In 1963, the result of such endeavours was 'Louie Louie' by the Kingsmen who recorded the definitive version of the song covered by countless bands (among which Iggy Pop, the godfather of punk) and featured countless times in films. The slurred chorus and unintelligible verses sung by Jack Ely, the lead singer of the Kingsmen, enraged a parent so much he wrote to the then US attorney general Robert Kennedy who then called in the FBI for the alleged obscenity of the lyrics. To this day, conspiracy theorists still believe the meaning of the song to be sexual and dirty.
'Louie Louie' is credited with being a proto-punk and garage-rock song and a definitive influence on these musical genres and, while it was an incredible success in the charts when it first came out, the Kingsmen didn't make much money from it until much later: they would only receive their unpaid back royalties in the mid 80s.
Sadly, Jack Ely passed away in April this year at the age of 71.
Interestingly, he had an interview with Allan Handelman on his radio show, to 'set the record straight' about 'Louie Louie'. The broadcast was made available on YT in 2012.
