1966 45 The Haunted 1 2 5 on Quality 1814X Garage Rock 45
  $   60

 


$ 60   (best offer accepted)   Sold For
Jul 9, 2025 Sold Date
Jul 8, 2025 Start Date
1 Number Of Bids
  USA Country Of Seller
eBay Sold at
 
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Description

As Haunted guitarist Jurgen Peter tells it, the Beatles-era Montreal music scene was not much different from the rest of Canada at the time, rife with garage bands of varying talent, yet constricted by a sycophantic, almost colonial music biz.


"In Canada, in the early '60s, there was no such thing as a commercial music industry. The deejays played only American records and it was common knowledge that they lived off 'payola' from the record companies. When we, the Haunted, started to play as a band in the Montreal area, there was no way to get a recording contract, no one to play your records, no booking agency to book us, no large shows and paying gigs to play at, no music magazine or anything like it to promote a local band."


Alas, in the midst of so many barriers to success, the crafty Peter took things into his own hands, forming a bi-weekly music paper called Music Trend and a booking agency called Groups And Sound Service, aka GASS. He would ply his fledgling business acumen at various halls and skating rinks, at the same time paying local deejays a percentage of the gate to MC the shows, with the expectation that they would be plugged on air to mutual benefit.


The Haunted were a big part of this scene and in early 1966, on the night of Jan. 3rd to be precise, they got their first big shot at success. At the time they were basically a cover band with a setlist not much different from that of thousands of other bands across the continent. "We liked American blues and Chuck Berry stuff - basically the same sort of stuff the British rock groups were listening to on the other side of the ocean," Peter would tell the Montreal Gazette in 2009.


On that winter night, cheered on by the sizeable following they had developed from gigging at places like the Bonaventure Curling Club and the numerous high schools dotting the west island, the Haunted took the stage at the Hopsville Battle of the Bands at the venerable Montreal Forum. The competition was fierce and included the likes of David Clayton-Thomas, J.B. and the Playboys, the Staccatos and Andy Kim. But somehow the group, who were Peter and fellow guitarist Al Birmingham, along with singer Bob Burgess, bassist Mason Shea and drummer Dave Wynne, blew them all away.


"We showed up and that was it," Bob Burgess remembered. "The place went nuts."


With first prize a one-off recording deal, the guys headed off to the RCA Victor Studio on rue Guy to make the record that would make them famous. The raw and infectious '1-2-5' is easily Canada's most well-known garage record, and the guys nailed it in one take.

There’s a crack in this 45 ,I played it five times and the only issue with the crack is a few light tics ,no skips ,and music dominates loud and clear. Rarely if ever do I list a record with a crack in it but this one hardly ever comes up and I saw one that was described as a poor G- sell for over $50 a couple years ago so here’s mine crack and all ( you can see the crack in a photo I took)


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