and all the controversy that came with it. Interesting story about Louie Louie here:
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/31/1209181745/louie-louie-the-story-behind-the-song-everyone-knows-but-no-one-understands
One of those teenage bands was the Kingsmen. Now there have been other versions recorded by other bands. But this was the one that took the song from regional dance standard to a national phenomenon – even though it's not the best recording.
"The studio that these bands were going in to record had very little experience recording bands – rock bands were sort of new in the area," says Blecha. "It was a jingle studio. They made radio ads for, you know, car lots and for bakeries and for radio stations. So I don't think that they were used to setting up the microphones properly for a loud, pounding rock band." Band members have said the engineer hung a microphone high above them, causing Jack Ely, the singer, to have to shout to be heard. And his enunciation wasn't helped by the fact that he wore braces.
It turned out having words nobody could understand would prove surprisingly important. Dick Peterson joined the band in 1963, stepping in after the original drummer was drafted. And he says when kids couldn't understand the song, they came up with their own lyrics. Dirty lyrics.
"We were on the front page of every newspaper saying that we were corrupting the moral fiber of the youth of America," remembers Peterson. "And J. Edgar Hoover launched an investigation – they woke us up in the middle of the night pounding on the door: 'FBI, FBI!'"
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