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These days, there’s no distinguishing one keyboard from the next because all they really do is act as computer trigger devices. But in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and even the early 90s, keyboards and their manufacturers were known for signature sounds. Here are five of my favorites:
1. The Mellotron
Though not nearly as famous as the others on this little list, the Mellotron is perhaps the coolest keyboard ever invented. Like our modern-day keyboard controllers that trigger computer samples, the Mellotron was really nothing more than a sample trigger-er, too. But because it was invented in the early 60s, the samples were actual tape loops! By depressing a key, a keyboardist was putting a tape of, say, a choir, or a violin section into motion on that particular pitch. So each of the 35 keys had its own, distinct, 8-second tape loop ready to play in the belly of the keyboard. Mellotrons never really caught on, though, because they were a) always breaking down, and b) the tapes, just like cassette tapes, lost their edge over time. Imagine playing an 8-second cassette tape over and over in a loop for hours on end. Think about how quickly scratches and hiss would take over.
But it was and still is one of the most musical of all early keyboards. Its sound is unmistakable, heard here on the two very famous excerpts below.
“Strawberry Fields Forever” by the Beatles. (The opening flute quartet is classic Mellotron at its best.)
“Nights in White Satin” by the Moody Blues. (Those lush strings aren’t real! Well, technically they are, but as sampled and played back on the Mellotron.)
Be sure to check out “And You and I” by Yes, as well as “The Rain Song” by Led Zeppelin for more great Mellotron.
2. The Hammond Organ
Originally intended for churches, the Hammond line of organs, invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by his Hammond Organ Company, became very popular in the 60s and 70s with rock and blues bands, especially the Hammond B3, pictured here. Whether you know the Hammond or not, you definitely know its legendary sound. Check out the examples I’ve picked here and revel in that “a-ha moment.”
“Amsterdam,” by Coldplay – One of my favorite songs by Coldplay. Listen how the Hammond coming in under the piano just opens the whole song up and takes it to another level.
Ah, yes: “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procol Harum. Can you imagine how different the song would feel if the chord progression and tune were plucked out on, say, a piano?
The Hammond completely defines this great Steve Winwood song, “Gimme Some Lovin”:
3. The Minimoog
A lot has been written about Bob Moog and his Moog Music empire. One cool fact, which often gets forgotten, is that the Minimoog is actually monophonic, which means it can only play one note at a time. You can’t even play a simple C major chord on the Minimoog, let alone accompany yourself with the left hand plucking out a bass line on the lower part of the 44-key synth. It’s also one of the first keyboards to feature the now ubiquitous modulation and pitch-bend wheels.
One of my favorite examples of the classic Minimoog is the following solo in Pink Floyd’s song “Shine on You Crazy Diamond.”
4. The Synclavier
Along with the Fairlight synthesizer, the Synclavier, made by New England Digital in 1975, was one of the very first keyboards that allowed musicians to sample sounds and store them in on-board computers. In fact, if you’re an old fart like me, you might remember Stevie Wonder showing off this very sampling ability on his Synclavier in an episode of The Cosby Show (the one where the kids get into a car accident with him).
One really amazing thing about the Synclavier, other than its ability to sample the human voice or anything within a microphone’s range, was its amazingly high sticker price. Costing upwards of a quarter of a million dollars (much less than the price of my parent’s 3-bedroom apartment in Center City Philadelphia purchased around the same time), some Synclaviers even fetched closer to half-a-million.
Other noteworthy facts about the Synclavier: It was created at Dartmouth College by the team of: Sydney Alonso, who developed the hardware designs, Cameron Jones, who developed the software, and Dartmouth faculty member and composer Jon Appleton, a musical advisor to the project.
Other than the Cosby episode, which I can’t find on YouTube, if you’d like to hear the Synclavier in action, check out one of the most famous samples in music history below (the gong at the beginning of “Beat It,” by Michael Jackson):
5. The Fender Rhodes
All I have to say is: the theme song from Taxi, and you should instantly know the sound of the Fender Rhodes. Ubiquitous throughout the 70s and 80s in dozens of maudlin ballads (which we’ll sample momentarily), the Rhodes is named for its inventor, Harold Rhodes, who was a piano teacher before joining the Army Air Corps during WWII. It was there that he was asked to provide musical therapy, bedside, for the wounded and wound up inventing a small keyboard using aluminum pipes from the wings of B-17 bombers.
The pipes created such a pleasing sound, and Rhodes’ therapy sessions became so well-known, he received the Medal of Honor after the war. Soon he was manufacturing a larger version, and, over time, new, improved versions. Eventually, the Rhodes was bought out by Fender, which is why people forever call it the Fender Rhodes.
