I was a small kid when i first heard a music genre which really spelled dance to me. I don't know why but I do know this for a fact the melody driven music of this excellent band really enthralled me to do really uninspiring dance steps. I never realized what impact a band which was formed in 1958(exactly 30 years before i was born) could have such an impact on nearly a generation after. Founded by the coolest guy ever Bob Bogle and the ever so enthralling Don Wilson. The band was just of two people playing small time clubs and bars. They late recruited George T. Babbitt for drums(the original drummer of the group later replaced by Howie Johnson) and Nookie Edwards for bass(who later on switched places with Bob on lead).
But enough of a history lesson let's talk about their music. Their music was not the conventional music of that era, it was more concentrated and worked upon. It was the first of its type because they created music or tracks with certain themes attached to the. This style of music was unheard of and really gave them an edge over others for a simple fact that people seemed more attached with this kind of approach. If you still listen to it you get a sense of a message or some emotion evoked by it even though the songs don't have any lyrics. This really bought about a change which gave rise to many a new bands which wanted to express their music through this style and channel.
So the biggest accomplishment for this multi-talented group was to inspire people with some of the finest melodies ever built. Quite evident in two of their biggest hits Walk don't run and tequila. The way the guitar flows with the rhythm it seems that words are being sung rather than notes being played. The other facet was obviously what this group is known for, the biggest instrumental band of all times. This prestigious title is well deserved and more so because they never changed their music and always gave what the audience loved them for. This just shows that great bands don't need ridiculous characters but rather good musicians who pay well. Saying this though the group has had it's share of disputes and the ever so depressing fights. But through all that the band survived with a few changes here and there along the way.
What really strikes different about the band from other things is the fact that they conquered one of the most culturally different class of society in Japan. they are huge in Japan and had their very huge tours in the country throughout their careers. this really showed something about music in general, you dont need a language or even a culturally similar stage to understand or love music. Music is not universal, it's personal and always in your heart.
Here i am blatantly copying wikipedia since i am lazy,"Among their achievements in America, in 1963 The Ventures had five LPs in the Billboard Top 100 of the albums chart at the same time. Additionally, they released a series of instructional LPs entitled Play Guitar with the Ventures and Play Electric Bass with the Ventures. Four LPs were released in this series, the first of which reached the Billboard Top 100 Album Chart—an achievement previously unheard of for an instructional LP. In a novelty achievement, The Ventures were the first act to place two different versions of the same song in the Top 10, those being "Walk, Don't Run" (#2) and "Walk, Don't Run '64" (#8)." These stats speak for themselves, but for me this band is not about stats or how many records they sold worldwide(100 million by the way) it's more about the music that they gave us which still brings joy to me and I still wanna dance and tap my feet which is nearly impossible given how aware I am about my dancing skills and believe me there aint no music made that way anymore. So I guess I will still be running, I mean walking to The Ventures.
If you have any comments, please do share with me because this is no speech let's make it a conversation......
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