Today Townsman k. steps to The Main Stage with the following Last Man Standing competition. Take it away, k.!
Those of us following the RTH World Cup of Rock ‘n Roll saw cdm‘s Australian squad play The Hoodoo Guru’s “Like Wow, Wipeout!” – complete with an all-feedback solo. Although it may be a bit of a cliche move these days, I generally like this musical device when it comes in at just the right time. To clarify, I am not interested in those nothing-but-feedback exercises by the likes of Sonic Youth or Neil Young’s Arc but something like the clip cdm used in the RTH World Cup, where the feedback takes the place of a standard guitar solo.
How many of these can Townspeople come up with and how many will it take until we are all good and sick of it?
In the spirit of fairness, I will kick this off with “Little Honda,” by Yo La Tengo, solo at 1:25:
Does The Velvet Underground’s “I Heard Her Call My Name” count? That solo’s mostly feedback, right? If that counts is it the earliest-known example of this device in a rock song?
London Calling-a few feedback notes, a backwards guitar overdub with a few feedback notes and a seagull.
Yep, that is a good example whereas Sister Ray would be too much.
Would the “solo” in U2’s “With or Without You” be considered a feedback solo, or is The Edge using one of those mysterious E-bow devices to get that controlled run of notes. In that case, I imagine it wouldn’t count.
The guitar sounds behind Bono’s “oh oh whoa-oh” are definitely what I am getting at. I don’t enough about guitar tech to know how those sounds are created. However, after Bono exits, the solo guitar there seems to be some of the only non-distorted guitar in the entire song.
Since I am here: “Hotel Arizona” by Wilco.
“I Found That Essense Rare” – Gang of Four
Pete’s controlled feedback solo on Anyway Anyhow Anywhere, the greatest of the early Who records.
Last one I had before submitting the category: “Drown” by Smashing Pumpkins from the Singles soundtrack.
“Essence Rare” is short but good.
Much of My Bloody Valentine’s later stuff has plenty of feedback used to further the song. The best example is probably “You Made Me Realise” which includes their “holocaust” section. One copy of this song that we have is 25 minutes long, much of that devoted to the feedback.
I Found That Essence Rare jogged my mind … Anthrax is a lot of feedback throughout, but it does have a riff that forms the skeleton of the song, and it definitely has passages that seem more like solos. Is the first minute a ‘solo’?
And To Hell With Poverty also has a giant riff as well as a ‘solo’ that is mostly feedback with a little scratching mixed in.
These two may be on the border of what k. was talking about.
Good one, BigSteve. To Hell With Poverty has lots of good screaming and feedback.
If I hadn’t rashly disqualified Sonic Youth (should have DQed Jesus & Mary Chain instead) I could have used “Silver Rocket”; a real song with a chord structure -> feedback solo -> back to the main song.
As it stands Big Steve is LMS.
It’s subtle, but there’s a feedback/hawk-sound break in the middle of Neil Young’s “Pocahontas,” making ME the LAST MAN STANDING!
k. we need to talk. Disqualifying JAMC? They are the feedback gurus!
Lush: Sweetness and Light at 3:03.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TofcvBq1kWs&feature=related
Or, if you want another choice, Love and Rockets: The Light
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faAnXDp5ji8&feature=related
And since it’s Friday night, one more for your listening pleasure:
U2: Bullet the Blue Sky.
Ladymisskirroyale, you are on a LNR tear!
No new tale to tell…