"Wild Thing" Singer Reg Presley Dies at 71

NME reported today that Reg Presley, frontman of The Troggs, died of cancer at age 71. Presley died February 4 in the comfort of family members in his hometown of Andover, Hampshire, UK. During a tour of Germany this past December, Presley was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Formed in 1964, the British band had success with their well-known 1966 hit “Wild Thing”. Their song “With A Girl Like You” was the band’s only number one hit. Although they split in 1969, they soon reunited and remained a band until Reg Presley announced his retirement this December due to health issues.

“Wild Thing” remains to be one of the most famous influential rock & roll songs ever.  Check out some famous versions below:

 

Jimi Hendrix at Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. After some spacey feedback, the song starts at 1:22. This is the performance where Jimi takes his insanely beautiful one of a kind hand-painted Fender Stratocaster guitar and douses it with lighter fluid.  Then he kisses it, burns it, and destroys it on stage as it is still plugged into the Marshall amplifier stack.  He walks off stage as the drums and bass keep raging on... then out of nowhere, Purple Haze!

 Sam Kinison's "Wild Thing" featuring 80's rock greats Joe Perry, Steven Tyler, Slash, Steve Vai, Billy Idol, Jon Bon Jovi, Tommie Lee, Richie Sambora, Dweezil Zappa, Steven Adler, and Ratt. Classic 80's hair metal.