Why Did The Instrumentals Die Out?

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:26 am

In the late 1950s and early 1960s there were many instrumental hits that charted well on both sides of the Atlantic.

While instrumentalists continue to tour and record, why is it that they are few and far between and why did they "die out" so to speak.

Too boring, too much reverb, too bland. I am interested in your thoughts in this regard. How ironic that the music that would get so many interested in the electric guitar would vanish so quickly, perhaps losing favour to the British Invasion.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:35 am

Too much reverb? You can NEVER have too much reverb...

Just ask Dick Dale, who I saw live about a month ago and who continues to stun small animals at will.

Seriously, though, words add an extra dimension that makes it easier to market a song. No guesswork about what the song's topic might be, except in the case of folks like Capt. Beefheart, who also stunned live when I saw him in 1970 at the old Aragon Ballroom in Chicago.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:41 am

Me 'n' Dick in '82:

Me 'n' Dick in '06:

Caution: Aging is a real occurrence...

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:48 am

Wow! Misirlou loves company. Kidding aside Paul, these are great photos.

I concur that even a few words (Mashed Potato) can go a long way to selling a song. Maybe they ran out of car names for the groups too.

The very early sound of the electric guitar had appeal but even with the reverb, the effect wore off. There is only so much muting and reverb that the average listener can stand.

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 10:35 am

Never did die out for me I am an huge instro fan as my collection would testify, but my tastes will certainly be different to Paul's, when the Shadows hit big in 60 with Apache, loads of instro's were released here in UK some great some not so great.

There is an annual convention here in London run by some guys who run a magazine dedicated to the Instro called Pipeline.

I have never got to one yet but they have had about 10 and tend to get ex members of some of the old groups together for one off's, in some instances.

I think instro's though in some ways are a guy thing, though there are a couple of good female young guitarists about, though no one on here will have heard of them.

From 60 to 62 which is the period IMO when guitar led instro's were popular, the teenage idols tended to be the dominant force, of course the moptops stopped that.

In the 80's and to this day still instro's are popular in Sweden, there was a great label called Triola who signed up loads of instro bands and released some great Cd's called Guitar and Beat, I have them all.

The Ventures of course have continued to record releasing a phenomenal amount of albums I have probably about 50 or so by them and they still do a regular tour of Japan where they were bigger than The Beatles at one time.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 10:55 am

Har, Peter! We do Misirlou, Pipeline, and Apache, being a surf revival group. I guess we'll have to learn a couple of more songs someday...Sorry for the temporary hijack, but...

Hi, Jack!

http://www.myspace.com/northofmalibu

Thankyouveddymuch...

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:13 am

Apache - surf Paul I can't go for that but you look a bunch of cool dudes.

Liked Barcelona Blue a lot by the way others may grow on me.

winston · Post by **winston** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:40 am

Instrumentals never died Peter. They just became shorter and surrounded by a bunch of singing. Check out "Parisienne Walkways" sometime by Gary Moore. You'll see what I mean. LOL

Paul what a cool looking lineup. I love the old Fender Amp and that Rick acoustic.

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:47 am

Great pics, Paul! Do you use a Mixmaster on Miserlou?

Instrumentals aren't dead - at least as far as Tony Carey is concerned. There's one on his 'Stupidly Cool' album.

I still love listening to the Ventures and the Shadows.

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 12:13 pm

Aah! Myspace! Ehm. Sorry. Nice music. Very relaxing.
And instrumentals are forever. IMHO.

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 12:33 pm

Instrumentals are alive and well within songs, however, with the exception of nostalgia groups, I consider that we would be hard pressed to name a current day instrumental chart-topper.

I think Roy is on to something with regard to gender preferences and instruments, with guy guitarists being more inclined to play or listen to instrumentals, sometimes perhaps more interested in the effects and the instruments than in the melody.

It is interesting to consider an number of different styles within the genre of instrumental rock, which is something that Roy has touched on here. Surf, Rock, Western and even Ballad styles are apparent with regard to the guitar instrumental category. It is also interesting that drums and even organs played perhaps a greater role in instrumentals compared to vocals.

expomick · Post by **expomick** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 2:45 pm

From the mid-80's, check out (early) Love Tractor and The Neats.

admin · Post by **admin** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 7:12 am

Mick: I have listened to as much of the Love Tractors online that I can find and thanks for mentioning them.

The clip below from You Tube is of Spin Your Partner and seems to be representative of their instrumentals of the period. Forgive me if this is an outlier.

While they are proficient, their instrumentals seem to lack a strong melody line, with the music more in keeping with background music for vocals.

This style is interesting nonetheless as a comparison of the music I think of when I hear classic 1960s instrumental. It is quite a departure from the successful chart toppers of the 1960s and I would argue that its layering and lack of an clear instrumental melody illustrates why such recordings did not capture the imagination of the listener in recent times to the same extent as it did in the 1960s. The link to the clip is here.

It is interesting to note that it does have the requisite twang and reverb in keeping with the 1960s material.

expomick · Post by **expomick** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 10:40 am

Good points about Love Tractor; maybe why they added vocals later on in their career.

R.E.M. always made a point of mentioning their work.

Love Tractor did a nice version of a Kraftwerk song...Neon Lights, I think.

winston · Post by **winston** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:49 am

Kraftwerk? Interesting IIRC that their work was mostly instrumental with a bit of vocals. We played a venue with them in 1975 in Vancouver.

They did rather well for themselves back then. But I digress.

I think instrumentals died out as people began to explore the full potential of the four to seven person format. Drums, bass, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, keyboards and lead singer. For purely economical reasons most rock and pop bands stuck to a four man format. It made the most sense because you got paid the same whether there were four or ten of you.