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The Kingsmen didn’t write Louie Louie but their 1963 release is easily the best known version. The song, written by Richard Berry in 1955, influenced British bands like The Kinks and The Who and the garage bands that came to idolise them.
Ray Davies of The Kinks wrote You Really Got Me while he was trying to workout the chords to Louie Louie, while The Who's I Can’t Explain and Wild Thing by The Troggs are ‘informed’ by the riff. There are hundreds of other derivatives out there but the song’s influence on the 1966 garage classic Beg, Borrow And Steal by The Rare Breed (aka Ohio Express) is one of the most striking.
If we had to pick one song that signified the shift from '60s garage rock (neatly bypassing the hippies) to proto-punk it would be Kick Out The Jams by the MC5. Swedish band The Hellacopters did a smoking version of ‘Jams too.
