Music Machine (Los Angeles, California)

Due to the holidays, I've been kind of slack with this thing. Let me make it up to you with the Music Machine.

Often credited as one of the pioneers of garage, the Music Machine made their debut in 1966. Their sound was defined with fuzzed guitars and Farfisa organs and their look defined with all-black turtle necks and pants, single black gloves on each of the members and moptop hair cuts.

The Music Machine started off in 1965 as the Ragamuffins, but changed their name the following year with the release of their single "Talk Talk" . Talk Talk was featured on their debut album "Turn On" and became a Top 20 hit in the US. Their follow-up single, "The People In Me" peaked at only #66. Sean Bonniwell blamed this on the supposed feud between their manager and an Original Sound record executive.

After a tour of the US, everyone quit the band, except Sean Bonniwell, due to internal conflicts. Bonniwell added new members and changed the name to "the Bonniwell Music Machine". The Bonniwell Music Machine released a follow up self titled album made up of previously recorded material with the original members. The record turned out to be not successful in the mainstream.

A third Bonniwell Music Machine album was recorded, yet never released until 2000. The album was titled "Ignition" and was composed of material written in 1969 as well as Ragamuffin demo tracks.


Line up:

Guitar/Vocals: Sean Bonniwell
Guitar: Mark Landon
Bass: Keith Olsen
Organ: Doug Rhodes
Drums: Ron Edgar


Talk Talk (Live)