The Challengers were an instrumental surf rock band started in Los Angeles, California, in late 1962. They represented a growing love for surf music and helped make the genre popular. Their debut album, Surfbeat, was the biggest-selling surf album of all time and helped bring surf music from California to the rest of the world.
Milan Radenkovich (December 15, 1941 – March 14, 1971), who was always credited mononymously as Milan, was an American record producer, songwriter and recording artist on numerous songs made throughout the 1960s, mostly though not exclusively in the garage rock genre. He released an LP and numerous singles for seven different national record labels and other independent labels (a total of more than 30 songs) under a variety of names, including Milan with His Orchestra, Milan, The World of Milan, Milan (The Leather Boy), and The Leather Boy, and also worked under the name Rick Rodell. As a producer, arranger and/or songwriter, Milan oversaw many other releases by a variety of artists ranging from the pop singer Lou Christie to the psychedelic rock band the Head Shop.
AIP Records is a record label that was started by Greg Shaw's Bomp! Records in 1983 to continue the Pebbles series. AIP stands for "Archive International Productions". The first 10 volumes in the Pebbles series had been released by BFD Records of Kookaburra, Australia in 1979–1980 and have been kept in print by AIP for many years. Including those in the companion Highs in the Mid-Sixties series – which concentrated on American regional music scenes – there are over 50 LPs covering some 800 obscure, mostly American "Original Punk Rock" songs recorded in the mid-1960s – primarily known today as the garage rock and psychedelic rock genres – that were previously known only to a handful of collectors.
Pebbles is an extensive series of compilation albums in both LP and CD formats that have been issued on several record labels, though mostly by AIP. Together with the companion Highs in the Mid-Sixties series, the Pebbles series made available over 800 obscure, mostly American "Original Punk Rock" songs recorded in the mid-1960s — primarily known today as the garage rock and psychedelic rock genres — that were previously known only to a handful of collectors. In 2007, the release of the Pebbles, Volume 11: Northern California CD marked the final album in the Pebbles series. The following year, Bomp! marked the 30th anniversary of the original Pebbles album with a spartan, limited-edition, clear-vinyl reissue complete with the original pink cover insert.
Pebbles is a compilation of US underground and garage single record releases from the mid- to late-1960s. It had a limited original release in 1978 and a more general release in 1979. It was followed by several subsequent Pebbles compilations and albums. This album is nowadays known as Pebbles, Volume 1 and was originally issued in 1978 as Pebbles, Volume One: Artyfacts from the First Punk Era, an obvious riff on Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, a similar, groundbreaking compilation from 1972.
Pebbles, Volume 3, subtitled The Acid Gallery, is a compilation album featuring American underground psychedelic rock musical artists from the 1960s. It is the third installment of the Pebbles series and was released on BFD Records in 1979. The album is marked for containing among the most unusual recordings of psychedelic music.
Pebbles, Volume 4 is a compilation album in the Pebbles series that has been issued in both LP and CD formats. Unlike other volumes in the series – which compile obscure garage rock and psychedelic rock music – Volume 4 collects rare examples of surf rock. The LP is subtitled Summer Means Fun, while the CD is subtitled Surf N Tunes. Another Pebbles, Volume 4 was issued on CD a few years earlier by ESD Records and has completely different tracks.
Pebbles, Volume 6 is a compilation album among the LPs in the Pebbles series. Subtitled The Roots of Mod, Volume 6 is the only album in the Pebbles series that features primarily British music. The Pebbles, Volume 6 CD is not at all related to this LP; instead, the CD featuring the songs on this LP was released as English Freakbeat, Volume 6.
The Pebbles Box is a 5-LP box set of mid-1960s garage rock and psychedelic rock recordings, primarily by American bands. Several years later, a similar 5-CD box set was released that was called the Trash Box. The Pebbles Box purports to collect the first five volumes of the Pebbles series, although there are fewer songs than on the original LPs: 72 total tracks on the five discs, as compared with 86 on the original LPs. Also, as is generally true of the CD reissues of these five volumes, the tracks differ significantly on all five discs as compared to both the original Pebbles LPs and the later Pebbles CDs in the corresponding volumes; and the surf rock rarities on Pebbles, Volume 4 have been eschewed entirely.