In addition to the below clips, the Rhodes can be heard up and down Chick Corea’s Light as a Feather, Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, as well as on most of Weather Report’s albums and Herbie Hancock’s, too. It was a jazz-fusion staple for a couple decades there.
“Just the Way You Are” by Billy Joel
“Angela (Theme from ‘Taxi’)” by Bob James
Ed note: The gorgeous Stevie Wonder keyboard pic (on the homepage) is by Al Satterwhite, via kalamu.
Check out past On Music posts here >>
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Comments (51)
Comment
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That’s “Beat It”, not “Thriller”.
posted by Jane on 8-4-2008 at 1:04 am
Good call, Jane… It’s been switched!
posted by Mangesh on 8-4-2008 at 1:25 am
Nice article!
The Mellotron was often employed by Tony Banks on many of the early Genesis tracks. One of the best examples was the opening chord progression in “Watchers of the Skies”.
The Hammond was all over the “The Yes Album”, the breakthrough 1971 Yes release. Tony Kaye’s (original Yes keyboardist)love of the Hammond and reluctance to use other keyboards ultimately led to the arrival of Rick Wakeman. Of course, he used all five of the instruments described in the article and probably hundreds of others throughout his career.
posted by Vic Johansen on 8-4-2008 at 6:29 am
No love for the clavinet??
posted by Sarah on 8-4-2008 at 6:56 am
The Synclavier was a favorite composition tool of Frank Zappa. His “Jazz from Hell” album was mostly composed and performed on the synclavier. For a perfect example, check out that album’s “G-Spot Tornado”.
posted by Chris on 8-4-2008 at 7:30 am
What about Harold Faltermeyer’s groundbreaking use of the synth for the theme from Fletch? “Waw wawn-nah-nah-nah waw wawn-nah-nah-nah nawn-nawn-nawn-nawn-nawn-nawn-nawn-nawn nah-nah-nah.”
posted by dcm on 8-4-2008 at 9:16 am
Radiohead also used the mellotron a whole lot during the OK Computer era in songs like “Airbag”, “Exit music (for a film)”, “climbing up the walls” and more. Great article :D
posted by Josiah on 8-4-2008 at 10:03 am
The cosby show… Jammit on the one, Ja ja jammit on the one!
posted by Jordan on 8-4-2008 at 10:21 am
I’ve got a big old suitcase Rhodes in my basement. Before we bought the piano, I used to practice classical piano on it. That was a tad strange. ‘S a lot of fun to have around, though.
posted by Kid on 8-4-2008 at 12:32 pm
No love for the Casio? ;)
posted by Debi on 8-4-2008 at 12:40 pm
I can’t believe you listed the Hammond organ but did neglected to mention Jimmy Smith!
And someone else mentioned Frank Zappa on the Synclavier. It should also be noted that Zappa did much of his composing on the Synclavier in the 80’s until his death. Many Zappa fanatics consider his album Civilization Phaze III his finest work, and much of that album is performed on the Synclavier.
Also, his Jazz From Hell album had a parental advisory sticker for explicit lyrics. It’s entirely instrumental.
posted by Andrew on 8-4-2008 at 12:52 pm
I always liked the Wurlitzer 200a…Where It’s At-Beck, I’ve Never Loved a Man-Aretha Franklin w/Spooner Oldham on the Wurlitzer, Breakdown-Tom Petty, Stay With Me-The Faces, and many others…like the list, but i think this specific model should have been on there too.
posted by HankScorpio1x1 on 8-4-2008 at 1:20 pm
…and the Hohner Claviner
as in Stevie Wonder, “superstition”
The Doors’ “Love Me Two Times”
Led Zeppelin’s “Trampled Under Foot”
Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters
Bill Withers’ “Use Me”
The Rolling Stones’ “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)”, Steve Winwood, etc, etc
posted by merlin on 8-4-2008 at 1:21 pm
No Prophet 5?, VCS3?(though not a keyboard), Yamaha “DXn” keyboards?
posted by magaphoto on 8-4-2008 at 1:23 pm
Oh, there’s more!
ARP Odyssey – Steve Miller’s “Fly Like and Eagle”
MOOG Modular – ELP’s “Lucky Man”
Then there was the Yamaha GS on Toto’s “Africa” and “Roseanna”
The other famous Synclavier sound is what you hear before every movie – the THX theme.
