Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

starman · Sep 15, 2006, 11:29 PM

So, I'm listening to AC/DC today, "It's a Long Way To The Top" which has a bagpipe in it, and immediately after, the station played Tull with a flute. How many rock/pop songs have instruments in them that generally aren't found in that kind of music?

paul w · Sep 15, 2006, 11:33 PM

In a big country dreams stay with you like a lovers voice fires the mountainsiiiiiide. Stay a-liiiive.

oh wait, those were guitars. OK, let's go with the Beatles, namely George Harrison.

Railroader · Sep 15, 2006, 11:33 PM

A lot of people may not notice it, but Counting Crows uses an accordion in a number of songs.

I think non-traditional instruments are often the way a group can stand out from the crowd.

forkies · Sep 15, 2006, 11:37 PM

Who Is It (Carry My Joy On the Left, Carry My Pain On the Right) the human voice

CharlesS · Sep 15, 2006, 11:45 PM

I'm not a fountain of knowledge regarding popular music, but I do know that Good Vibrations has a theremin in it. I think it used the harpsichord as well, if I remember correctly. The Beatles also occasionally used the harpsichord, and more famously, the sitar.

- - e r i k - - · Sep 15, 2006, 11:50 PM

Operator Please - lead violin

ThinkInsane · Sep 16, 2006, 12:32 AM

I think Billy Joel's Downeaster "Alexa" might have the most beautiful use of an accordion in pop music.

waxcrash · Sep 16, 2006, 01:35 AM

Originally Posted by starman

How many rock/pop songs have instruments in them that generally aren't found in that kind of music?

Robert Randolph & the Family Band

I don't know of any other funk/soul bands that use a pedal steel guitar.

dreamryche · Sep 16, 2006, 01:37 AM

A couple songs on the latest Dream Theater album feature the Haken Continuum, which I think is just awesome.

Continuum demo by Jordan Rudess

Face Ache · Sep 16, 2006, 01:41 AM

Factoid: Many of John Lennon's later songs included the sound of a cat being strangled in the background.

John Lennon hated cats.

turtle777 · Sep 16, 2006, 03:05 AM

Originally Posted by Face Ache

Factoid: Many of John Lennon's later songs included the sound of a cat being strangled in the background.
John Lennon hated cats.

Maybe the assassin was a cat ?

-t

PB2K · Sep 16, 2006, 05:21 AM

turtle777 · Sep 16, 2006, 06:46 AM

Needs more blur.

-t

Kevin · Sep 16, 2006, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

I'm not a fountain of knowledge regarding popular music, but I do know that Good Vibrations has a theremin in it. I think it used the harpsichord as well, if I remember correctly. The Beatles also occasionally used the harpsichord, and more famously, the sitar.

The Theremin in Good vibrations isn't like a normal one. It was more like a side guitar.

Kevin · Sep 16, 2006, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by dreamryche

A couple songs on the latest Dream Theater album feature the Haken Continuum, which I think is just awesome.

Continuum demo by Jordan Rudess

WOW I've never head of that. Really neat. I love Dream Theatre musically, but man some of their songs seem too campy.

Dave Navarro used a vibrator over his guitar pickups to make odd sounds.

The Ebow is also a cool little device.

zro · Sep 16, 2006, 11:38 AM

The bloodhound in Pink Floyd's Seamus.

Sep 16, 2006, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by waxcrash

Robert Randolph & the Family Band

I have their "Unclassified" album.

To add to the list:
The Dream Academy's "Life in a Northern Town" has an english horn in it.
Some of Midnight Oil's songs have cellos.

bewebste · Sep 16, 2006, 06:46 PM

My Spine by Bjork consists of vocals and a bunch of exhaust pipes played as a xylophone.

dreamryche · Sep 16, 2006, 06:47 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin

Dave Navarro used a vibrator over his guitar pickups to make odd sounds.

The Ebow is also a cool little device.

And, of course, there's Paul Gilbert and his power drill with picks taped to the bit.

Also cool are guitars equipped with Sustainers or Sustainiacs. I'm going to be dropping a Sustainiac Stealth in an old Hamer of mine sometime in the not-so-distant future.

f1000 · Sep 16, 2006, 07:22 PM

--

analogika · Sep 16, 2006, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin

The Theremin in Good vibrations isn't like a normal one. It was more like a side guitar.

In fact, it has nothing in common with the "real" Theremin at all.

