Yeah so I just basically want to express my abject horror and disgust at the possibility of nobody on this forum having heard the infamous Nuggets compilation (or indeed any of its sequels or offshoots such as Pebbles, Rubble, blah)...
But I know there's no need to because somebody is bound to have mentioned it before :D

The original 27-track compilation, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968, was put together by Lenny Kaye in 1972, later guitarist for Patti Smith's group.

As you may have gathered from the title, the music within spans the psychedelic spectrum of the era, from freakbeat (60's beat music's f*cked-up son) to psychedelic chamber pop, and has maintained it's reputation down the decades as being an unrivaled snapshot of the 'era'.

It's the sound of hundreds of teenage garage bands getting stoned to the Byrds, banging out fuzzed-up pop songs and for the most part utterly failing to progress any further, drowned in their own tape loops and distorted Vox organs only for their 45's to be unearthed years later for these lovely collections.

As if that wasn't enough, Nuggets is proto-punk incarnate and was on the jukebox at Sex.

A few years ago Nuggets was reissued on CD and also released in an expanded 4-CD box set. It's pretty popular outside of the beardy record fair crowd and you hear alot of these tracks poached for movies etc.
Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond, 1964–1969 is possibly even better and incorporates sub-Who mod-rock, many strange band names (Winston's Fumbs, Timebox) and maiden voyages for many future household names. As well as a Japanese garage band called the Mops.

Any takers? Fave songs? Memories? Cam aahhhn!