Reg Presley, singer of the influential English garage-rock band the Troggs, died last night at home in Andover, England, after a year-long battle with lung cancer, The Associated Press reports. He was 71.
With Presley's primal voice, gritty guitar riffs and bludgeoning drums, the Troggs were part of the British Invasion wave of bands that included the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and the Who. On songs like their 1966 single "Wild Thing," the band helped to define garage rock in the Sixties and inspired the architects of what would evolve into punk rock in the Seventies, including Iggy Pop, the Buzzcocks and the Ramones.
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