VA - Love That Louie: The Louie Louie Files (2002)

When Richard Berry sold his 'little song' for a few hundred dollars so that he could get married, he could not have had any idea of the millions of dollars that were saying 'me gotta go' to him. A prolific songwriter and self confessed 'studio hound', Richard had appeared on countless recordings, under many different group names. He had a bunch of hits at Modern Records, and then moved to Flip. Louie Louie was initially the flip of his second 45 for the label, but was quickly flipped to the top deck. It still wasn't a hit. So when Richard sold the rights along with a bunch of other tunes, it was no big deal.

Uh uh - but then in 1961 along came Rockin' Robin Roberts & the Wailers out of the Pacific Northwest. Taking a lead from the live version by local legend Ron Holden, they cut the record that was to eventually turn Richard's 'little song that was a miss' into a rock'n'roll icon. Louie Louie became a regional hit, and the local garage bands were all covering it. But it wasn't until 1963 that the Kingsmen's version took off nationally. It hit the top spot in Cashbox and it has always been rumoured that in-house quality control refused to let it go all the way in Billboard. This was one primitive slice of garage rock.