Reg Presley was one of the great rock singers. Nobody else sounded like him. Anybody who thinks the Troggs were just “Wild Thing” and “Love is All Around” are mistaken because their albums are really good. Whatever style they decided to put their mind to came out good.

Here they dominate the teenybopper bubblegum genre with “Hip Hip Hooray”. It’s bubblegum, but still sounds dirty.
Check out these lyrics:
Oh me oh my
Blueberry pie
My girl’s got a funny look in her eye
Every night
Everyday
She makes love to me so hip hip hooray! 

Then when shit got heavy later in the 60’s, the Troggs were right there showing how it’s done. Check out this heavy psych monster “Maybe The Madman”. Reg’s singing on this might have successfully accomplished what the 13th Floor Elevators set out to do with their powerful idea of “playing the acid” (getting the audience high through performance). Mind blowing!

The Troggs continued pushing the envelope through the 70’s. They were on David Bowie’s legendary 1980 Floor Show special where they did the classic “Strange Movies” and were later embraced by the punks. After all that, they did the almost impossible feat of putting out another good record many years after the heydays were gone. I think “Black Bottom” is as good as any of the 60’s songs. Again, it’s Reg’s killer vocals that nail this one shut.

I’m not even scratching the surface of the amazing songs they did.

Thanks Reg! You’ll be missed.