Journey to the Center of the Mind, The Amboy Dukes (1968)

Among the various genres of 60s music, acid rock was never overly enthralling to me, but there are exceptions to everything, and Journey to the Center of the Mind is one of them.

Arguably in a class by itself, Journey to the Center of the Mind had something these other songs didn't - drumming by Dave Palmer that rocked harder than almost anything I'd ever heard, John Drake's commanding vocals, and the blistering guitar licks of the Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent. The outrageous 45-second intro still stops me in my tracks.

To be fair, I don't think this song counts as pure psychedelia; perhaps it's on the psychedelic end of the proto-metal spectrum. Which is curious considering that metal music was never huge with me, either. But as I say, there are exceptions to everything.

Funnily enough, to this day, Nugent - a major opponent of drugs - claims he didn't know the song was about drug use. I don't see how that could possibly be the case given the times, but who am I to contradict The Nuge?

Interestingly, Dave Palmer went on to become an award-winning recording engineer, and in fact worked at the famed Electric Lady Studios in New York City after his Dukes stint, where he had the distinction of playing drums for Jimi Hendrix' first formal recording session. In a day when all studios were owned and operated by the record labels, Hendrix bucked the trend with this state-of-the-art facility, which had its opening party just 13 days before he died.

Jenny Take A Ride, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels (1966)

I recently came across an article from metrotimes, an alternative weekly in Detroit, entitled "The 100 greatest Detroit songs ever" and as I was perusing the cornucopia of delights therein, it put me in mind of one of the baddest garage bands ever to come out of the Motor City - Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels.

I probably would have loved growing up in Detroit - its music has a certain high-octane quality to it that makes you want to spend your life dancing. The first 23 frenzied seconds of Jenny Take A Ride ... its sheer euphoria factor can't be topped. A much-amped-up medley of Chuck Willis' C.C. Rider and Little Richard's Jenny, Jenny, the song was originally intended as a B-side. Plans quickly changed when their producer, Bob Crewe, who had discovered them opening for - and badly upstaging - the Dave Clark Five when they played Detroit, noted the reaction of the visiting Rolling Stones in the control room of the recording studio.

Why these guys are not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is anybody's guess; Ted Nugent (also not in the Rock Hall) credits them as one of his seminal influences and Detroit Medley, a nod to this and other MR&DH hits, has been a frequent staple of Springsteen concerts.

A soulful teenager, Ryder (nee William Levise, Jr.) had fronted a black vocal group, the Peps, and those influences permeate this and every other hit he and the Wheels had. They were the first rock group to reach #1 on the R&B charts. As one Amazon.com reviewer notes, "If this one doesn't get you up and dancing then you are DEAD." To that I say, "Amen."