10.13.09
What is so special about Instrumental Rock???
INSTRUMENTAL ROCK
For ages composers, performers, writers, and artists have created powerful instrumental music from classical and jazz to 60s surf and the more modern stylings of Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteem and others…
If you reach back in your memory you may remember songs like Green Onions or Time Is Tight by Booker T and the MGs; or Walk Don’t Run, Perfidia, Diamond Head, or Hawaii Five-O by The Ventures. And what of the classic surf hits Pipeline and Wipe Out? Or The Shadows’ Apache?
Yes there have been countless instrumental hits over the years. In all styles and genres of music. Remember the legendary Miserlou by Dick Dale (which opened the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction)? Or the Allman Brothers’ classic Jessica? What about Grazing In The Grass by Hugh Masekela in the late 60s? Even Van Halen got a few instrumental pieces in such as Eddie’s wild solo guitar piece Eruption (you know, its that long lead-in to You Reall Got Me?) Many people don’t realize that instrumental music has made such a mark in history. Why is this category often overlooked?
The MG’s guitarist Steve Cropper once said: “We had trouble getting airplay because disc jockeys did not like playing songs without vocals on them. It got worse and worse and worse until they finally pushed every instrumental band in the country out of business.”
But there was a time when instrumentals once competed very well on the airwaves right along side popular vocalists, why The Ventures’ Walk Don’t Run peaked at #2 and stayed on the charts for 18 weeks in 1960! #2 ONLY to Elvis Presley’s Its Now or Never. Not bad…in fact Walk Don’t Run was the highest charting hit single of the 1960s!
WHAT KILLED IT?
So what happened? Well basically, most people who don’t play an instrument don’t have the background to absorb and appreciate complex instrumental work in any kind of music, but everyone has vocal cords. Everyone can appreciate speech and singing at some level. The vocals of a song are usually the most noticeable part, especially for non-musicians. Record company execs who have millions of dollars to produce recordings and promote the living daylights out of them are usually non-musicians and they put their money on the songs that they wanted to become hits.
Ever wondered why all the pop stations keep playing the same songs over and over and over? The music business is all about politics. Its not by coincidence or mere random chance that some songs become hits and others don’t. It all boils down to promotion, advertising, and even outright bribery. Most radio stations are corporately controlled, many by record companies themselves. Also remember that shady industry practices still go on behind the scenes just as they did 40 and 50 years ago. Remember the Payola hearings that left many DJs (such as Alan Freed) broke and pennyless? You can bet your boots those things still go on today. So the most airplay usually ends up going to the highest bidder. Ask someone who was around in 1964 and they’ll tell you that you couldn’t hardly turn the radio on without hearing The Beatles every five minutes. And believe it or not…some people got tired of them. Just like some people are already sick of hearing I’m Yours by Jason Mraz.
(Go listen to Tom Petty’s The Last DJ album if you want a first-hand glimpse into how the Music Industry works. No, seriously!)
BRITISH INVASION
Beginning with The Beatles it seemed that just about any group of musicians who spoke with a British accent and knew a few notes (or beats) on a given instrument could get signed. Everything they touched turned to solid gold. The record companies cranked this stuff out by the dozen and made sure it got plenty of airplay. And the public ate it up. Not to say that it wasn’t good music because it was great music, but there was a point when people were buying the stuff on mere reputation alone no matter how bad the music could’ve been. And its hard not like something when it is pounded into your brain 20 times per day. So overall the British Invasion had a lot to do with driving the last nail into the coffin.
SO WHATS SO SPECIAL ABOUT IT AND WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
As some people have noted, instrumental music can be just as powerful, if not more powerful than vocal music because, most of the time instrumental music can have an equal effect on the listener. Instrumental music can build all kinds of emotion. It can inspire you, motivate you, it can cause you to feel passionate or uplifted, or it can cause you to feel dark and mysterious. It can also help you to chill out and relax (thats why so many people listen to Smooth Jazz stations while they’re in traffic jams!)
Only the best part about it is that the song is left open to the interpretation of the listener! Your imagination is free to soar and to let the music speak for itself! Take an old standard like St Louis Blues. Its about a wife lamenting over her husband running off with another woman. A familiar story, but maybe it doesn’t hit home for everybody. What if you’ve never been to St. Louis? What if you’re just down because you lost your job? Well if you throw on Chet Atkins’ instrumental version now the bluesey little piece can become Anybody’s Blues…
Instrumental music can be a dazzling display of musicianship, but it can also be versatile and set an atmosphere in the mind of the listener. It can convey a whole lot of energy and emotion without saying a word. In a way, it can be like having your own personal soundtrack. Some scientists who study tones and frequencies are learning that certain types of tones and certain sounds (and even effects) can have a psychological impact on the listener, almost as powerful as the sense of smell. Some tones can call to mind a beautiful beach scenery, or a sunrise over a country home. Some tones can remind you of the warm and tender feelings you have for that significant other in your life. On the other hand some tones can cause you to feel angry, anxious, depressed, or sad. Some times lyrics can ruin the mood of a song. How many times have you listened to a song for a long time (perhaps even decades), know every lyric by heart, sing along with it everytime it comes on, just to notice one day that the song isn’t even what you thought it was all about? For some people it can even ruin the feeling they used to get from the song because now their perception has changed. The feelings, the thoughts, the imagery in their mind has now shifted. With instrumental music your mind is free to soar and explore. So there’s only one question:
Where will the music take you?
M-3 CA
