The Most Significant Indie Records

The Godz - Contact High (ESP, 1966)

In the days before the mainstream music industry discovered the commercial viability of progressive hippie rock, New York's ESP label had a virtual lock on high musical weirdness, mainly because nobody else was interested. critic Lester Bangs championed the Godz early on, stating that whenever he got sucked into an arguement over what was the worst album of all time, he would win because he had heard it. "It" is this album, the aural equivalent of an Ed Wood movie. The Godz didn't care about tempo. They didn't care abut tuning. They simply didn't care. And why should they? It sounds like they're having a good time. Punk rockers the world over look to this primitive masterpiece.