The Rhodes bass keyboard (what a goofy thing that was) was used by Ray Manzarek in the Doors along with the VOX Continental Organ!
posted by Craig on 8-4-2008 at 1:25 pm
Where’s Lee Michaels? He rocked the Hammond like Steve Winwood.
posted by David on 8-4-2008 at 1:26 pm
The fact that you neglected to mention both the Vox Continental and the Hohner Clavinet is sacrilege.
The Vox continental is easily the most famous, if least well known, keyboard to non-musicians, as it is the signature sound of Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek.
And you have there pictured a Hammond B3, while A whiter Shade of Pale was performed on the incredibly inferior M102 (which is what I own).
Also, you didn’t even mention the Leslie Speaker, which is half of the classic Hammond sound.
Overall, though, pretty neat article. It’s about time somebody Gave Some Lovin’ to the classic keyboards, which still to this day sound 100x better than any sampled digital keyboard on the market.
posted by Phillip on 8-4-2008 at 1:33 pm
The Hammond had so many fabulous players from so many genres, how about Jon Lord from Deep Purple and Keith Emerson? As for the Moog, how about Rick Wakeman?
(and at number 6 should be the clavinet – Gimme Some Lovin by Ray Charles from the Blues Bros soundtrack and superstition by Stevie Wonder)
posted by StevieA on 8-4-2008 at 1:45 pm
The clip (stevie wonder / cosby show) is at youtube. search for clip hIm6xmOyO6Q -> I can’t put a link in my comments. :(
-w
posted by William on 8-4-2008 at 1:51 pm
Smokin’ by Boston? That’s a glaring omission when you’re taking great synth riffs and solos.
posted by Sean on 8-4-2008 at 1:55 pm
Good list, but I would add 2 others:
Yamaha DX7 – very popular during the 1980s, and the Roland JX3P, heard all over Van Halen’s album 1984.
Mellotron samples could also include David Bowie’s Space Oddity — arguably best use of the instrument, in my view.
posted by David on 8-4-2008 at 1:58 pm
The Hammond B3’s signature sound also required the amazing Leslie Speakers.
Sample Booker T & the MG’s
posted by GOPnot4me on 8-4-2008 at 2:04 pm
“The pipes created such a pleasing sound, and Rhodes’ therapy sessions became so well-known, he received the Medal of Honor after the war.”
Interesting because he is not on the list of recipients of the Medal of Honor nor is there any mention of his having received such an honor on the fenderrhodes.com web site.
posted by kevin on 8-4-2008 at 2:04 pm
As much as I hated it, i was really expecting to see the Yamaha DX7 here. Great list!
posted by bonzo on 8-4-2008 at 2:07 pm
Nice article, although i would have included the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 made famous on Yaz’s “Upstairs at Erics” (Even the percussion was from this synth)or perhaps the Roland Jupiter 8 made famous on Orbital’s “In Sides”.
posted by Pierre on 8-4-2008 at 2:39 pm
What about the Vox Continental? Are the doors not important?
posted by Matt on 8-4-2008 at 2:42 pm
this is offensive. this hardly does justice to any of these instruments, except pink floyd, but even then, the moog showed up way before that.
dude, learn your music history and about some real music…
legends of the hammond organ, like jimmy smith
check out herbie hancock on just about every set of keys ever invented
and the rhodes, i can’t even tell you how sad it is that those are your best examples
i’m not saying that any of the above artists are where these keys got their start, but you should really think before you write next time
posted by joe on 8-4-2008 at 3:06 pm
I agree – where were the Vox Continental, the Clavinet, Odyssey, and for that matter – the Farfisa?
posted by Merciful Lee Dickens on 8-4-2008 at 3:16 pm
Some would consider a B3 incomplete without a Leslie or other rotary speaker, especially in rock.
posted by Jace on 8-4-2008 at 3:47 pm
The Mellotron didn’t have tape loops, as the article describes. They were just single tape strands and only played for seven seconds.
Rick Wakeman hated his mellotron 400’s, because they wouldn’t “stay in tune” if you held down several notes – the motors would slow from using too much additional power. He eventually took one of them out to a field after drinking several beers, poured kerosene all over it and burned it (which he now regrets).
posted by Key Bored on 8-4-2008 at 4:00 pm
How could we forget the Fairlight CMI II on Peter Gabriel’s “Shock the Monkey” which made that fat brass Fairlight sound so famous! Also Thomas Dolby’s “Blinded Me With Science”….Page R was an early software-based mulitrack sequencer with graphic user interface input via a cool light pen…only a year or two before the Mac came out and then everyone was off the races….
posted by Peggy on 8-4-2008 at 4:21 pm
@joe: I think the piece was about explaining David’s favorite unique keyboards, and showing some popular examples of where you would have heard the instruments, not showcasing the ultimate examples of how the instruments have been best used.
