Don Wilson, of the Ventures, RIP

[Michedelic]

Aloha, Don…
Don Wilson, cofounder of the instrumental guitar group The Ventures, dies at age 88 — NPR

 

[JimK]

How cool were The Ventures?!?
RIP, sir...

 

[matty1039]

That's terrible news. I was in a Ventures/Oldies band for a while. I always tell people learning their songs was like a master class in fundamentals.

 

[Michedelic]

That's terrible news. I was in a Ventures/Oldies band for a while. I always tell people learning their songs was like a master class in fundamentals.

Well, in a way it was, until the heavier music came in….

That documentary is great, by the way. It’s interesting that even with their own Shadows as idols, that the British kids were impacted. Then there was Japan.

 

[matty1039]

Well, in a way it was, until the heavier music came in….
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That documentary is great, by the way. It’s interesting that even with their own Shadows as idols, that the British kids were impacted. Then there was Japan.

It was heavy all along. They just needed some dirt.

 

[JimK]

I watched this over the Great Covid-break-from-work in 2020...apparently, The Ventures were huge in Japan.

 

[Michedelic]

I watched this over the Great Covid-break-from-work in 2020...apparently, The Ventures were huge in Japan.

As big, if not bigger, than the Beatles. There are all sorts of Japan only releases, and their popularity there sustained their careers on into the 70’s and 80’s until an interest in instrumental/surf picked up again.

 

[Michedelic]

It was heavy all along. They just needed some dirt.

The irony is…even though there were recordings with accidental fuzz, like Marty Robbin’s “Don’t Worry About Me”, and plenty of tracks with overdriven amps from Howlin’ Wolf to Link Wray were heard, the Ventures used the newly manufactured Mosrite Fuzzrite on their single, “The 2000 Pound Bee”…

A young Jimmy Page heard it, and talked an electronics experimenter, Roger Mayer, into building one for him, with his buddy Jeff Beck getting on board as well. Mayer went on to work with Jimi Hendrix on the Fuzzface and Octavia, so the race towards British buzz inadvertently started with the Ventures.https://youtu.be/U9UI92m77bY

 

[woodyng2]

Sad to hear.
The Ventures’ Telstar album was the first full size LP I bought as a kid in the ‘60s, and many more after that.
I may be mistaken, but I think Dan was the last of the Ventures left when he died.
RIP….

 

[Michedelic]

It was heavy all along. They just needed some dirt.

Come to think of it…surf with distortion? Nothing new, Agent Orange has been doing that for 40 years….

 

[2saddleslab]

Iconoclastic band who's influence transcended genres.
RIP, DW. Thanks for the great music.

 

[Michedelic]

Little known fact, the Go-Go’s gave them a tune…