bass always wimps out. Keith never divulged his secret

I grew up in LA my band was playing the whisky a go go when I was 16 being so young we would hang outside the clubs to hear the bands and learn from the older guys I'm 71 now and luckily have great memories of 60's hollywood music scene the music machine was my first experience of what I think of as proto metal NOBODY sounded like these guys and they were tight live while many bands sounded sloppy live even famous ones thanks YP glad you're hip to the Nusic Machine CHEERS From Lost Angel's!!

Talk Talk is one of my favorite Garage Rock singles.

I can hear a little Iron Butterfly in there. This group seemed to have a lot of influence on bands to follow.

Have to appreciate how bands that had that "ahead of their time" sound still sound current today. Thanks for bringing to attention a band that deserved much more success.

1966 - The Year of Garage. Heavy fuzz and keyboard-driven background. Well-conceived lyrics and hard-as-nails vocals. Heavy and memorable. Thanks, YP!

Cool video on a basically forgotten band. I had gone out to see my brother at his college back in the late 90s, and he was working in the local record shop. He suggested to me I buy the nuggets boxed set, as I was a big 60s and 70s rock music fan. I of course had heard some of the more popular songs that were hits back in their day, but for the most part hearing those simple garage rock songs, really had an impact on me from that day forward. I then went out to try and buy the records or cds of the individual bands on that boxed set. I would come to find out, that many of them recorded the same cover songs like Gloria, Hey Joe, 96 years, Louie Louie, etc. But there were some definite b sides gems in there, and even if there was only 3 great songs on a particular album, I deemed it worthy. It just broadened my musical horizons, through its simplicity and swagger. The bad cover band that I was playing with at the time, was annoyed at my insistence we play Hang on Sloopy, thinking it was just some bad 60s tune, but it was because of Nuggets that I started liking those rudimentary 3 chord garage rock Athems. The music machine had some of the sickest fuzz tone of any of those bands back then, far ahead of their time. Glad ppl would even watch a video about them, makes my heart happy.

This band deserved so much more… Definitely ahead of their time. Thank goodness for all the recordings.

Talk Talk is one minute and 58 seconds of perfection

Like so many of the rock and pop groups of the mid 60s, the members of the Music Machine had come from the folk revival. Sean Bonniwell had been in a Kingston Trio like group called the Wayfarers, who put out three albums on RCA. His new sound with the Music Machine was a world away. I remember in late '67 that every local band around had added it to their set. The Music Machine was not just a lucky one hit wonder. they were an exceptional band that was just too ahead of the times.

Bass player Keith Olsen went on to a career as a super producer, most notably bringing Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks into Fleetwood Mac, producing Jessie’s Girl by Rick Springfield and helping to develop Surround Sound.

Bands that were synonymous with the idyllic, California beach culture like The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean, a new breed of band were experimenting with aggressive, simplistic sounds. Not from the LA area, but north from the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Jose came The Syndicate of Sound. They had the hit song, Little Girl. You see concert clips of them in suits playing very aggressive sounds. The juxtaposition of the two is quite amusing. Also, from San Jose, was Count Five. Their hit, Psychotic Reaction, was another example of proto punk/ garage. I get misty.-eyed every time I see that clip of LA’s Sunset strip. Hearing on the radio,the real Don Steele on 93 KHJ Boss radio. Sigh…Thank you, YP for highlighting The Music Machine in this very well done doc.

When I was 21 I was in a band that played Talk Talk, and our drummer’s other band had a guitar player who was Sean’s cousin, long story short Sean came to one of our practices, we played ‘Come On In’ with him and smoked some Thai stick (he was kind of in his transitional phase heading towards Christianity, he had real long hair and played his acoustic 12 string) then we tried to play Talk talk, which he couldn’t remember, weird. Fast forward to 2006 and one of my partners and clients worked on the ‘Music Machine, the Ultimate Turn On’ on Big Beat/Ace , again familiarizing myself with one of my favorite bands from the 60s remixing outtakes and doing some stereo mixes, I had the original 1” 8 track tapes on my machine I was in heaven! RIP Sean❤️

Thanks for paying homage to my hometown. Yes, here in LA in the 80s many 60s revival bands appeared and it started a movement known as the Paisley Underground. Looking at their clothes also tells me they laid the path for goth. Also in the '70s and '80s, there was a nightclub in Los Angeles called the Music Machine which is now in the dustbin of history.

Keith Olsen, the original bass player, went on to produce the Buckingham Nicks album and the first Fleetwood Mac album with them, along with many other groups and artists.

"The People in Me" was the stand out for me, with its dark vibe, dark chord changes and vocal.

Thank you for making this video. I grew up in LA during the 60s and still feel the music of that time is the best. There is a guy, named Kent who has a website called Forgotten Hits. He focuses on mostly music of the 60s and 70s. He did a series of regional hits. Such as Live by The Merry-Go-Round. Big in LA but not so much the rest of the country. And It’s Cold Outside by The Choir who hit it big in Cleveland. Anyway, I love your channel and look forward to the next video.

The Band Talk Talk took their name from a Music Machine song & titled their last album Laughing Stock after a Love song.

Finally crossing the pond

Hey YP, this is amazing! Got a nice DOUBLE cross-reference you can add to your files: Paul Buff used to own Pal Studio in Cucamonga, CA until 1963. While there, he developed a 5-track deck(!), recorded bands, and licensed tapes to various labels in the area, including Original Sound and Del-Fi/Donna. Buff's work finally paid off when he produced the hit "Wipeout" by The Surfaris! It made Buff rich enough to sell Pal Studio (with his prototype 5-track machine and other equipment). This is where a surprise twist in history strikes again... The new owner was a skinny kid who renamed the place "Studio Z", and he took over recording bands to shop out to labels... It was a young Frank Zappa, barely in his 20s. His tapes from this era are still part of "The Zappa Vault". Zappa had those 5-tracks properly working before he passed (Studio Z tracks in stereo on "Lost Episodes" CD), so it would be great to hear previously-released mono cuts (by Zappa or any others) remastered in stereo. (One step further though--just imagine if the "Wipeout" 5-track still existed, and a proper stereo mix could be done...? WOW!) Overall, well done on Music Machine, YP!!!!