Born to be Wild

Born to be Wild...

Wild probably isn’t the first thing one conjures up in their mind when they see an accordion. But hey, this was the 1950s...

Like father, like son, I had one of these strapped to me at @ 3 years old. I’m 4 here. I played the accordion into my teens. My dad was a little disappointed when I took up the guitar and embraced rock & roll. That’s when the wild side started to show up, around 1963.

Before the English Invasion, before Grunge, Psychedelic, Experimental Rock, or Heavy Metal we had Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Sonics, The Fabulous Wailers, The Kingsmen, The Ventures, The Dave Lewis Trio, Merrilee Rush and the Turnabouts and many more...

Back then these local bands got a lot of airplay on KJR AM with Pat O’Day (KJR Seattle, channel 95!) and when we were in high school, that was probably the only station we ever listened to in the car, cruising the loop in Renton. It was right out of American Graffiti.

Besides Jimi Hendrix, who came much later, I first loved The Ventures. They’re one of the first reasons I was attracted to the guitar. Did you know they originated from Tacoma? Who could forget Walk, Don’t Run (1960) or Wipe Out! (1963) Over the years they sold over 100 million records and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

Born to be Wild was originally published by the author on the Activerain network.

#accordion #Renton #PNW #1960s #rock&roll