"maybe there just ISN'T an american shocking blue."

lemme throw this in the ring too: the mamas and the papas were the american abba.

The Great Society (Grace Slick's pre-J.Airplane band) was reasonably close sound-wise to the Shocking Blue.

They don't have that little in common with later AOR acts such as Boston. Only technology had come a bit further by the mid 70s, which meant that generation had less rough edges.

when i think of shocking blue, i think if the american wave of bubblegum/garage bands in the '60s. the music explosion "little bit o' soul," things like that. weren't the shocking blue kinda exactly of that generation?

There is a Turkish Shocking Blue, though. At least, there's a turkish language adaptation of "Send me a postcard" by Mavi Isiklar on the Turkish Delights singles compilation.

wtf is up with people's obsession with the idea that every American or British act must have a transatlantic equivalent?

Dunno. But let's get back to talking about Dutch groups.

Hahahahahahahaha I was confusing Shocking Blue with Pruss14n Blue for a second there and getting progressively baffleder.

Well, how about the Velvet Underground with Nico. Sure, Nico was European.

Yeah, I thought Great Society/Jefferson Airplane immediately, as soon as I saw the thread title.

Wow, I didn't remember that there was a SPECIFIC thread about this, but it was something I was actually thinking about today. Hackamore Brick maybe, but Robbie was really a world class guitar player.

Yeah or maybe Crabby Appleton?

Folk/psych rockers Michaelangelo, who put out one record on Columbia called "One Voice Many," also kind of have this vibe

The rhythm guitar playing, in particular, in Shocking Blue is what makes me ask this question and I think what makes them interesting to situate in the early 70s. It's distinctly not heavy, but very rhythmic. fact checking cuz likening them above to US bubblegum from that time is, I think, right and that's why I would also bring up Hackamore Brick and particularly something like "Oh Those Sweet Bananas" or maybe "Zip Gun Woman."

or Vanity Fair's "Taking A Ride" now that I see this thread

Yeah! That's the Shocking Blue groove for sure, maybe a little more ska?

Even has the Venus riff at the end.

Always loved that they use that in other songs too, like Never Marry a Railroad Man.

An American equivalent of Shocking Blue would also have to bring in something from another country or culture's music---so in terms of fun party pop-rock that is a little psych, a little country, a lot of rock, never letting "authenticity" get in the way of a good single,wh, and knows how to work the cultural difference, I nominate Alex Chilton, when he's covering Italian pop along w pre-Big Star Memphis soda shop jukebox faves and Big Star and whatever, especially but not only live.

(And yknow sometimes post Big Star he still covered T.Rex's "Baby Strange" and Kinks' "Till The End of the Day," and maybe the VU too.)

Nine Dutch top ten hits, fourteen top twenty.

...The Doors?

I don't know about the US, but I think there was a lot of music that sounded similar in the UK, sort of bubblegum-y CCR, it's almost the sound of 1970.

Yeah, “Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes” is very much like a Shocking Blue groove! What else, Tom?

"Yellow River" by Christie for one.

Totally