Troggs singer, Reg Presley @ 71

[Ron Whitfield]

Jimi Hendrix ran out of his London flat shower to grab his guitar when he heard Wild Thing for the first time, then used the song to help launch himself into true superstardom. Reg was a big part of that, and left his mark in music if only with his great vocal on the '66 hit.
http://www.guitarworld.com/wild-thing-s ... -cancer-71

[Mark Eaton]

Wow - sorry to hear about this. Rest in peace Reg.

Wild Thing. What a great tune. Rock and Roll distilled down to its very essence.

Wild Thing and Angel of the Morning have made a lot of mortgage payments for songwriter Chip Taylor.

[Earnest Bovine]

Reg was a big part of that, and left his mark in music if only with his great vocal on the '66 hit.

Only with his vocal on that!?!?! Not hardly. Wild Thing is long forgotten but Reg's words will live forever:
"You have played it tonight."
"What about a f.. 12 string..?"
"I can f.. hear it ain't right, you c..."

and most beloved of all:
"Split your hands"

[Roger Rettig]

Yes - he entertained countless bands in their vans driving to-and-from gigs once the notorious Troggs Tape went viral.

And it spread through the world of gigging musicians long before the internet!

[Michael Johnstone]

Yeah I'll have to go out to my studio tonight and play the Troggs "arguing in the studio drunk while tape rolls" tape and hoist a chilly. I still have a whole drawerful of cassettes like that that used to pass from musician to musician and studio to studio back in the 70s and 80s. Things like Buddy Rich cussing out his band after the gig,to a tape of Linda McCartney's vocal monitor mix from a Wings gig. Dozens of 'em. Al Kooper was a great source for things like that. Waaahl Thang....

[Skip Edwards]

Yeah, Mike. Sprinkle fairy dust on the tape with a 12 string handy. And don't forget to split your hands...
Adios, Reg...

[Morgan Scoggins]

It is sad news to her of his passing. I was not too much of a rock fan back in those days, but my garage band had to be able to play a few hard rock songs just for the teenagers. We usually did "Wild Thing" and "Bad to The Bone"

[Brint Hannay]

My parents took the family (themselves, my older sister and me, aged 15) for a vacation to Europe in summer 1966. I vividly recall hearing "Wild Thing" coming from doorways of shops, bars, whatever, everywhere we went, in Britain and in mainland Europe. I loved it. With its feral simplicity, it somehow felt like the soundtrack of a new, as yet dimly seen, but stirringly felt (by 15-year-old me), international "youth subculture" then a-borning.

But, seeing as "Wild Thing" was not written by the Troggs but by Chip Taylor (nice going, Chip, getting two hit songs from a simple I-IV-V-IV cycle), in memory of Reg I think of the Troggs' chart hit that he wrote which affected my young self nearly as much two years later (though not as seminal in cultural history):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut5uC91FcbI