Looking At The Music Of Nuggets:
The Beginning Of The Scene Now Known As Nuggets
© Jon Pike
Oct 30, 2009
In the 1970’s, an unsuccessful compilation record launched a revolution in music and inspired one fan on his own personal odyssey.
Musician, and music fan, Lenny Kaye, somehow convinced Elektra records, that a plethora of music styles from the mid-to-late 60s were all somehow inter-related and belonged on an album together. Thus, was Nuggets born. The original set included such diverse artists as the kings of the Los Angeles discotheque scene, The Standells to one-off studio projects, like the Third Rail. The album sold very little, but Kaye somehow,
“united and codified a musical movement that had mostly slipped under the radar, and exert a powerful influence on punk and its back-to-basics, D.I.Y. spirit.”
Rhino Records, for many years, the label for the forgotten and important of diverse musical styles, picked of the ball that others let roll.
Rhino’s First Foray Into Nuggets
Beginning in 1985, Rhino Records released a set of LPs that picked up where Lenny Kaye left off, chronicling some of the big and lesser-known pop and punk records of the mid-1960s. The series branched off into some of the styles of this era, such as acid rock, and folk rock.
It also branched off into some of the regional music scenes of the mid-1960s, such as the Pacific Northwest and early San Francisco. This series more-or-less ended with a series of three CDs that were somewhat random amalgams of the music that became known as Nuggets.
Rhino Picks Up The Ball Again
Then 1998 arrived. Rhino decided to get back into the Nuggets game. Its first release was the original compilation, plus three CDs of additional music. This was followed by a set of music from the same era, but from various countries, but mostly forgotten artists from the U.K., such as The Move, and The Pretty Things.
Then came a set called , Children of Nuggets, a set featuring artists who were inspired by the Nuggets movement.
With scenester and musician Andrew Sandoval, Rhino produced two compilations of odd mid-60s matter that appeared on labels associated with Warner, Rhino’s current owner.
Rhino seems to be back on track with producing Nuggets compilations that focus on regional scenes. They put together a compilation that featured the music from the mid-to-late 60s that flourished in and around San Francisco entitled, Love Is The Song We Sing. The latest Nuggets issue is a compilation of what was happening in and around Los Angeles, called, Where The Action Is. What could follow from here could be compilations of the artists of the Midwest, or the vibrant Pacific Northwest Scene.
What is interesting is that what constitutes a Nugget remains elusive. Some people disdain anything that got into the charts. Some people will include one-off studio produced singles and others won't. The definition remains elusive but the music remains enjoyable.
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