Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era is a compilation album of American psychedelic and garage rock singles released in the mid-to-late 1960s. It was assembled by Lenny Kaye, who at the time was a writer and clerk at the Village Oldies record shop in New York. He would later become the lead guitarist for the Patti Smith Group. Kaye worked on Nuggets under the supervision of Jac Holzman, founder of Elektra Records. Kaye initially conceived the project as series of approximately eight individual LP installments, each focusing on US geographical regions, but Elektra convinced him that one 2-disc LP would be a more commercially viable format.[3] The resulting double album was released on LP by Elektra in 1972 with liner notes by Kaye that contained one of the first uses of the term "punk rock". It was reissued with a new cover design by Sire Records in 1976.
Jon Savage, in his history of the UK punk rock scene, England's Dreaming, cites Nuggets as a major influence on punk bands and includes it in his essential punk discography, alongside Iggy and the Stooges' Raw Power and The Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat".
Many other compilation albums took their cue from Nuggets, including the Pebbles, Rubble - 20 volumes of mainly UK 1960s-era psychedelia released in the 1980s - and Back From the Grave series. Nuggets spawned an entire cottage industry of small record labels dedicated to unearthing and releasing obscure but worthy garage and psychedelic rock music from the 1960s.
The Electric Prunes: "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" (Annette Tucker, Nancie Mantz) – 3:02 (#11)
The Standells: "Dirty Water" (Ed Cobb) – 2:50 (#11)
The Strangeloves: "Night Time" (Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, Richard Gottehrer)– 2:35 (#30)
The Knickerbockers: "Lies" (Beau Charles, Buddy Randell) – 2:46 (#20)
The Vagrants: "Respect" (Otis Redding) – 2:17
Mouse: "A Public Execution" (Knox Henderson, Ronnie Weiss) – 3:02 (#121)
The Blues Project: "No Time Like the Right Time" (Al Kooper) – 2:49 (#96)
The Shadows of Knight: "Oh Yeah" (Elias McDaniel) – 2:51 (#39)
The Seeds: "Pushin' Too Hard" (Richard Marsh) – 2:39 (#36)
The Barbarians: "Moulty" (Barbara Baer, Douglas Morris, Eliot Greenberg, Robert Schwartz) – 2:37 (#90)
The Remains: "Don't Look Back" (William McCord) – 2:45
The Magicians: "An Invitation to Cry" (Alan Gordon, James Woods) – 2:59
The Castaways: "Liar, Liar" (Dennis Craswell, Jim Donna) – 1:56 (#12)
The 13th Floor Elevators: "You're Gonna Miss Me" (Roky Erickson) – 2:31 (#55)
Count Five: "Psychotic Reaction" (Craig Atkinson, John Byrne, John Michalski, Kenn Ellner, Roy Chaney) – 3:09 (#5)
The Leaves: "Hey Joe" (Billy Roberts) – 2:53 (#31)
Michael and the Messengers: "Romeo & Juliet" (Bob Hamilton, Fred Gorman) – 2:02 (#129)
The Cryan' Shames: "Sugar and Spice" (Fred Nightingale) – 2:33 (#49)
The Amboy Dukes: "Baby Please Don't Go" (Big Joe Williams) – 5:41 (#106)
Blues Magoos: "Tobacco Road" (John D. Loudermilk) – 4:44
The Chocolate Watchband: "Let's Talk About Girls" (Manny Freiser) – 2:45
The Mojo Men: "Sit Down, I Think I Love You" (Stephen Stills) – 2:25 (#36)
The Third Rail: "Run, Run, Run" (Arthur Resnick, Joey Levine, Kris Resnick) – 1:57 (#53)
Sagittarius: "My World Fell Down" (Geoff Stephens, John Shakespeare) – 3:52 (#70)
Nazz: "Open My Eyes" (Todd Rundgren) – 2:47 (#112)
The Premiers: "Farmer John" (Dewey Terry, Don Harris) – 2:29 (#19)