The Haunted. You can dance if you want to.

Mindspring.com used to have a page devoted to the garage bands of 1960's Montreal. Their list was:

Les Anthems, Aristos, Aristocrates, Asteks, Atomes, baronettes, Bartholomew Plus Three, Beaumarks, Bedtime Story. Bel Canto/Bel Kanto, BNA Act, Chancelliers, Chantels/Remy And The Chantels, Chosen Few, Copains, Dabsters, Dalcos, Devalons, Differents, Equipe 79, Excentriques, Faucons, Les Fleaux, Fortiches, 409, French Revolution, Gamines, Gants Noirs, Gendarmes, Habits Jaunes, Haunted, Heritiers, Les Hou Lops, Impairs, Intugantes, Intimes, JB And The Playboys, Lincolns, Loups, Loups Blanc, Les Lutins, Luths, M2+AC, Majestik, Merseys, Michele et les French Canadians, Mike Jones Group, Million-Airs, Les Misrables, Les Monstres, Munks, Les Mykells, Michel Pagliaro, Denis Pantis, Napoleons, Nicky Lee And The Playboys, Le Pouvoir des Fleurs, Rabble, Les Rats, Regent, Revoltes, Revolution Francaise, Les Sextants, Les Sinners, Les Shadolls, Spectres, Les Sultans, Talismans, Talmud, Uncertain, Unics, Valiants, Versatiles, Les Vampires, Les Z

For me, only three names stand out; The Haunted, Michel Pagliaro (of 70's fame) and The Rabble. M.G.& The Escorts do not show up on this list, though their song "A Someday Fool" is known to me.

The Rabble hailed from my part of town, and I remember seeing them driving around in a car painted with their name. I later went to school with the brother of one of the members.

Formed in early 1966, The Rabble were a psychedelic/garage act that hailed, originally from Pointe-Claire, Quebec on Montreal's west island.

Their first single, after being signed to RCA Records, had been written by leader Mike Harris in 1965 called "I'm Alaboundy Bam".

The band recorded their single "Golden Girl" in December 1966 and released in the summer of 1967 on Trans-World Records.

The band's follow-up effort, 'Give Us Back Elaine', was recorded through the end of 1967 into early 1968 and released in 1968 on Trans-World. By this time the band had played The New Penelope Coffee House and throughout Greater Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, Kingston, as well as touring northern Ontario. In April of 1968 The Rabble substituted for Cream, who had cancelled at the last minute, at The Paul Sauve Arena in Montreal to 5,000 fans. Despite the band's unrehearsed show, they impressed the crowd with an hour-long set of songs consisting of their singles and album material.

Following this impressive show, promoter Donald K. Donald had to turn down engagements on their behalf because they were already booked on a tour of one-niters throughout Quebec and Ontario.

They soon secured a recording deal with Roulette Records in the US and toured California in 1968 to 'underground' music fans.

In May of 1968 the band was double-billed with the Guess Who in a 'Wildest Pair' tour at places such as the Loyola Arena and the Dorval Recreation Association.

The source does not say what happens after, but they do fade away (as do most in the above list), even losing a member to the Haunted. Their recordings do seem to be rare, with sites lamenting the lack of re-releases.

The Haunted I have no memory of seeing, but I do remember hearing them and the local buzz they recreated.

Assembled by Jurgen Peter in Chateauguy, Quebec in 1963 this instrumental guitar band originally was originally known as The Blue Jays but soon changed their moniker to The Haunted.

The band became popular in Montreal and in early 1966 they won a Dave Boxer 'Battle Of The Bands' contest at the Montreal Forum giving them the first prize of a recording contract with Quality Records.

That year they released two singles, the hit "1-2-5" and its follow-up "I Can Only Give You Everything". Quality Records salesman Don Wayne Patterson started Jet Records in 1967 to release canadian bands I managed and found in places like New Brunswick , Alberta & Ontario and soon scooped up The Haunted.

In due course, they released a full-length album which gained them some prominence in Montreal but nowhere else.

Through a multitude of member changes the band finally collapsed in 1970.

There has been continued interest for this instrumental guitar act and in 1983 Psycho Records even bootlegged the debut album for reissue.

At this point I can offer an audio example of Montreal at arguably its height in the 20th century. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Haunted with 1-2-5. Sadly, Montreal is now best remembered for The Safety Dance...