The Outsiders (band)

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Four rock and roll bands in the 1960s used the name The Outsiders, one from Ohio, one from Brooklyn, New York, one from Tampa, Florida and one from Amsterdam in the Netherlands. All four are frequently put in the category of garage rock.

The Ohioan Outsiders would be best classified as frat rock, and had hits in the United States with "Time Won't Let Me" (covered by Iggy Pop in the 1980s) and the near-soundalike "Lost in My World", as well as a cover of The Isley Brothers' "Respectable". Their singer, Sonny Geraci, later fronted the soft rock band Climax in the 1970s.

The guys from Brooklyn did a send-up of the moptop phenomenon with "The Guy With the Long Liverpool Hair," re-issue available on "Fuzz, Flaykes & Shakes, Vol.7: You Make Me Lose My Mind" compilation.

In Tampa, the Outsiders recorded Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" as a rave-up circa 1965. The following year they renamed themselves The Soul Trippers.

The Outsiders (Dutch band) (see there) were heavily influenced by British Invasion-era blues-rock acts like The Animals and Them. Their singer, Wally Tax had a voice similar to that of Eric Burdon and Van Morrison. Their best known songs were "Touch" and "You Remind Me". Tax wrote most of the Outsider's songs along with the band's guitarist, Ronald Splinter. Along with Q65, they typify the subgenre of 1960s garage rock called Nederbeat. "Touch" was re-recorded by American garage revivalists, The Lyres, in 1989 with Wally Tax on vocals. The Lyres covered many other Tax/Splinter songs.

Tax died at age 56 on April 10, 2005 in Amsterdam.