Among musicians, the infamous Troggs Tapes is the tabula rasa of rock and roll memes. As band members Reg, Dennis, Tony and Ronnie desperately try to nail a take of a song, they progressively meltdown, bickering, ranting, and collectively uttering more “fucks” than Tony Montana in Scarface. The tapes are claimed to have been a source of inspiration for Spinal Tap.
Here’s a groovy unattributed anecdote which, whether true or not, illustrates the mythology connected to this iconic tape;
Ron Wood was doing some studio work with Bob Dylan and over the course of the gig played Dylan the “Troggs Tapes”. Not unnaturally, Dylan thought they were very funny.
It turned out that Troggs singer Reg Presley was working in an adjacent studio making a demo for a commercial.
When Wood discovered this, he approached Dylan all excited, saying “Remember that guy on the tape I played you? Well, he’s next door right now!”
Dylan says, “Really?! Wow, I gotta meet him. You gotta introduce me!”
So Ron Wood takes Bob Dylan next door to find Reg disconsolately fumbling with a bass guitar.
Dylan, by way of introduction, says “Hey, I didn’t know you played bass, man. How long you been playing bass?”
Reg looks up and with a deep sigh says, “All fuckin’ afternoon, mate, all fuckin’ afternoon”.
Larry Page has posted a transcript of the Troggs Tape here.
