Songwriter and musician best known for the enduring hit Wild Thing, made famous by the Troggs and Jimi Hendrix
In a career spanning seven decades, Chip Taylor, who has died aged 86 of cancer, wrote songs recorded by a huge array of artists from Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt and the Hollies to Janis Joplin, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin and Emmylou Harris. Yet it was the primitive but irresistible Wild Thing, composed in a matter of minutes, that became his best-known calling card.
He wrote it in 1965 when commissioned to write a song for Jordan Christopher and the Wild Ones, but their version was not a hit. However, when the Troggs recorded it the following year it topped the US chart and became a smash around the world.
Taylor recalled how Christopher’s version was “too poppy”, while The Troggs’ version captured the flavour of Taylor’s own rudimentary demo recording. “I think it’s one of the greatest rock records ever made in terms of capturing the spirit of the song,” he enthused. “It’s just a terrific record and it’s the one that Jimi Hendrix heard and went crazy for.” When Hendrix set fire to his Fender Stratocaster guitar while performing Wild Thing at the Monterey Pop festival in 1967, it propelled both song and performer into rock’n’roll legendariness.
