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Pioneers in music
The greatest of them all in modern times would be:
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18 Replies
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Great topic Jung ! We can’t talk about pioneers without mentioning Les Paul. The first thing he invented was the harmonica holder-
Great video Diana, thanks for posting it. I didn’t know a lot about Les Paul. So he is the father of the electric guitar, wow. Certainly a major pioneer in music. I’ve visited Salt Lake City a couple of times, and was really fascinated by the Salt Lake. One time I’d like to take a boat out to the middle of the salt lake.
Jurgen, a fascinating video about the vinyl record, thanks. I am surprised and happy to hear it makes up over 20% of the music media these days. Having a favourite album on vinyl just feels nicer than CD I think, and I wonder if the compact disc shelf life can match that of vinyl. The jury is still out on the shelf life of CDs. I’ve heard anywhere from a few decades to a 100 years. Will those laser etched pips in the polycarbonate material that make up the CD reliably hold the digital data and be readable many decades later? Recordable CD-R are only good for a few decades, and I’ve had CD-Rs go bad or unreadable. Only time will tell. Vinyls if well stored looks like will last indefinitely so far.
Jacki, I’m not very familiar with Dusty Springfield, and did not know she was a music producer either. It’s very impressive she is one of the woman pioneers in music producing her own records.
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Once again a very interesting video of you, Jung. Some aspects were known to me. For example, the Beatles “invented” the modern music video. Other facts, on the other hand, I have never consciously perceived so far. For example, the Beatles were the first band to fill entire stadiums. Thanks for sharing.
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Hi Diana, thank you very much for the also very interesting video. Great idea to take a closer look at the history of musical innovations. I had heard the name Les Paul at some point, but had never associated it with the techniques and developments shown in the video. For example, I didn’t even know that he was the “father” of the electric guitar ( Or I read it at some point and forgot it again). Electric guitars already existed when I was born. So these are somehow self-evident for me. Just like I’ ve never thought about who actually invented the record or the record player. Yes, of course everyone knows a gramophone and my parents still owned an old shellac LP. But what exactly was it like, with the invention of early sound reproduction?
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Hello Jurgen,
That was fascinating!! Boy, I really learned a lot. I remember 8-track tapes in high school (Both Jung and I are the same age. We were born about a week apart). I was so excited to get cassette tapes and a Sony Walkman. Crazy how time flies. Once again, nice chatting. Once all of this COVID madness is over, I hope to see MLT live, even if I have to fly to Europe. Where do you live?
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Hello Diana,
I am very happy about your answer. „Pioneers in music“ can still become a very interesting topic. To your question: I live in Moers. This is a small town in the western part of Germany. About 44 miles to Cologne and 13 miles to the Netherlands. We live here on the edge of the so-called Ruhr area, the largest industrial area in Germany. I was born there almost at the same time as the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper. Lots of steel industry and coal mining. At least until several years ago. The mines have been shut down and the steel industry is also constantly shrinking. Here in Moers it is already very rural. Some more agriculture. Otherwise a very flat landscape with small forests and many fields and some original small towns. It’s funny, if I cycle along the Rhine, I can see cows on the left side and on the right side there are large chimneys and remnants of the steel industry. A very interesting scenery.
You wrote that you live in Utah. How can I imagine that? What is the landscape like there and what are the cities like? What do you particularly like there? I always find it exciting to hear from other places in the world. I miss traveling a lot at this Time. Yes and I would also like to experience Mona and Lisa live.
I had my first Walkman in the 80s. The construction of these small musical wonders was also a pioneering achievement. It wasn’t an original Sony Walkman, of course. It was far too expensive. But it was still cool. You could listen to your music anytime, anywhere. Yes, you are right, time flies.
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Dusty Springfield, being a woman producer of her own records in modern times ( 60s) to my knowledge… She didn’t dare get her name out on records to be properly credited for because she thought/knew tgat would cause grief but did eventually , in her later stuff, put her name down in the credits as producer … For/To me , I consider that as her being a Pioneer, because other than her, in modern times(60s) , I’m not aware of any other woman who produced her own stuff back then .
