The Sonics

USA, 1960–1968

Tacoma, Washington band formed in 1960. 'The Witch' and 'Psycho' were recorded with deliberately overdriven amplifiers and shouted vocals, well before those methods were common.

MusicRoots documents 3 artists who influenced The Sonics and 1 artist The Sonics influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced The Sonics?

• Little Richard — Little Richard screamed — The Sonics screamed louder. That was their basic approach.
• The Kinks — The Kinks' distorted guitar riffs were a key influence on The Sonics' raw, aggressive sound.
• Chuck Berry — Chuck Berry's rock'n'roll vocabulary was the foundation The Sonics pushed to raw extremity.

Which artists did The Sonics influence?

• The Stooges — The other half of that garage rock model: the Sonics' overdriven, one-take racket is closer to the Stooges' first album than anything in the blues Pop had gone to study.