Wild Thing

One of the most popular of all the sports rock anthems started life as a demo by Chip Taylor, also author of "Angel in the Morning." The tune was originally recorded by a New York Chicano group called the Wild Things, sporting six-foot-high pompadours, but the record went nowhere. Picked up as a song demo, the tune was brought to international acclaim by a group called the Troggs. As a song, "Wild Thing" is little more than the same three-chord progression as "Twist and Shout" or "La Bamba" or "Louie Louie" with a deadpan vocal that belies its sexual message. The Troggs' hit version features the unlikely use of an ocarina in the middle for the instrumental solo. That the tune can be interpreted a variety of ways is obvious in its most famous cover by Jimi Hendrix at the Monterey Pop Festival where he uses the song as a guitar-smashing set closer. The song also sprouted legs as a continuing theme in the movie Major League. A true garage-punk classic, the simplicity of "Wild Thing" has given it life into the 21st century of popular song.