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Hi Jurgen,
Getting back to your question about Utah. You should google pictures of Salt Lake City. It is absolutely beautiful (right next to the Wasatch Mountains). It is in the Western US and is half a days drive to some of the most beautiful national parks in the US ( Yellowstone (in Wyoming), Arches National Park and Zion National Park). We had the Winter Olympics in 2002 and also have the Sundance Film Festival every year. The scenery is so diverse. You should Google all of the places I mentioned. I’ve been to Germany before (mostly Bavaria) and fell in love with all of the beauty in your country.
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Harvey Phillip “Phil” Spector, a tragic figure on the music scene, produced the album “Let it be” together with the Beatles. John Lennon was of the opinion that Spector was a brilliant producer. Paul Mc Cartney, on the other hand, rejected the intensive use of strings and background singers, which Spector would probably have preferred. Phil Spector later developed the so-called “Wall of sound”. He was the first to underpin songs with intensive background instrumentation, for example percussion provided by several reverb effects and strong choral and orchestral accompaniment. This recording technique was applied to George Harrison’s album „All Things Must Pass“. As it turned out later, George Harrison was not particularly happy with this mix and would have liked to undo it. This wish was fulfilled in the 50th anniversary edition, which was published this year and freed from the „Wall of sound“. What do you think of this recording technique? A meaningful pioneering achievement in sound recording or something the world does not need?
PS: “Be my baby” from The Ronettes was one of the first productions with the „Wall of Sound“ technology. In the following video you can clearly see what effort was made to achieve a full, room-filling sound: the wall of sound.
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I absolutely love the wall of sound! For me there’s no such thing as “overproduced”. As long as it’s all harmonious, I want my ears to be flooded with as much musical input as possible.
Oh, and just to connect with something we discussed earlier, Juergen, the band backing the Ronettes in that performance is the house band from David Letterman’s show.
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Hello David, thanks for the information. After our discussion, I googled “The David Letterman Show”, but only found a lot of interviews with guest stars. Great, then I got to know the house band now.
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Yeah, Juergen, there’s a lot of stuff to wade through. I don’t want to hijack the subject of this thread, but maybe start with “Dave at Taco Bell” on YouTube to get a sense of Letterman’s unique talents.
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The Les Paul video that Diana posted has inspired me to go on Wikipedia and explore the early history of electrified musical instruments in general.
The first electrical instrument in the broadest sense was invented by a Czech theologian (!) in the 1740’s. It consisted of a keyboard that was used to strike iron strings that had been given a static electric charge. Supposedly the charge imparted an unusual sound quality to the vibrations of the strings.
The first instrument that was actually powered by electricity was invented sort of by accident in 1876 by Elisha Gray as he raced against Alexander Graham Bell to invent the telephone. He observed that an electromagnetic circuit he had constructed was undergoing mechanical oscillations, and by attaching steel reeds to it he found that it could produce audible musical tones. Presumably he could change the pitch of the note by altering the resistance or the capacitance of the circuit.
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Phil Spector was involved in a lot of the Beach Boys music production too. I’m not sure how much of the “Wall of Sound” effect was employed there, I presume some. I think the Wall of Sound effect is a great musical tool in the tool box of music producing techniques if used properly and can enhance a songs impact and emotion, and if used too much can drown out the intimacy and fidelity of the main vocals or main instruments. It’s the song writers skill to mix it all perfectly.
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The studio where the Wall Sound started is a museum now…. I read anp/saw interview on YouTube with Martha Reeves, about it…. ????
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8 Things the beatles pioneered. And one thing was forgotten: the synthesizer
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Perhaps shockingly, the Monkees were ahead of the pack with regard to incorporating synthesizers into their music. Micky Dolenz bought a Moog in 1967 and played it on this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCWRjWOowkc
Granted, Micky is basically treating the instrument as a sound effects machine here. But the same album included a song called Star Collector that featured Paul Beaver playing the Moog more melodically.
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Not shockingly, but very interesting, David. I wouldn’t necessarily have associated the Monkees with synthi music. Thanks for the video link.
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