The Troggs

The Troggs rank as one of the most two-sided bands in rock, toggling between the primitive caveman stomp of their most famous song, the lustful “Wild Thing”, and the unabashedly twee sway of the hit ballad “Love Is All Around”, where singer Reg Presley famously felt the titular emotion in his fingers and his toes. Childhood pals Presley and drummer Ronnie Bone formed the group as an R&B band in 1964 in Andover, Hampshire. By 1966 The Troggs had gravitated toward a stripped-down hard-rock sound, as defined by smash hit “Wild Thing”. The brilliantly simple rocker with a famous flute solo climbed the charts in the U.K. and the U.S. and established the influential Neanderthal side of the band, laying out a future blueprint for garage rock and punk. While other rock bands were following increasingly psychedelic impulses, The Troggs held firm to an elegant artlessness. On the records they released between 1966 and 1968, they retained the yin-yang of primal desire (“I Want You”, “I Can’t Control Myself”) and innocent romance (“With a Girl Like You”). By 1969 the group had largely disappeared from the pop charts and underwent a relentless churn of personnel. Presley remained lead singer until 2012, a year before his death.