Just to let everyone know a little of David’s credentials, I don’t think he’s lacking in musical knowledge. At 23, he was hired as a music editor on Leonard Bernstein’s scores, to help publish definitive editions of West Side Story, etc. He’s not exactly a novice. I love Jimmy Smith and Jan Hammer and Joe Zawinul, but I can also see why David didn’t use them in this piece.
posted by Mangesh on 8-4-2008 at 4:40 pm
You also forgot to mention that Felix Cavaliere, the keyboardist from The Rascals also made heavy use of the Hammond organ (B3, I believe). A great example of this is the organ solo on “Good Lovin”.
posted by Michael on 8-4-2008 at 4:47 pm
You forgot the piano – the greatest keyboard ever.
posted by Stu Pidass on 8-4-2008 at 5:59 pm
I totally agree with Mangesh… the nay-sayers need to lighten up a little. It’s just a fun article about some cool keyboards from our past, not a complete dissertation for a PhD.
posted by Key Bored on 8-4-2008 at 6:14 pm
The other famous Synclavier sound is what you hear before every movie – the THX theme.
Bzzzt. Deep Note was algorithmically written in C.
posted by ChuckEye on 8-4-2008 at 6:22 pm
For all those who listed the Yamaha DX range, these were based on the early Synclavier II FM synthesiser, so the inclusion of the Synclavier covers it (and the Synclavier was a darn site better at it).
Synclavier owner. Not biased in any way.
posted by Steve on 8-4-2008 at 6:30 pm
I was surprised you left Jimmy Smith, too. The Hammond didn’t go straight from church to rock. But I think you’re younger than me. Give Jimmy a listen, you’ll be glad you did.
I nearly bought a Hammond with a Leslie, but I’ve got nowhere to put it and no serious justification for the purchase.
posted by BassMan on 8-4-2008 at 6:56 pm
How can you mention the moog without talking about Keith Emerson? Using monophonic synths he’d play chords by playing multiple keyboards.
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 8-4-2008 at 7:28 pm
Hammond – ELP – Tarkus!
posted by evets on 8-4-2008 at 8:16 pm
Gee. I always thought that Dark Side of the Moon was the “MiniMoog” album, while Wish you were Here was the “Arp” album. Have I been wrong all these years? I had one of each….
posted by Davini on 8-4-2008 at 9:01 pm
Thanks, that was a fun article. I agree that the people who posted all the negative commentary should indeed lighten up.
posted by Pixel on 8-4-2008 at 9:41 pm
Thanks, that was a fun article. I also agree that the people who posted all the negative commentary should indeed lighten up.
posted by Pixel on 8-4-2008 at 9:42 pm
Um….the Wurlitzer? Ray Charles’ WHAT I SAY? The Doors’ RIDERS ON THE STORM? A million other songs? The Wurly ruled the roost for a LOOOOOONG time.
posted by Keyz2theKingdom on 8-4-2008 at 9:52 pm
Seriously, you should have titled this article: Organs (and some keyboards) that were barely used by the genre Rock and Roll.
there is so much missing here I don’t even know where to start. What a sad and pathetic article.
posted by klinger on 8-4-2008 at 10:43 pm
This is a list that needs more than Five keyboards. There are many other groundbreaking keyboards that changed the world and the face of music out there as well.
posted by Blacklight on 8-5-2008 at 12:32 am
Lighten up indeed! I really enjoyed the article, and as far as I can tell, it never claimed to be an exhaustive list of every organ used ever, which I think some people want it to be!
Write your own article if you’re not happy with one you’ve just read!
Joe – http://www.anewbandaday.com
posted by Joe | A New Band A Day on 8-5-2008 at 11:52 am
This may date me, but I would have also included the Farfisa organ. It was used for many early rock tunes and had it’s own unique sound!!
Thanks for the article and info.
posted by M. S. Porter on 8-5-2008 at 7:28 pm
To avoid confusion, you should probably credit the song ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ to the Spencer Davis Group, even though Steve Winwood was the writer/lead singer.
posted by Shane on 8-6-2008 at 3:40 pm
Thanks for the fun article – and try to ignore the meanies! Yikes, people are harsh.
One question, though..did you mean to say that the one Synclavier was much more than the price of your parent’s condo?
posted by Dawn on 8-9-2008 at 6:41 pm
I think you’ve missed out the Clavinet, on of the greatest instruments ever.
posted by Rahul on 8-10-2008 at 10:17 am