For those of you who like to really work up a sweat and shake the work week out of your bones, this Friday at the Crocodile is going to be like letting a pedophile loose at a grade-school game of shirts and skins. Even the head-nodders, knee-benders, and outright zombies will discover how to use their hips at this feast of Detroit's finest.

The saucy three-way combo gives a little taste of what's cookin' in the Cass Corridor and throughout the boarded-up avenues of Detroit: the deep, double-fisted soul stomp of the Dirtbombs, the Detroit Cobras' raucous rhythm and blues, and Ko and the Knockouts' sticky confectionary pop.

Detroit has a well-earned reputation for breeding bold and bawdy garage rock, as the mainstream press has only started to discover. This history stretches back to the mid '60s when kids were kickin' it at the Hideout. A teen club on the outskirts, the Hideout hosted rowdy weekend dances with music provided by bands like the Pleasure Seekers, the Underdogs, and the Four of Us.

The recent incarnation of the genre, however, draws just as much from Detroit's other esteemed musical history--sweet soul and explosive rhythm and blues.

Dirtbombs frontman Mick Collins is often given more than partial credit for helping reunite Detroit with garage rock. Collins' former band, the Gories, formed in 1986, taking their cue from a series of compilation LPs called Back from the Grave. Released by Crypt Records, these vinyl collections of raw, untamed '60s garage rock took the genius of Lenny Kaye's massively influential Nuggets compilation a step further. The songs were more crazed, less well known, and absolutely, unbelievably wild.

The Gories and other area bands picked up the Back from the Grave sound--trebly, teetering on two chords, absolutely feral--and made it their own. Not many people took interest. Not at the time, anyway.

Just as Back from the Grave influenced the garage groups of the late '80s, many bands with "the Detroit sound" today take their cue from compilations released in the '90s that culled tracks from rare-as-shit, red-hot soul and R&B 45s. Those familiar with the 15 volumes of the Desperate Rock 'n' Roll, Sin Alley, and Stompin' series will recognize nearly every tune played by the Detroit Cobras. It's a sound they've adopted as their own and pegged solid.

Writers and fans alike go crazy over the fact that Rachel Nagy--the sultry powerhouse voice fronting the Detroit Cobras--worked as both a butcher and a stripper. Interesting enough, sure. But the Detroit Cobras have a sound like no other band around today--one that's landed them in a major-label feeding frenzy. Sure, their sound is 50-plus years old, but they fucking nail it. That's the real reason people pay attention when the Cobras step on stage.

The secret lies in the Cobras' sweet, simple rhythm. It's a syrupy swagger when it needs to be, and a strutting stomp when more appropriate. The drums and bass mix it up like two bodies wrapped in a sweaty bump and grind right there on the dance floor.

Yeah, the Detroit Cobras draw exclusively from a song list that's all covers. So what? Think of it as a marriage of Detroit's goldmine musical past, bringing garage into the world of soul. When Rachel Nagy opens her mouth wide--her hand wrapped around the microphone, a cigarette jammed between her fingers--and rips into Mickey Lee Lane's "Hey Sah-Lo-Nee" (listed as "Hey Sailor" on the Cobras' 2001 Life, Love and Leaving album), you're bound to get shakes running up and down your spine.

If you don't put your heart and soul into Otis Redding, what's the point? If you try to do a half-assed version of an Ike Turner tune, you're committing a musical crime. From the smoky, slow crooning of Ronnie Mack's "Oh My Lover" to the speeding fury of Singleton McCoy's "Right Around the Corner," the Detroit Cobras do Detroit proud.

Even if you don't think you'll need 'em, be sure to bring your dancing shoes this Friday. All three bands are sure to deliver a night of Motor City madness that you'd only otherwise find at the Magic Stick in Detroit. The only thing missing is the after-show trip to White Castle.