Artist · chart history
The Sonics
Band Bremerton United States Active 1960–1968 American garage rock
The Sonics formed in 1960 in Bremerton, United States and was active until 1968. The Sonics has 3 chart appearances on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations on RockLists, spanning 2012–2019. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Have Love Will Travel”, which appears on 2 lists with a best position of #313. The station that charted The Sonics most often is KEXP (Seattle, WA), with 2 appearances.
The Sonics came out of Tacoma, Washington, in 1960, and by the middle of the decade they were making the rawest, most savage noise anybody had ever put on a teenage dance record. Gerry Roslie, Andy and Larry Parypa, Rob Lind and Freddie Dennis took a handful of simple chords and hammered them at a speed and with a ferocity that simply wasn't done yet.
They tore into rock and roll standards like "Louie, Louie" and "Skinny Minnie" alongside snarling originals such as "Strychnine" and "Psycho", and Here Are The Sonics!!!, on Jerden in 1965, is the proof: "The Witch" and "Have Love Will Travel" sound like the amplifiers are about to catch fire. This is garage rock and frat rock played as if the frat house were coming down around them.
They were done by 1968, but the noise never died. The Stooges and the Cramps took notes, and later the White Stripes, Nirvana, the Hives and LCD Soundsystem all named them as an inspiration: punk, in other words, had a blueprint cut in Washington state years before anyone called it that.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The Sonics on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Have Love Will Travel | 2 | #313 | – | – | |
| 2 | the Witch | 1 | #579 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 347 | Have Love Will Travel | KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time |
| 2019 | 579 | the Witch | KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time |
| 2012 | 313 | Have Love Will Travel | WXPN 885 Greatest Rock Songs (2012) |
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about The Sonics.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.