| "Psychotic Reaction" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 German single picture sleeve,Hansa | ||||
| Single byCount Five | ||||
| from the albumPsychotic Reaction | ||||
| B-side | "They're Gonna Get You" | |||
| Released | June 1966 (1966-06) | |||
| Studio | Hollywood, California | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:56 | |||
| Label | Double Shot | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) |
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| Count Five singles chronology | ||||
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"Psychotic Reaction" is the debut single by the Americangarage rock bandCount Five, released in June 1966 on theirdebut studio album of the same name.[6]
"Psychotic Reaction" was born out of aninstrumental thatCount Five played for six months before their manager Sol Ellner, Kenn Ellner's father, suggested that rhythm guitarist John "Sean" Byrne write lyrics for it.[7] Inspiration came in early 1966 when Byrne was seated in a health education class during his freshmen year atSan Jose City College in California. As his professor lectured aboutpsychosis andneurosis, Byrne's friend Ron Lamb, seated next to him, leaned over and whispered, "You know what would be a great name for a song? Psychotic Reaction!"[8] Byrne later stated, "That was the missing punch-line for the song".[7] He finished the lyrics and presented them to the rest of the group at band practice that night.[7]
I can't tell you how great it felt when those guys burst out of the control booth after we played "Psychotic" and told us, "You've got a record contract."[8]
When the band played the song live a few weeks later at a dance atWest Valley College, localKLIV disc jockey Brian Lord, emceeing the event, was very impressed. After a few pointed suggestions on rearranging the tune for a punchier sound,[8] Lord landed the group auditions with several record labels, most of whom turned them down flat.[9] Lord then put the band in touch with a couple of friends inLos Angeles, Hal Winn and Joe Hooven, who were about to start their own label,Double Shot Records. The band drove down to meet them at Decca Studios onMelrose Avenue. They were accompanied by Lord, who had the group begin the audition with some of their other songs before dramatically unveiling "Psychotic Reaction".[8]
The song'smusical key is F♯.[10] It begins with apentatonicfuzz guitarriff that has been compared tothe Rolling Stones' "Susie Q" andJohnny Rivers' "The Seventh Son";[11] however, scholar Steve Waksman writes that the tone itself is more like the Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" andthe Electric Prunes' "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)".[10] Accompanying the riff is a "rhythmicmonad" played on thebass drum,[1] and Ellner's "warbling" harmonica.[12] Byrne's less aggressive rhythm guitar then comes in playing a I–♭VIIchord progression.[13]
The lyrics of the song describe a state ofpsychosis triggered by romantic frustration:[14][15]
I feel depressed, I feel so bad
'Cause you're the best girl that I've ever had
I can't get your love, I can't get a fraction
Uh-oh, little girl, psychotic reaction
At the end of the verse, Byrne shouts, "And it feels like this",[14] leading into an instrumental passage that serves as a "musical analogy" for the singer's mental state.[12] The episode has been called a "rave-up" or "freak-out",[16] a technique that musicologistMichael Hicks describes as "a pseudo-double time section with a corresponding intensification of dynamics".[17] The style was pioneered by the English groupthe Yardbirds,[17] and as such the song has frequently been compared to them,[18][19] in particular their 1965 rendition ofBo Diddley's "I'm a Man".[20] The section lasts 45 seconds before a drum fill brings the band back for a second and final verse. At the end of the song, the lead riff briefly returns[14] before a copy of the rave-up, spliced onto the end of the track, plays as the song fades out.[21]
Irwin Zucker, the promotions director forDouble Shot,[22] waved "Psychotic Reaction" as the band's first release.[23] The label originally considered another song by the band, "They're Gonna Get You",[nb 1] which was eventually decided to be theB-side.[9] The single was issued in June 1966,[25] on the same day that Ellner and Chaney graduated fromPioneer High School in San Jose.[7] Over the next few months, the song gained heavy airplay on radio stations across the United States[21] and began rapidly ascending thesingles charts.[9] The band were initially unaware of the song's success; Byrne said that the first time he heard it on the radio it was announced as the station's "most requested song", while Michalski recalled hearing it on threeBay Area stations at the same time.[8] The single peaked at number 5 on theBillboard Hot 100 in October 1966[26] and at number 3 on the CanadianRPM 100 later that month.[27] "Psychotic Reaction" was among the first successfulacid (orpsychedelic rock) songs, containing the characteristics that would come to define acid rock: the use of feedback and distortion replacing early rock music's more melodic electric guitars.[28]
To capitalize on the success of the single, Double Shot immediately pressured the band to record a full-length album.[29] As a strategic decision, their debut album was also titledPsychotic Reaction, released in October 1966, including seven new songs composed mostly byJohn Byrne.
Richie Unterberger inAllmusic said: "the verses are thus almost stereotypical sub-British blues-rock, yet have a hypnotic groove of their own, and the vocals have a respectably sullen power, if in a somewhat downer frame of mind (in accordance with the lyrics about being depressed and romantically rejected)".[30]
The song was included in theRock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll".[31] In 2014, the song placed seventh onPaste's list of the "50 Best Garage Rock Songs of All Time".[32]
This song appears in the gamesBattlefield Vietnam (2004),Mafia 3 (2016), andFar Cry 5 (2018).
"Psychotic Reaction" has been featured in films such asMarek Kanievska'sLess than Zero (1987),Gus Van Sant'sDrugstore Cowboy (1989),Paul Schrader´sAuto Focus (2002) andRandall Miller´sCBGB (2013), and has done very well onClassic Rock radio.
The song is also featured in the second-season episode "Bad Friend" from the HBO seriesGirls and the tenth episode "Alibi" from the HBO seriesVinyl, and in an IKEA television advert on UK's Channel 4 (May 2019).
Because of its inclusion on the originalPebblescompilation album, probably the best known of the many obscurecovers of this song that were made in the 1960s is the one by Positively 13 O'Clock (i.e., Jimmy Rabbitt with members ofMouse and the Traps and others) in 1967. The song has been covered byBrenton Wood, on his 1967 albumOogum Boogum. It was also recorded by the 1960s studio-only band, The Leathercoated Minds, in 1966 on their albumA Trip Down the Sunset Strip.
The song is one of the many songs quoted and parodied on the 1976 albumThe Third Reich 'n Roll by theavantgarde groupThe Residents. "Psychotic Reaction" was also covered during the 1970s byThe Radiators from Space (B-side to "Enemies", 1977) and byTelevision, who included the song in their early sets which emphasized the "rave-up" section. Covers made during the 1980s include a live version byThe Cramps on their 1983 live mini-album,Smell of Female and by artistNash the Slash. The Nash the Slash version was released on his 1984 albumAmerican Bandages, inserting paraphrased excerpts ofJohn Hinckley's letter toJodie Foster,[33] as well as lines from the movie "Taxi Driver", between the verses.
Horror punk/metal bandHaunted Garage covered the song on their 1991 albumPossession Park. Other cover versions include a live version byThe Fuzztones and a version byThe Vibrators on their albumGarage Punk (2009). This song is also played live byTom Petty and the Heartbreakers on thePlaybackbox set and seen in the currently out of print concert video, "Take the Highway" sung by drummerStan Lynch. TheNight Beats from Seattle, Washington have played it most nights of their 2011 U.S. and European dates.[34]
Count Five
