I can’t think of an instrument that makes me smile more than the pedal steel guitar. Every time it makes an appearance in a song I instantly like that song. It makes ordinary country songs totally likable…and makes country wannabe songs totally like\able too. The tone, the vibe…oh yeah, baby. Everyone from the Beatles, Stones, Byrds, Zepp, Neil Young — even the Monkees — have benefited from this ace-in-the-hole add-on.
I never have the same feeling about any other instrument. I never get that head-bobbing smile say, when a sax comes in…or when vibes come in. Even my beloved Farfisa can’t top it. For this reason I vote the pedal steel as The Greatest Add-On Instrument in Rock.
Can I get an Amen…a list of fave pedal steel songs…or I challenge you to top this greatest of instruments!
A few months ago, I was thrifting for a new/old pair of jeans, and I came across a pair in the right size and the right brand (which is to say: Levi’s first, Lee second, and — maybe, in a pinch — Wrangler third). Anyhow, I slapped down a fin and walked out with a decent pair of jeans in pretty good shape. A good day of shopping — or so I thought.
I got home, and to my great dismay, I realized I’d not paid sufficient attention to the crotch area of my new blue jeans — they were “button-fly” monstrosities.
Let me just rant for second. I’m a marketing guy by trade, and I understand how style can sometimes trump substance when it comes to consumer goods. But — goddammit — the zipper was invented a hundred freaking years ago for a reason. And that reason was to put the idiotic, inconvenient “button fly” out to pasture. The button fly is a thing that plainly sucks compared to the modern solution that replaced it. If I have a zipper, and I need to spring a leak, I just reach down, tug on the metal handle, and — hey now! — there are the necessary hoseworks. No fumbling with buttons, undoing belts, going half-dropped in the trou department — the zipper is just there, and it’s just plain better.
Today, I came to the bottom of my clean laundry. As always happens on such days, I was forced to don the dreaded 501 button-fly jeans. I endured them all day. But this evening — because I’m a total nerd — as I stumbled into the baffroom to drain the lizard, I began contemplating the possible Rock analogs for the button-fly jean and its sensible, more modern, clearly improved zipper counterpart.
I’m a frequent traditionalist when it comes to the Rock. But have there been bands or artists or genres, or perhaps tools of the trade, that saw clear and sensible improvement when they were supplanted by a better, more modern version or replacement? That’s the question I have. Sometimes progress is good, surely.
Now I feel bad that I called EPG out on my silly Beatles question earlier today. This is the issue on which I most eagerly seek his insight.
That goes for the rest of you, too. As always, I look forward to your responses.
Is there any instrument that takes more abuse than the keytar? And does anyone ever feel the slightest regret for taking said shot at the instrument and any musician who’s ever played one? Today I challenge you to state the best argument for this deservedly derided instrument. I present the above clip and challenge you, Townspeople, to make a better argument for the instrument! (And don’t think I haven’t made it to the 50-second mark of this performance.)
Did you know the Pollard Syndrum, the first electronic drum, was invented by a former studio drummer for The Beach Boys and The Grass Roots? I did not know that. That said, I propose that the Syndrum is the lamest instrument ever.
Has the Syndrum ever made a positive, essential contribution to any recording? The Cars‘ “Good Times Roll” is cited as a well-known example of the Syndrum in practice, but would you call that little tom-tom ping positive or essential? Would anyone call that noise both positive and essential? The good times are rolling just fine without it in this 1982 live performance of the song.
Furthermore, why did someone have to invent a synth that’s controlled by a drum pad? Why couldn’t Cars’ keyboardist Greg Hawkes have used his index finger to hit that blip on the downbeat of David Robinson’s tom-tom? Hell, he could have done it on a keytar, putting to rest any arguments that that lame instrument is more lame than the Syndrum.
Can you name one positive and essential recording driven by a Syndrum? Thinking of what that instrument did to the already lame Clash song “Ivan Meets GI Joe,” would you want to let the Syndrum off the hook by indentifying a lamer instrument?
Can you name an instrument more lame than the Syndrum? And don’t give me the Ovation Roundback acoustic guitar, because despite its aesthetic shortcomings thousands of hours on The Road have been logged playing perfectly fine music for The People.
(More about the Syndrum player in this post’s introductory video…after the jump!)Continue reading »
OK, musical tastes aside—and in full acknowledgment that your humble Moderator is not that cool—how many telltale signs of a rock ‘n roll asshole can you spot in this “Super Boogie” clip?
Before anyone gets high and mighty and accuses me of never having made a living off playing music like these super-duper road warriors—Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana, and Steve Lukather—and therefore am not qualified to hold an opinon on this matter, can we have a moment of honesty? Come on, even if you’re having fun and think you’ve earned the right to pull off some of these moves, such as tucking your jeans into your boots, deep down you know you’re pushing it, right?
So go ahead, these guys are big boys, they can take it. See how many rock ‘n roll asshole moves (ie, gestures, dress, gear accoutrements, faces, licks, etc) you can spot!
The topic for this post came to me today when I ran across this documentary (or is it a long-form ad?) about the Cry Baby Wah Wah pedal. I remembered George Harrison‘s song “Wah-Wah” from All Things Must Pass.
Wah-wah/You’ve given me a wah-wah
Now, I’ve read that George was using the term “wah-wah” to refer to a headache, which recording Let It Be with Paul in the director’s chair apparently gave him, literally or metaphorically enough to quit. But still, I like to think of the song as an ode to that piece of gear.
Are there other good songs about beloved musical equipment or instruments? Generic instrument references like The Beatles‘ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and Talking Heads‘ “Electric Guitar” (great lyrics, by the way!) are plentiful, but what about more particular instruments, like B.B. King‘s guitar “Lucille,” or specific items, like a Vox Amp or a Gretsch guitar, in songs?
My gamer son told me this was coming: Guitar Hero is no more. I don’t know if this is really one more sign that rock ‘n roll is out of vogue or if they simply lost out to Rock Band, which my son says is much better. Let us take a moment of silence to honor a hero’s defeat and appreciate this quote from CNN.com’s report:
As rock struggled against rap music, video games like “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” were credited with creating a new appreciation for rock ‘n’ roll among the millennial generation born in the ’90s who didn’t know much about Aerosmith, Pat Benatar and other musicians of the ’70s and ’80s.
Thanks to Townsman plugdin2 for passing along this story.