Trash Box is a 5-CD box set of mid-1960s garage rock and psychedelic rock recordings, primarily by American bands. This box set is similar to the earlier Pebbles Box and includes almost all of the same recordings in that box set, along with numerous bonus tracks at the end of each disc. Supposedly, the Trash Box collects the first five volumes of the CDs in the Pebbles series. However, as is generally true of the CD reissues of these five volumes, the tracks differ significantly on all five discs as compared to both the original Pebbles LPs and the later Pebbles CDs in the corresponding volumes; and the surf rock rarities on Pebbles, Volume 4 have been eschewed entirely. Overall, there are 109 tracks in the box set as compared to 101 songs on the individual CDs and 72 tracks in the Pebbles Box.
The Highs in the Mid-Sixties series is a group of 23 compilation albums of garage rock and psychedelic rock recordings that were issued by AIP Records in the mid-1980s. This series is a companion to the Pebbles series of similar music; the title is technically preceded by "Pebbles Presents:". The title sounds like it might have come from a weather report, although "Highs" intends to mean "the best", while the recordings on these albums were originally released in the mid-1960s.
Essential Pebbles, Volume 1 is the first compilation album in the Essential Pebbles series. Although subtitled Ultimate '66 garage classics!, not all of the recordings on the album were originally released in 1966.
The Beatmen were a Slovak rock band singing predominantly in English, that existed from 1964 to 1966. Although they released only 4 songs, they remain one of the most significant bands in the history of the Czechoslovak popular music. They were one of the first widely popular Big Beat bands in Czechoslovakia and they were one of the first bands from behind the iron curtain to play in the western Europe, in Munich. The band was the first bigger success for the singer and guitarist Dežo Ursiny, who later became a legend of the Czechoslovak music.
Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 1 is a compilation album of American garage rock and psychedelic rock recordings from the mid to late 1960s. It was the first in a series that is nearly as long as the earlier Pebbles series of similar music, although the Highs albums concentrate strictly on particular regions of the US – in this case, recordings that were released in Los Angeles, California..
The English Freakbeat series is a group of five compilation albums, released in the late 1980s, that were issued by AIP Records. The LPs featured recordings that were released in the mid-1960s by English rock bands in the early punk, proto-punk, R&B, mod, and beat genres. The series served as a follow-up to the Pebbles, Volume 6 LP, itself subtitled The Roots of Mod, which was the only album in the Pebbles series that was devoted to English music. When the English Freakbeat series was reissued as CDs in the 1990s, the Pebbles, Volume 6 LP was adapted into the English Freakbeat, Volume 6 CD.
Lloyd Thaxton Goes Surfing with The Challengers is the second album by the surf rock band The Challengers. This album was issued in 1963, at the peak of the "surf wave", in South California. This record was a "hard to find" LP, until the Sundazed Records cie released it back, in 1994, with 2 previously unissued bonus tracks.
Planetary Pebbles is an extensive series of compilation albums that is a sub-series to the main Pebbles series, and was circulated through AIP Records. The complete series compiled over 80 songs of extremely rare and obscure psychedelic and garage rock musical artists from the 1960s that were previously nearly impossible to collect, even in the music artists' individual home countries. Planetary Pebbles is the third to branch out from the original series, with Best of: The Pebbles Series and Essential Pebbles series preceding it.
Planetary Pebbles, Volume 3: Surfbeat Behind the Iron Curtain is a compilation album featuring underground surf and garage rock musical artists east of the Iron Curtain that recorded between 1963 and 1967. It is the third and final installment of the Planetary Pebbles series, a sub-series to the Pebbles series, and was released on 14 January 1999.
"Action Woman" is a song by the American garage rock band the Litter, written by their record producer Warren Kendrick, and first released as the group's debut single on Scotty Records in January 1967. The song also appeared on the band's first album Distortions. Although "Action Woman" never broke out on the national charts, it is now revered as a classic piece of the musical genre of garage rock. Accordingly, the composition has appeared on several compilation albums – most famously as the opening track on Pebbles, Volume 1, incorporating a skip in the recording – and has been the subject of cover versions.
Randy Nauert was an American surf music and culture entrepreneur. He started in the music business as a bass player who played with The Bel-Airs and took his experience to broader appeal with The Challengers who were in the forefront of the surf music explosion in southern California. He also worked as a composer, arranger, music manager, producer and music publisher. He is well known as being one of the first pioneers of surf music.
