Sunday, July 28, 2013

YOUR DAILY ALLOWANCE OF FUZZTONE GUITAR

Recently, I was watching commercials from the 80s and 90s on You Tube. They reminded me of something I forgot about from that era: the obsession with bran. Every cereal boasted "Your daily allowance of bran."

At the time, I was one of the student DJs on the "Midnight Snack" on KSMU-FM. I would say, "Have you gotten your daily allowance of fuzztone guitar?"

A little quick trivia before I give you an Ipod playlist of "Your daily allowance of fuzztone guitar."
While it is commonly associated with psychedelia and heavy metal, fuzztone was created by accident by COUNTRY MUSIC PEOPLE IN NASHVILLE. Something was not hooked up right during the recording of Marty Robbins "Don't Worry." Not long after that, Chet Adkins decided to create his own version on a record for Ann Margaret called "I Just Don't Understand."

The Ventures then contacted Red Rhodes, who worked on the Marty Robbins hit about recreating that sound for an instrumental called "The 200 Pound Bee." Rhodes worked out the first pedal for fuzztone. They went on the market in 1962, but didn't sell well because the admen decided to market the fuzztone pedal as a device to make a guitar sound like a violin or horn.

The next year, Keith Richards used it on a Rolling Stones song called "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." From that moment on, fuzztone was a major part of rock and roll.

Here is a daily dose of fuzztone guitar for you readers. Note: this is not a "best" or "greatest" list. Don't argue with this list. It is a prescription; a health dose of fuzz tone guitar to make you feel better. I may prescribe another dose latter.  

"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - The Rolling Stones
"Pushin Too Hard" - The Seeds
"To Die Alone" - The Bush
"Talk Talk" - The Music Machine
"Spirit In The Sky" - Norman Greenbaum
"She's Fallen In Love With a Monster Man" - Screaming Lord Sutch
"I Can See For Miles" - The Who
"I Heard Her Call My Name" - Velvet Underground
"I Can Only Give You Everything" - The Troggs
"Blue's Theme (From Wild Angels)" - Dave Allen & the Arrows
"House of the Rising Sun" - Fryjid Pink
"Your Auntie Grizelda" - The Monkees
"Heart Full of Soul" - The Yardbirds
"Bad Little Woman" - Shadows of Knight
"Addicted To Love" - Robert Palmer
"When Doves Cry" - Prince & the Revolution
"The Nile Song" - Pink Floyd
"Cowgirl In The Sand" - Neil Young and Crazy Horse
"Deflecting Grey" - The Pretty Things
"Money For Nothing" - Dire Straits
"I Take What I Want" - James & Bobby Purify
"Beat It" - Michael Jackson
"I'll Make You Pay" - The Shady Daze
"No Fun" - The Stooges
"Whole Lotta Love" - Led Zeppelin
"You Don't Love Me" - Kaleidoscope
"Foxy Lady" - Jimi Hendrix Experience
"No Time" - The Guess Who
"Think For Yourself" - The Beatles
"San Francisco Girls (Return To The Native)" - Fever Tree
"A Girl Like You" - Edwyn Collins
"Shadows" - The Electric Prunes
"Hurdy Gurdy Man' - Donovan
"Paranoid" Black Sabbath
"Smoke On the Water" - Deep Purple
"Bluebird" - Buffalo Springfield
"Who Is Gonna Mow Your Grass" - Buck Owens


Radio Legend Kidd Kraddick Has Passed Away

J.J. Cale, songwriter, dead at 74

Saturday, July 27, 2013

SECRET LOVE - MOST ANNOYING RECORD COMMERCIAL EVER


As a child, I always liked commercials for records. They usually featured bombastic announcers rattling off the names of the songs on the records, a Chyron graphic vertical scroll of the titles of the songs on the record, usually accompanied by photos of the artist or some related photos (i.e. boys and girls dancing at prom or bikers cruising down Route 66. One even featured a NASA rocket launch). Most of these records were offered by a company called Sessions (although they were produced by major companies such as Warner Brothers, RCA or Columbia).

It was around my senior year in high school (Maybe my first year of college - this commercial ran forever) that I saw what I thought was the worst record commercial ever featuring what, at the time, I considered some of the worst songs in the world. The commercial was for a 4 LP, 3 cassette collection called Secret Love. I might be wrong, but I think this is the first TV record ad to offer a compact disc version. I hated this commercial.

First off, it probably aired more than any record commercial in history. It seemed like it was on every commercial break.

Second, this record was loaded with songs I hated. In the commercial there were only two songs that I liked, "Nights In White Satin" by the Moody Blues and "Waiting For a Girl Like You" by Foreigner. However, seeing the complete track listings there were a few others I like ("Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright and "Strange Way" by Firefall). These were those wimpy songs that radio stations here in the Ozarks were beating to death. These were also the songs favored by the snooty popular girls, who wouldn't go out with me. They were also on student council, so they picked the music for the school dances. it was usually this stuff.

Third, had to do with the format of this ad. Unlike the previous records ads that I mentioned above, this ad must have been the first to feature on-screen spokes people or characters. This one featured an ANNOYING PREPPY COUPLE IN CABLE-KNIT SWEATERS SITTING BY A FIREPLACE IN AN UPSCALE HOME.  I could not stand those two people! They were the little goody-goody, overachiever types that were the bane of my existence in high school (I still run in to a few of these people through work). I would see this commercial and ask myself, "What does that beautiful girl see in that preppy dork???" Notice: The clothes are the same as on the record cover above, but different model/actors.



At the time this aired, I was into mainly heavy metal (hair bands), college rock (alternative and punk to young folks) and classic rock/oldies. I thought it would be great if they made a set of the music I liked. There wasn't a metal or college rock set, but there was a classic rock/oldies set with great songs on it entitled Freedom Rock. Unfortunately, the commercial featured two idiots dressed as hippies sitting by a VW Micro-bus doing a bad Cheech & Chong imitation.

While I still dislike preppies, I have come to accept and even enjoy old soft/light rock of the 70s and 80s. As a matter of fact, readers of this blog may remember that I have proposed a revamped version of the soft/light AC/rock radio format that removes the "Little Miss Pris-Delilah-Mommy Blogger" attitude that made these radio station unbearable to listen to since the early 90s. The music and romantic or mellow mood would be the focus, instead of discussions about "soda-being-bad-for-you" or "girls-wear-too-sexy-dresses-to-prom." As Gilligan at Retrospace would say, it would be "Music for making pancakes."

Maybe in some crazy way, the Secret Love commercial spawned that idea, because "This music brings out the animal in people."   

      
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