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Instrumental Groups in the 50’s
-The Ventures
by Erika Cox
The Ventures were the first of a new phenomenon in the 1950’s rock music
scene called instrumental groups. The Ventures are probably the
best-known instrumental group, and definitely the longest lasting and
most influential of the groups.
The group started in Seattle, Washington
going by the name of Versatones and formed by Bob Bogle. Bogle was born
Robert Lenard Bogle on January 16, 1934 in a rural part of Oklahoma.
His family eventually moved to Oregon. Bogle had learned to play the
guitar in his early teens and while still a teenager, Bogle dropped out
of school in the ninth grade and decided to move to Seattle on his own
where he found work as a bricklayer to support himself.
While working one day, he met Don Wilson who
also learned how to play instruments as a child, in particular, the
trombone and the piano and later on in the army learning to play the
bass and guitar. Together, the two started playing in local clubs around
the Seattle area and eventually would add Nokie Edwards on guitar and
Howie Johnson on drums.
The group recorded their first song together called, “Walk Don’t Run”,
which had no success at all, so Wilson’s mother released it on her own
record label that allowed it to be picked up by Dolton Records.
At Dolton, the group was encouraged to change the name of their group,
which they did, and in 1960 the song became a hit; it went all the way
to number two on the charts. The Ventures would go on to have a number
of hit songs throughout the early 1960’s. Throughout the 60’s and 70’s
the group would undergo a number of member changes but continued to make
great music and produce hits. In 1969, the group had a huge success
recording the theme song for the popular TV show, Hawaii Five-O.
In the 1970’s, the group expanded into a quintet with the addition of
Johnny Durrill on keyboard. The group started including different sounds
with the use of fuzz-tone and wah-wah guitar modifications, they
continued to record in the 1980’s even after the death of member Mel
Taylor in 1996. The original members Bogle and Wilson still perform and
tour as a group today with Gerry McGee and a number of other provisional
members.
Nokie Edwards, who left the group in 1970, performs as a solo act. At a
time, when teen idol and pop music was in the forefront instrumental
groups brought a unique sound, not to mention exceptional musical talent
and skills to rock music. While some pop groups and teen idols were
created to promote “teen fluff” pop music, instrumental groups focused
on quality musicianship skills.
The success of the Ventures as an Instrumental group proved that rock
and roll music could incorporate many different styles. To some extent,
instrumental groups are opposite of most Doo-Wop groups but both types
of music styles were able to obtain success during the late 1950’s and
early 1960’s.
The Ventures brought to Rock and Roll a special style of rock music
during a time when the music industry was focusing on a different sound,
yet they were able to produce hit songs and top selling albums. Despite
the fact that the Ventures are still popular today throughout the United
States, Japan and Europe, as well as being ranked as one of the Top Ten
biggest album selling groups of the 1960’s, they have yet to be inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Support from fans for the past several years to get the Ventures into
the Hall of Fame have not been successful but perhaps one day the
Ventures will get the recognition from the music industry that they
deserve.
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