Of course, this sort of deep-set change didn't happen overnight, nor can it be ascribed to any one factor or individual; indeed, it now seems likely that whatever would be chosen to ultimately force the issue, the entire weighty tradition of rock and roll progress would be pushing solidly behind it. The Beatles/Stones-led English Invasion had started the ball rolling, not only reacquainting American musicians with those roots (blues, early rock) that they long appeared to have forgotten, but by providing models for a whole new breed of band, suddenly liberated from the Ventures-like instrumentals that had previously been their sole claim to fame. The social situation similarly set the pace, doing its part by opening the once-rigid boundaries of individual musics -- folk, jazz, more exotic and foreign forms -- as well as cracking open the door to a world in which youth felt they had too long suffered a pat on the head and a kick in the ass. Lastly, you might take into account the players and audiences themselves, nurtured on a steady diet of rock for as long as they could remember, the former sure that a piece of the plutonian pie could easily be theirs by as simple an act of faith as picking up a guitar, the latter bored with the old formulas and looking for a new formula to plug in as replacement.

The result, naturally enough, was the kind of music you will find here, in the first volume of what is hoped will be a continuing archeological dig into the bizarre splendor of the mid-sixties, a time when nobody seemed too sure of what was happening but never let that get in the way of enjoying it to the fullest. Much of the era relied on older ways of thinking -- the emphasis on hit singles to make or break a group, for instance, or the submergence of instrumental displays to the needs of a song at hand -- but much clearly pointed forward: a fascination with feedback electronics, caged references to the drug experience along with more "worldly" concerns, and a sense that, somehow, things were going to be a lot different from this point on.

In addition, most of these groups (and by and large, this was an era dominated by groups) were young, decidedly unprofessional, seemingly more at home practicing for a teen dance than going out on national tour. The name that has been unofficially coined for them -- "punk-rock" -- seems particularly fitting in this case, for if nothing else they exemplified the berserk pleasure that comes with being on-stage outrageous, the relentless middle-finger drive and determination offered only by rock and roll at its finest. And as these were kids who more often than not could've lived up the street, or at least in the same town, there was no question what even localized success could mean in terms of universal attraction. Elvis had shown us the first time around that rock's greatest strength has always been as catalyst, and with a whole new generation waiting out there to be worked on, there could be little doubt that something big was about to erupt. So it came to pass, as you all well know, with consequences that are only just now beginning to appear hardened and formalized, a sure signal that perhaps it's time for the same old ritual to take root once again.

The notes enclosed are intended to provide a frame of reference in which to approach these hand-picked tracks, and have no pretense either to complete enlightenment or total truth. In the main, they're meant merely as settings, to help provide a map of names and places which even at this chronologically short distance seem to belong to another world. The same spirit also means that like most golden goodies collections, Nuggets has been designed primarily as a listening album; and whether you want to use it to remember that bittersweet moment when you first decided to let your hair grow/take up a picket sign/wonder what a deadly toke would feel like, or just welcome yourself into some suprisingly fine and memorable music, well, that's "your trip." I just hope you have as much fun letting it spin as I had putting it together.

Fall 1972