Bands with instantly-recognizable signature sounds

[10cc]

Some not so signature sounds.

 

[bassman10096]

Grateful Dead
Little Feat
The Band

I wondered how long it would take for somebody to add the Dead...

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Ah. Someone who has never listened to Mitch Benn's "Everyone sounds like Coldplay now". You could argue that those other bands have a signature sound, just that it isn't their signature sound.

Yah, but that’s was in 2006. In 2015 it was Lumineers & Sons. How ‘bout today?

 

[Flashback Bass]

The Doors
The Animals
Steppenwolf

Hard to believe it took 72 posts to get to The Doors. They were the first that I thought of.

 

[Bruiser Stone]

Devo.

...which made me think Talking Heads if no one else has mentioned them

 

[Maxime1980]

Joy Division/New Order
- Esp. once you hear Peter Hook's bass, but that mixture of textural guitar by Bernard, chorus-heavy bass lines that drives the songs and the very precise drumming of Stephen...and Ian Curtis doing his magic on vocals and lyrics.
- The Cure, but esp 17 Seconds, Faith and Pornography and Desintegration.
- Queen, because QUEEN !!!!
- George Michael
- Depeche Mode
- Xiu Xiu
- Bauhaus
- Sex Pistols
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor
- Do Make Say Think
- Type O Negative
- 70's Stevie Wonder

A tons more...

 

[Bruiser Stone]

Big Black with double-edged metal plectrums and the drum machine. Easy listening.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Yah, but that’s was in 2006. In 2015 it was Lumineers & Sons. How ‘bout today?

Who?

 

[BurtMacklinFBI]

Dead Kennedys. Even before Jello Biafra opens his mouth you know exactly who it is from those bass and guitar sounds.

 

[Vooter]

The screaming seagull sound Gilmour uses on echoes and a little throughout The Wall. Finally found out a couple years ago how he did it (accidentally running through a crybaby backwards)

Also Brian May’s guitar sound, still have no idea how he get that. It has to be more that Burns pickups going through a Vox.

You're not alone...Steve Vai has said that Brian May's tone was the only one he couldn't copy...

 

[electracoyote]

Queen.

First thing that came to mind. You can't get three seconds into a Queen song without knowing it's them.

 

[electracoyote]

Also Brian May’s guitar sound, still have no idea how he get that. It has to be more that Burns pickups going through a Vox.

Lots of good info if you Google it, really interesting stuff, but in a word: Treble booster. Really cool pedal for guitar players, but no one worked it quite like Brian May. Also, he had his Vox'ers doctored a bit, and in studio he got away with murder using John Deacon's school project, the "Deacy" amp made from junk he found in the dumpster.

And don't discount those Burns pickups, especially in the electronics array that Brian and his dad created with tons of options and phase reversals.

All those items can now be found fairly easily, reproductions and such, and I have them all, including a Brian May "BHM" authorized replica of his Red Special and British sixpences for picks. I'm a fairly accomplished guitar player for decades, spend more time on guitar than bass in bands. I still can only come close with much of what Brian May did. In the end, as they say, it's in the hands.

 

[Fight4Bottom]

So his whole back line of 12 AC30s were all modded with the treble boost I’m guessing?

Well, I was referring to the way the records were made. But live, it's just a treble boost pedal in his offstage rack. Here's a fantastic Rig Rundown with Brian's tech, as well as Dr. May himself:

 

[J_Bass]

You're not alone...Steve Vai has said that Brian May's tone was the only one he couldn't copy...

There's only one Red Special.

 

[mizzou541]

The Wood Brothers

 

[buldog5151bass]

I think Boston has an instantly recognizable sound, but not because of the twin guitars. Everything is bright and processed (the closest I've ever heard to an analog recording like that), plus the high vocals.

 

[dalkowski]

Ignoring vocals which generally identify a band immediately:
The Smiths

I LOVED the Smiths as a band. But Moz's solo work leaves me cold, and that's being charitable.

 

[faulknersj]

Well, perhaps I should've titled the thread "Bands with instantly-recognizably signature sound effects" instead. While I agree that many of the bands listed in this thread have cultivated their own "sound" over the course of their careers, few of them – IMHO – are known for a specific sound effect. I offered the Rick Wright piano sound as an example because it's so closely associated with Pink Floyd, and they knew it. Even after his departure from the band, Roger attempted to "reclaim" the sound on one of his solo albums:

Gotcha! That makes sense!

 

[BassBrass]

MY
BLOODY
VALENTINE

6 pages and no one mentions (that I saw) the only band referred to by just their initials in Boston band adds in the 90s and early 2000s.

 

[Jokei]

Big Black with double-edged metal plectrums and the drum machine. Easy listening.

Can add Shellac as well, no one else sounds like them


I'm not adding "Jordan, Minnesota"

 

[FilterFunk]

Queen and Parliament-Funkadelic (including all the P-Funk spin-offs) came to mind first for me.

Then the B-52's quickly followed.

Also, the Gap Band.