Pebbles is a compilation of US underground and garage singles from the mid to late 1960s. It had a limited original release in 1978 and a more general release in 1979 (where the album was identified simply as Pebbles); this album was followed by several subsequent Pebbles compilations and albums (nearly 100 in all). This album is nowadays known as Pebbles, Volume 1 and was originally issued in 1978 as Pebbles, Volume 1: Original Artyfacts from the First Punk Era.

The music on this first volume is uniformly excellent and highly representative of the best of the obscure music collected in the Pebbles series. The frantic cover of the Count Five classic by Positively 13 O'Clock is from a one-time studio session that includes members of Mouse and the Traps; it also appears on a retrospective album of this band that was released on Eva Records. The cover of Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" is hilariously to the tune of "Louie Louie". Songs by well known bands are normally not included on Pebbles albums unless they are curiosities, and the track(s) by the Shadows of Knight – famed for their major hit with Van Morrison's "Gloria" – is no exception. Following a brief clip of "Gloria", the band introduces themselves with corny yet charming answers – sample: "What kind of fans do you prefer?", "I prefer electric fans" – followed by a song that the band wrote "especially for you". "Potato Chip" was originally released on a promotional flexidisc (evidently for a potato chip company) and is surely the most earnest ode to a snack food ever recorded.

- Martin Winfree