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"The Ventures: Still rocking in their 60th year": This week's newspaper column


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The Ventures: Still rocking in their 60th year

Over 20 years ago, I was discussing the history of popular music with a business associate who was a couple of years younger than me. He had played in a relatively-popular band in north Alabama during the early ‘70s. They were what was called a “show band” in such times, and usually played clubs or fraternity parties.

He and I were in agreement that the Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was the revelatory event for what musical aspirations we developed, and we also agreed that our respective efforts had been nurtured by an influential band known as the Ventures.

“When the Beatles came along, I thought they were good, but they weren’t the Ventures,” he’d said. His memorable observation was probably shared by many teenage aspiring musicians across the nation.

Founded in the Pacific Northwest in 1958 by guitarists Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, the Ventures have occupied a unique national niche in popular music for decades, as they specialize in crafting unique instrumental versions of popular hits as well as movie and television themes.

“We’d glom onto any trend,” Wilson said of his band’s history in a mid-‘90s interview.

The Ventures charted in 1960 with a version of “Walk, Don’t Run,” (their first national release) during the middle of popular music’s “teen idol” days. The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard chart and #3 on the Cashbox chart.

Many Boomer males probably recall early ‘60s “surf music” as the first genre to which they related as a would-be player. Surf music was guitar-based and primarily instrumental, which made it an obvious opportunity for the Ventures.

And the band did indeed garner surf music hits. Their cover of “Mr. Moto,” originally released by a surf band called the Bel-Airs, was a bigger hit than the Bel-Airs’ version.

Moreover, the Ventures released an updated version of their at-the-time signature song as “Walk, Don’t Run ’64,” and it, too, was a smash hit (#8 in Billboard, #9 in Cashbox). The unique same-band, same-song’s Top Ten hit status would ultimately become a trivia question decades later on Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 radio program.

The ‘60s were indeed the golden decade for the Ventures. The band’s classic lineup consisted of guitarist Nokie Edwards, drummer Mel Taylor, Bogle (usually on bass) and Wilson. The three stringed instrument players would often switch roles in the studio or onstage if one player’s guitar style worked better for a particular song (another validation of a pro musical ensemble).

The band was particularly popular in Japan (the second largest music market in the world), where they reportedly sold twice as many albums as the Beatles.

So it wasn’t surprising that a 1965 album, The Ventures On Stage, featured concert material from Japan on one side. Thereon, Mel Taylor got the show off to a rousing start with what is arguably the best version of the iconic drum-centric song “Wipeout” ever recorded. Taylor’s performance is all the more amazing considering his minimal drum kit.

The band also put out a series of instructional albums, and astoundingly, those releases actually made the record charts.

The Ventures’ late ‘60s version of the theme from the original “Hawaii Five-O” television would ultimately supplant “Walk, Don’t Run” as their signature song.

Over the decades, minimal personnel changes happened to the band, even as guitar-based instrumental music fell out of favor in the U.S. marketplace. The band remains wildly popular in Japan.

In its 60 years of existence, the Ventures have sold over 100 million albums worldwide.

Except for Don Wilson, the classic lineup of the Ventures is deceased. Wilson’s retired but reportedly records with the band when appropriate.

…which means that the present-day Ventures have no classic lineup members (RE: The Light Crust Doughboys, Foreigner, etc., as discussed herein last year). That said, the, er, franchise has some impressive members, including Mel Taylor’s son Leon on drums (for over 20 years), and longtime ancillary guitarist Bob “The Fifth Venture” Spalding. Bob’s son Ian and bassist Luke Griffin round out the roster. They’ve just released a new album titled Here We Go Again.

The evolution of some iconic rock bands to no-original-members status is on the increase, but the Ventures’ music is still melodic and professionally presented. Their web site proclaims the band to be “the best selling instrumental rock band in music history.”

It shows.

 

 

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The Ventures Play Telstar and the Lonely Bull will never leave the regular rotation.

I'm a big fan of instrumental rock, especially The Fireballs, Link Wray, Duane Eddy, Dick Dale, Bill Black's Combo, The Champs,  and Bill Doggett.

 

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