Menu
I was talking to somebody off list about The Astronauts. I love
these guys to death, but have you ever noticed their surfy songs
(most of which were written for them) sound like the product of some
tightly controlled formula? As brilliant as they are, when you
listen to just their surf material back to back, they are remarkably
similiar. I wonder how much of this was a result of their surf band
status being handed to them by their record company?
I also think that some of this can be blamed on the 2:20 mandate for
all pop songs on the radio of the day. And the record company wanted
surf hits to sell to the kids. A lot of their songs just have one
melody, and they don't even move it up or down an octave at least!
There isn't enough time to do that!
I love their 3 guitar sound. But do you think this is limiting in
some ways? How would you like to be the guy doing nothing but
the "chunking" on the low E string? I think that perhaps they could
have explored this 3 guitar thing a bit more had the 1st wave lasted
longer. One guy always did the lead, one guy the chording, and one
guy the chunking.
Satan's Pilgrims also had 3 guitars for most of their career. They
did a little more interesting and varied stuff with that lineup.
Again, I really like them. Their unique 3 guitar sound, their use of
muting, reverb, and great songs (albeit cookie cutter) make them
greats to me. I just wonder how much of it they actually enjoyed
playing. They had to on some level, as it was brilliantly executed.
BN
