It goes without saying that the Beatles changed everything. One of things they changed was the attitude among teenagers that they could form their own bands and maybe make it big. Of course, so few ever did and, if not for Greg Shaw, Pebbles, and various other garage rock compilations, these groups would have been left to the trash heap of obscurity.
A couple bands did have some success in 1964 and 1965. One such band were the Gestures, out of Minneapolis. The released a Beatlesque single in the Fall of 1964 and it managed to reach number 44 on Billboard.
A more successful band were the Barbarians, from Massachusetts, who first recorded Hey Little Bird in late 1964. This song would later be covered by the Chesterfield Kings
Of course, they are best known for their hit, ‘Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl,’ which went to number 55 nationally. By that time, folk rock was the rage and that too began to influence the direction of the teen set.
Finally, we have Moulty, from 1966. Now the Barbarians featured a drummer with a prosthesis for his left hand. Moulty recorded a song about it and it’s kind of creepy in retrospect with the chorus of, “Don’t turn away.” Ironically, the Barbarians (except for Moulty of course) aren’t even on the record. According to Wiki, Moulty was backed up by the Hawks (later, the Band, of course).
Some other bands would become better known though only a couple would enjoy true success such as Question Mark and the Mysterians. Most of the bands languished in obscurity trying to sound like their favorite British bands like The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, of course, but also bands like the Animals, the Kinks, and, believe it or not, the Zombies. I’ll do a chapter on Zombies influenced bands later.
For now, though, I’ll finish with this raver out of Los Angeles, supposedly also from 1964, though I have my doubts (sounds a little later to me). It didn't chart, but what a raver.