FmGT Retrospectives: The Gories

Hey Hey, We’re the Gories
The Gories
I Know You Fine, But How You Doin’
New Rose: 1990
[Listen] [Buy]

Thunderbird ESQ
The Gories
I Know You Fine, But How You Doin’
New Rose: 1990
[Listen] [Buy]

Chick Inn
The Gories
I Know You Fine, But How You Doin’
New Rose: 1990
[Listen] [Buy]

I Think I’ve Had It
The Gories
House Rockin’
Wanghead With Lips: 1989
[Listen] [Buy]

You Make It Move
The Gories
I Know You Fine, But How You Doin’
New Rose: 1990
[Listen] [Buy]

Feral
The Gories
House Rockin’
Wanghead With Lips: 1989
[Listen] [Buy]

Sister Ann
The Gories
House Rockin’
Wanghead With Lips: 1989
[Listen] [Buy]

Charm Bag
The Gories
House Rockin’
Wanghead With Lips: 1989
[Listen] [Buy]

"What's happening in Detroit right now is entirely influenced by what [Mick Collins’] band The Gories were doing over a decade ago.”
– Detroit musician/producer Matthew Smith [Outrageous Cherry]

I would not be an asset to your rock band. Sure, I can do a thing or two on the piano and play the same six chords as everyone who ever picked up a guitar to impress that cute punk boy or girl next door in your freshman dorm, but when it comes down to it, I got nothin’.

Maybe this is why I love Detroit garage punk pioneers The Gories so much. When Mick Collins, Peggy O’Neill and Dan Kroha put the band together in 1986, none of them knew how to play an instrument. But through divine (or devilish) intervention, they picked up two guitars and a set of drums and kicked out a sound like Screamin’ Jay Hawkins with his hand stuck in a punch press – loud, gritty, messy, and flowing with the blood of rock and roll.

The Gories’ influence is undeniable. Although they were only together from 1986 to 1993 and put out three albums: House Rockin’, I Know You Fine, But How You Doin’ [re-released by Crypt Records in 1995 as I Know You Be House Rockin’] and Outta Here, they single-handedly managed to spark a rock revival in Detroit that spawned the likes of The Hentchmen, The Detroit Cobras and a little group called The White Stripes, just to name a very few.

The tracks posted here will get you started. If you like ‘em [and baby, I know you will], be sure to check out The Demolition Doll Rods [Dan Kroha’s current band] or any of Mick Collins’ projects [Black Top, King Sound Quartet, The Screws and the amazing Dirt Bombs, who, by the way, are playing on a boat in the Hudson this summer in NYC. Not to be missed!]

- Tori Turner.

Tori lives and works in New York City, and knows more about music than most of you. And yes, she knows her name rhymes with "Gories". Kinda.