As for "unique" instruments - I submit just about every album by Einstürzende Neubauten, and particularly recommend their latest "Perpetuum Mobile", which features a number of tuned plastic plumbing pipes played with compressed-air guns across their openings.

d4nth3m4n · Sep 16, 2006, 08:10 PM

check out Goma, their main schtick is that they have a didgeridoo. i always liked the baritone sax of morphine as well.

turtle777 · Sep 16, 2006, 09:27 PM

Is farting considered an odd instrument ?

-t

dreamryche · Sep 17, 2006, 01:15 AM

Jackyl "The Lumberjack"...lead chainsaw
Jackyl "Headed For Destruction"...chainsaw+vocoder

Kevin · Sep 17, 2006, 02:16 AM

Originally Posted by analogika

In fact, it has nothing in common with the "real" Theremin at all.

Well the both worked on resistance, and had a similar sound.

analogika · Sep 17, 2006, 09:12 AM

I really don't mean to be a smartass, but:

I can get a very Theremin-like sound out of any of my analog synths - in fact, the "Theremin" in the first few bars of Portishead's first album "Dummy" is a Roland SH-101. The sound is quite easy to build if you know your gear.

And every monophonic synth keyboard up until the mid-80s was resistance-based (pressing down the key would vary a fixed voltage through resistors and thus change the pitch of the voltage-controlled oscillators).

The Tannerin (used on "Good Vibrations") used a resistor strip played much like a slide guitar in place of a keyboard.

The Theremin is unique not because of its sound generator, but because it is controlled entirely through induction (via two antennae for pitch and volume), with the performer not touching the device at all.

ghporter · Sep 17, 2006, 09:55 AM

The Theremin was the first synthesizer, at least in many ways. Sure, it's analog-that's pretty much the point. But it was the first, all-electronic method of generating sounds that did not start from some mechanical source.

The "normal" Theremin is played by waving one's hands in space in certain areas around the device-listen to the sounds in "Forbidden Planet" for an example of the breadth of a Theremin's capabilities-all the sound effects and all the music were produced with a Theremin.

The Godfather · Sep 17, 2006, 12:14 PM

Many compositions by Shakira include native Latin American instruments for the chorus or for background.

Gloria Estefan and Cafe Tacuva too.

PB2K · Sep 17, 2006, 01:39 PM

its the singing saw dude !

f1000 · Sep 17, 2006, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by analogika

The Theremin is unique not because of its sound generator, but because it is controlled entirely through induction (via two antennae for pitch and volume), with the performer not touching the device at all.

I really don't mean to be a smarter ass, but don't you mean capacitance?

Jellytussle · Sep 17, 2006, 02:21 PM

Theremins work on capacitance, not resistance. A friend of mine built one recently, and i can safely say that playing it is exceedingly difficult.

analogika · Sep 17, 2006, 03:28 PM

capacitance, then.

Sorry.

The decisive point is the method of interaction with the instrument.

finboy · Sep 17, 2006, 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin

The Theremin in Good vibrations isn't like a normal one. It was more like a side guitar.

Peter Gabriel has a pretty good record for using unusual instruments. I can't remember the name of the instrument at the beginning of SledgeHammer (doudouk or something like that). Sounds like a wooden flute or recorder, more breathey.

version · Sep 17, 2006, 04:21 PM

One tune that always has gets me, is Jane's Addiction's My Time with harmonica in it, mot unusual , but really sweet to hear.

Kevin · Sep 17, 2006, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by analogika

The Tannerin (used on "Good Vibrations") used a resistor strip played much like a slide guitar in place of a keyboard.

Um, that is what I said.

The Theremin in Good vibrations isn't like a normal one. It was more like a slide guitar.

Kevin · Sep 17, 2006, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by version

One tune that always has gets me, is Jane's Addiction's My Time with harmonica in it, mot unusual , but really sweet to hear.

I had a mp3 of them doing that song. But Dave plays the melody on the guitar instead of the harmonica.

Sep 17, 2006, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by finboy

Peter Gabriel has a pretty good record for using unusual instruments. I can't remember the name of the instrument at the beginning of SledgeHammer (doudouk or something like that). Sounds like a wooden flute or recorder, more breathey.

It's a prophet analogue synthesizer.

Timo · Sep 17, 2006, 11:37 PM

The Chapman Stick in, e.g., King Crimson's Discipline.

Discipline (album) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

analogika · Sep 18, 2006, 01:51 AM

Originally Posted by Kevin

Um, that is what I said.

Um, yes. You did. You may note that I expanded on your point to say that not only was that theremin not played like a theremin, but that it wasn't actually a theremin.

Kevin · Sep 18, 2006, 07:13 AM

Originally Posted by analogika

Um, yes. You did. You may note that I expanded on your point to say that not only was that theremin not played like a theremin, but that it wasn't actually a theremin.

