Since 1964, America has been influenced by British music. Now we have a British group singing a song that was written by an American. “Wild Thing” was first written by a songwriter named Chip Taylor in 1965. The song was for a group called The Wild Ones. They recorded the song in late 1965, but it wasn’t a hit.

Meanwhile, in England, a group was making themselves known as The Troglodytes. You know, as in prehistoric caveman. The Troglodytes were formed in Andover, Hampshire in May 1964. They weren’t getting anywhere, so some of the group left and a couple new guys came in. The lead singer was Reg Ball and he changed his name to Reg Presley. They also changed the name of the group to the Troggs. The nod to Elvis may have done the trick, because they did much better as the Troggs. The group was picked up by producer Larry Page who also managed the Kinks. After a couple of failed attempts at hitting the British charts, Page gave them the song “Wild Thing” and they were on their way.

There was an unusual problem with “Wild Thing,” however. Two labels, Fontana and Atco both claimed rights to the song. It was released on both labels and the song went to number two in England and number one in America. This is the only number one in the history of the charts to be claimed by two labels. When Billboard Magazine showed the statistics of the song in their pages, they combined the sales of both labels. You would think that a lawsuit resulted from this, but I can’t find any evidence of one. They just both released the record and collected their own profits from their own label.

The Troggs only hit the Top 40 two more times, one of which was a number seven song called “Love is All Around.” I actually liked that song better than I did “Wild Thing” but I’m a sucker for ballads. The Troggs limped along doing the best they could. Some of the records they recorded charted in England, but after “Love is All Around,” they never charted in the United States again. The band stayed together off and on for years.

The band’s original drummer, Ronnie Bond died on November 13, 1992 and the lead, Reg Presley died on February 4, 2013.

In an interesting footnote to the saga of the Troggs, in 1967, a comedian named Bill Minkin recorded a parody of “Wild Thing” in which he sings (actually talks) under the name of “Senator Bobby.” So, it sounds like Bobby Kennedy is reading the words to “Wild Thing.” As a parody and a comedy record, it did pretty good, peaking at number twenty on the pop chart. It was only a year and a half later that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. I suspect the “Senator Bobby” record was not played after that.

“Wild Thing” (by the Troggs) entered the pop charts on July 9, 1966 and spent two weeks at number one. On Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, it is ranked number 257.

Check out the flash of Casey Kasem’s face right at the beginning and again at the end of the video.