The Music Machine

Most renowned for unleashing “Talk Talk” in 1966—a Top 20 single whose frantic garage-punk energy defined one of the era’s wildest hits—The Music Machine nevertheless displayed far greater songwriting substance and sonic range than the average flash-in-the-pan act of the period. Frontman and chief composer Sean Bonniwell drove the band’s sound with his tightly coiled, word-heavy lyrics and brooding outlook, which locked tightly onto the taut psychedelic guitar figures and brooding minor-key Farfisa organ textures supplied by his bandmates. Born in San Jose, California, Bonniwell first decided to start a group while still in high school in the late ’50s, galvanized by hearing the Platters’ “Only You.” He subsequently gravitated toward folk, serving as guitarist in early-’60s ensembles such as the Noblemen and the Wayfarers, the latter of which secured a recording deal with RCA Victor. Once the folk boom subsided in the mid-’60s—coinciding with the British Invasion’s peak and the first stirrings of folk-rock—Bonniwell assembled the Ragamuffins alongside bassist Keith Olsen and drummer Ron Edgar, the latter fresh from the folk-pop group the Goldebriars. The lineup soon grew to a five-piece when organist and pianist Doug Rhodes and second guitarist Mark Landon came aboard. By 1966 the musicians had adopted an intensified version of the prevailing Beatles coiffure, dressed predominantly in black, and added Bonniwell’s signature single black leather glove, all while rechristening themselves the Music Machine for a sharper identity. Within the unit Bonniwell exerted the strongest influence, both as an unusually gifted songwriter and as a rigorous disciplinarian who insisted on lengthy, focused rehearsals honed by his prior experience cutting three LPs with the Wayfarers. Unlike most contemporaries, he refused to let the material grow stale, resulting in tight, high-caliber performances from every member; Rhodes’ Farfisa lines and Olsen’s aggressive bass work meshed seamlessly with Bonniwell’s brooding vocal delivery. The outcome was a distinctive hybrid—captured on their strongest singles and the finest passages of their sole original-lineup album—that fused raw garage-punk urgency with studio polish and radio accessibility. Producer Brian Ross signed them and placed their debut single, “Talk Talk,” on Original Sound; the piercing, one-minute-and-fifty-six-second explosion reached number 15 and thrust the band into national visibility, including more than a dozen appearances on American Bandstand. Follow-up success proved elusive. Only one album emerged from the classic configuration, and later sessions diluted the group’s raw intensity. Although they managed just one additional modest chart entry with “The People in Me,” the Music Machine left behind numerous sharply produced singles and album cuts that probed the shadowy fringes of psychedelia with striking focus and invention. Inept management and poor choices hastened their breakup, yet Bonniwell remains a cult figure decades later, and “Talk Talk” endures as a garage-punk landmark. Olsen later turned to production, collaborating with Emitt Rhodes and others before achieving multi-platinum success with Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled 1975 album. Landon largely disappeared from music after his stint with the band, while Rhodes and Edgar circulated through projects linked to producer Curt Boettcher—another Goldebriars alumnus—via Sagittarius and the Millennium; Edgar also contributed drums to Bread’s self-titled debut LP.