*sigh*

So you were basically just splitting hairs. That is why I said "It wasn't like a normal one"

Meaning they aren't the same thing.

macroy · Sep 18, 2006, 07:38 AM

Van Halen -

Poundcake. The beggining was done using a electric drill against the guitar. Not exactly a musical instrument - but a cool sound nonetheless.

analogika · Sep 18, 2006, 07:44 AM

Kevin, I wasn't splitting hairs.

It's not a Theremin at all.

It's like you said "The guitars on Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition' aren't like normal ones. They're more like pianos" and somebody comes along and says, "We'll, it's a Hohner Clavinet, which is nothing like a guitar at all,"*) and you get all huffy like somebody claimed you were wrong, rather than clarifying your point.

Sometimes it's funny to watch your automatic defense-mechanisms. Now relax, Kevin.

*) except, in this example, the clavinet actually has more in common with the guitar than the Theremin with the Tannerin - at least the clav and guitar use the same sound generation principle.

Kevin · Sep 18, 2006, 08:16 AM

Er analog. By me saying "It's more like a slide guitar" I am saying it's not a theremin.

But nevermind, this will go one forever. You won the internet.

Sometimes it's funny to watch your automatic defense-mechanisms. Now relax, Kevin.

And now you are projecting. Great.

I was just pointing out, what we said wasn't all that different. You felt the need to "correct" me was just you being argumentive. Which we both know you are.

analogika · Sep 18, 2006, 08:39 AM

Dude, you're a ****ing moron.

People reading your post would have still referred to a "theremin" - albeit a modified one - being used on 'Good Vibrations'. IT WASN'T, and the misconception should probably be clarified.

You weren't wrong at all. You merely only got one-third of the way there. I point this out and you go into auto-defense mode like somebody's called you on a "sixteenth chapel" faux pas or something. I chuckle at this and suddenly I'm "projecting" again.

Tell me, Oh Grand Idiot, how my correcting you was any different from your correcting CharlesS, except that you flared up like a hit dog and posted some criteria that are common to just about every analog synthesizer ever built? Did you just want to argue? Or do you just assume ill-will every time somebody directs a post at you? Isn't that the definition of "projecting"?

vexborg · Sep 18, 2006, 08:40 AM

Hednigarna - Min Skog: Chainsaw.

CharlesS · Sep 18, 2006, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by analogika

Dude, you're a ****ing moron.

People reading your post would have still referred to a "theremin" - albeit a modified one - being used on 'Good Vibrations'. IT WASN'T, and the misconception should probably be clarified.

You weren't wrong at all. You merely only got one-third of the way there. I point this out and you go into auto-defense mode like somebody's called you on a "sixteenth chapel" faux pas or something. I chuckle at this and suddenly I'm "projecting" again.

Tell me, Oh Grand Idiot, how my correcting you was any different from your correcting CharlesS, except that you flared up like a hit dog and posted some criteria that are common to just about every analog synthesizer ever built? Did you just want to argue? Or do you just assume ill-will every time somebody directs a post at you? Isn't that the definition of "projecting"?

I am very sorry that I posted in this thread at all.

How's this: The song "Good Vibrations" has an instrument in it which, while not being a theremin, sounds like one to a listener, thus being unique since most popular music does not make use of an instrument that sounds like a theremin.

I think that should be a statement that everyone should agree with. Now can the flame war stop, please?

ghporter · Sep 18, 2006, 07:22 PM

Songs with "unique" instruments...

Almost everything Spike Jones ever recorded. Slide whistles. Pistols. Washtubs (not washtub bases, though he did use those, but just banging on a washtub). Sirens. SCREAMS!!! Mel Blanc doing sounds with his voice. Unique is hardly strong enough a word.

A few titles:
Black and Blue Danube Waltz
I Only Have Eyes for You
Der Fuehrer's Face
Clink, Clink, Another Drink (featuring Mel Blanc on "glugs.")

- - e r i k - - · Sep 19, 2006, 12:13 AM

Wow, Kevin really retarded up this thread too. Not everyone is out to get you for expanding on your f"cking point.

analogika · Sep 19, 2006, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

How's this: The song "Good Vibrations" has an instrument in it which, while not being a theremin, sounds like one to a listener, thus being unique since most popular music does not make use of an instrument that sounds like a theremin.

What makes the song "Good Vibrations" truly unique is that it is probably the only recording of the Tannerin (while there is a whole plethora of "spooky" tracks - many of them soundtracks - that contain theremin).

CharlesS · Sep 19, 2006, 02:42 PM

Fair enough.