The Standells

About

Also known as: Standells, Standells, The

Few bands captured the raw, sneering energy of the 1960s quite like The Standells. The Los Angeles garage rock outfit built their reputation on a sound that critics have since called proto punk, and their influence reaches all the way to the Sex Pistols and the Ramones. Their signature song, "Dirty Water", came from producer Ed Cobb, whose run in with a mugger in Boston inspired its memorably menacing portrait of the city. The track hit the top of the Record World charts in 1966 and has since become the official victory anthem for the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins. Behind that hit was a band with real teeth. Drummer and lead vocalist Dick Dodd, a former Mouseketeer, delivered the lecherous vocal that made "Dirty Water" an instant classic, while the band themselves claim to have added the iconic guitar riff and all those swaggering spoken asides. Critic Richie Unterberger noted that their best material was actually full and polished, mixing raunchy guitar and organ with touches of psychedelia rather than bare bones garage scruff. Their run of strong singles in the 1966 to 1967 period has only grown in stature over time.