As you can hear, the Wild Ones version is pretty much standard mid-65 folk rock in the style that was all the rage immediately post-"Like a Rolling Stone," and in the immortal words of Nick Tosches, even though it was a bad record it failed to sell. By comparison, of course, The Troggs' eventual 1966 hit reading, which seemed borderline moronic in its primitive minimalism back in the day, now seems a veritable work of genius.
The Wild Ones, for those who missed the decade, were a reasonably successful NYC club band fronted by extremely good looking former hair dresser Jordan Christopher, a guy who made headlines when he married much older actress turned discotheque impresario Sybil Burton, the ex-wife of Richard Burton. Although not particularly gifted in either the musical or thespic areas, Christopher nonetheless managed to parlay said looks and notoriety into a reasonable two decade career as a film and TV performer.
I should also add that "Wild Thing" composer Chip Taylor's original demo (Taylor wrote the song as a favor to the Wild Ones management) provided the basis for the Troggs' version as well. Apparently -- I haven't heard it, although it's probably on the intertubes somewhere -- it's similarly basic and unadorned, which perhaps proves, again, that the Troggs weren't quite as dumb as their reputation suggests.
