Count Five was an American

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...

band formed in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, in 1964, best known for their hit single " Psychotic Reaction".

History

The band was founded in 1964 by lead guitarist John "Mouse" Michalski (born 1948, Cleveland, Ohio) and bassist Roy Chaney (born 1948, Indianapolis, Indiana). The two were friends at Pioneer High School, who had previously played in several short-lived bands, most notably a

surf rock Surf music (also known as surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is inst ...

group named the Citations. As the

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when Rock music, rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of Culture of the United Kingdom, British culture became popular in the United States with sign ...

's influence took effect, the band changed in musical direction. After going by the name the Squires for a short time, along with several line-up changes, the Count Five was born. John "Sean" Byrne (1947–2008, born Dublin, Ireland) played rhythm guitar and performed lead vocals; Kenn Ellner played tambourine and harmonica, while sharing lead vocals; and Craig "Butch" Atkinson (1947–1998, born San Jose, California) played drums. The Count Five were recognizable for their habit of wearing

Count Dracula Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. He is considered the prototypical and archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some to have been i ...

–style capes when playing live. "Psychotic Reaction", an acknowledged cornerstone of garage rock, was initially devised by Byrne, with the group refining it and turning it into the highlight of their live sets. The song was influenced by the style of contemporary musicians such as

the Standells The Standells are an American garage rock band from Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California, formed in the 1960s, who have been referred to as a "punk band of the 1960s", and are said to have inspired such groups as the Sex Pistols and ...

and

the Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1963. The band started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton (1963–1965), Jeff Beck (1965–1966) and Jimmy Page (1966–1968), all of whom ...

. The band was rejected by several record labels before they got signed to the Los Angeles–based Double Shot Records. "Psychotic Reaction" was released as a single, peaking at number five in the U.S. charts in late 1966, and it became the title track to their only studio album in 1966. The band enjoyed limited success afterwards before breaking up in 1969. Count Five reunited in April 1987 when they performed a concert at One Step Beyond nightclub in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Clare of Assisi, Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities and towns i ...

. This was released as ''Psychotic Reunion LIVE!''.

Legacy

"Psychotic Reaction" was included on the 1972 compilation album '' Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968''. This inclusion was noted as bringing the single and the band to a whole new generation of listeners. The band was immortalized in a 1971 essay by rock journalist

Lester Bangs Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs (December 14, 1948 – April 30, 1982) was an American music journalist and critic. He wrote for ''Creem'' and ''Rolling Stone'' magazines and was also a performing musician. The music critic Jim DeRogatis called ...

, entitled " Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung". In the essay, Bangs credited the band for having released several albums after '' Psychotic Reaction'': ''Carburetor Dung'', ''Cartesian Jetstream'', ''Ancient Lace and Wrought-Iron Railings'', and ''Snowflakes Falling on the International Dateline''—each displaying an increasing sense of artistry and refinement. However, none of these subsequent albums existed except in Bangs's own imagination. "Psychotic Reaction" can be heard playing on the jukebox in an early scene in

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and photographer, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Venice International Film ...

's film '' Alice in the Cities'' (1974) and in the party scene in '' The Sense of an Ending'' (2017). It can also be heard on the season one finale of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

drama series ''

Vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

''. The song was covered by Mouse and the Traps in a 1966 single, the Radiators From Space in a 1977 single,

the Cramps The Cramps were an American rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2009. Their lineup rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy the only ever-present members. T ...

on their 1983 live album '' Smell of Female'', by the Fuzztones on their 1987 album ''Live in Europe!'' and

the Vibrators The Vibrators were a British punk rock band whose greatest success was in 1977–1978 with the albums ''Pure Mania'' and ''V2 (album), V2''. Their first Epic Records single "Baby Baby (The Vibrators song), Baby Baby" is considered a punk cla ...

in 2009, among others.

Members

* John "Sean" Byrne – lead vocals, rhythm guitar * Kenn Ellner – backing and lead vocals, tambourine, harmonica * John "Mouse" Michalski – lead guitar * Roy Chaney – bass guitar * Craig "Butch" Atkinson – drums * David "Dave" Eugene McDowell – lead guitar

Discography

Studio album

* '' Psychotic Reaction'' (1966) US No. 122

Compilations

* ''Dynamite Incidents'' (1983) * ''Psychotic Reaction'' (1987) * ''Rarities: The Double Shot Years'' (2014)

Live album

* ''Psychotic Reunion LIVE!'' (1987)Internet Archive �
Audio Archive: Psychotic Reunion LIVE! (1987)

Singles

* " Psychotic Reaction" / "They're Gonna Get You" (1966) US No. 5 * "Peace of Mind" / "The Morning After" (1966) US No. 125 * "You Must Believe Me" / "Teeny Bopper, Teeny Bopper" (1967) * "Merry-Go-Round" / "Contrast" (1967) * "Revelation in Slow Motion" / "Declaration of Independence" (1968) * "Mailman" / "Pretty Big Mouth" (1969)

References

External links

Official website
(archived) *

* {{Authority control Garage rock groups from California Psychedelic rock music groups from California Apex Records artists Musical groups established in 1964 Musical groups from San Jose, California Double Shot (record label) artists