Bassists of the '60's Club.

[Deleted member 268085]

From what I've read, it was primarily about getting attention (as noted "audience loved it") ... and an expression of "angry youth". PT used to 5-finger 'borrow' guitars from shops and ran up a big bill destroying them. I don't know if he was from an affluent family, but if so that could be part of it. Didn't he go to art college?

Talking about destruction, any other Chicagoans here remember the Disco Demolition Night promotion at Comisky Park on 12 July 1979? You were supposed to bring a disco album to be destroyed between games of a White Sox double header. Welp, the field was so damaged, they had to cancel and reschedule the second game.

 

[Michedelic]

Imagine if he would've given each one of these smashed Ric's to poor guitar students that were wanting to learn how to play guitar like Pete.
I take care of my stuff cause I worked too dang hard to get it!
View attachment 5468400

What’s the difference between that and someone who hoards instruments as a byproduct of GAS, keeping them out of circulation? Or Gibson recently steamrolling an entire batch of guitars due to some flaw? When nobody cared about Les Pauls, the Lovin’ Spoonful did some promo film where they were goofing around in a boat in Central Park, and used one for a paddle.
Pete may have run up a big bill aquiring all those Rics(one that was about to sink the band until the Tommy payday), but they were his to do whatever with, and furthermore, their audience came to expect the destruction, so factor in that aspect. It’s artistic statement AND showbiz at the same time. His Ric era was short-lived anyway, as he soon moved to Strats and whatnot as they were easier to repair with replaceable parts.
By the time he was enough of an icon in Britain to inspire any students, guitar production, including budget models, had exploded due to the ‘beat group’ phenominon in general, so a beginner had far more choices available than Townshend might have had in the late 50’s. Even when I started playing in 1968, retail store staff were bemoaning that the guitar(and bass)boom of the British Invasion moment was over, and that they had a backlog of gear.

 

[SubHuman]

What’s the difference between that and someone who hoards instruments as a byproduct of GAS, keeping them out of circulation? Or Gibson recently steamrolling an entire batch of guitars due to some flaw? When nobody cared about Les Pauls, the Lovin’ Spoonful did some promo film where they were goofing around in a boat in Central Park, and used one for a paddle.
Pete may have run up a big bill aquiring all those Rics(one that was about to sink the band until the Tommy payday), but they were his to do whatever with, and furthermore, their audience came to expect the destruction, so factor in that aspect. It’s artistic statement AND showbiz at the same time. His Ric era was short-lived anyway, as he soon moved to Strats and whatnot as they were easier to repair with replaceable parts.
By the time he was enough of an icon in Britain to inspire any students, guitar production, including budget models, had exploded due to the ‘beat group’ phenominon in general, so a beginner had far more choices available than Townshend might have had in the late 50’s. Even when I started playing in 1968, retail store staff were bemoaning that the guitar(and bass)boom of the British Invasion moment was over, and that they had a backlog of gear.

What’s the difference between that and someone who hoards instruments as a byproduct of GAS, keeping them out of circulation?
Because the people collecting them didn't destroy them. To each their own!

 

[Michedelic]

What’s the difference between that and someone who hoards instruments as a byproduct of GAS, keeping them out of circulation?
Because the people collecting them didn't destroy them. To each their own!

Still, how many ‘guitar students’ are going to be able to get at those? It’s interesting that you didn’t address that Gibson situation…those could could have been donated to something like a School Of Rock in a Habitat For Humanity type move, but no, they crushed them all in a public display, then off to a landfill. The real issue there was that it was done on a massive scale. But then, a Strat(or whatever) is not a Strad, but a mass produced product.

 

[SubHuman]

Still, how many ‘guitar students’ are going to be able to get at those? It’s interesting that you didn’t address that Gibson situation…those could could have been donated to something like a School Of Rock in a Habitat For Humanity type move, but no, they crushed them all in a public display, then off to a landfill. The real issue there was that it was done on a massive scale. But then, a Strat(or whatever) is not a Strad, but a mass produced product.

I'm not disputing what you say...My own personal feeling is I disliked the "art" of destroying a perfectly playable guitar.

 

[TomB]

I'm not disputing what you say...My own personal feeling is I disliked the "art" of destroying a perfectly playable guitar.

Agreed! A weight I wasn’t even aware of was lifted from my shoulders the first time I heard that Hyatt song. I wanted to celebrate

 

[G-Dog]

.
"WoMan, your fine ointment [guitar], brand new and expensive,
should have been saved for the poor!
Why has it been wasted? We could have raised, maybe,
three hundred silver pieces or more!!
People who are hungry, people who are starving,
matter more than your feet and hair [artistic expression]!"*



*Original bass recording by that fine '60s bassist Alan Spenner, of Joe Cocker's Grease Band, et al
.

 

[SubHuman]

Glen Campbell playing a Fender VI. This is one of his best tunes IMO even though he didn't write it.

 

[LG TPAFL]

Glen Campbell playing a Fender VI. This is one of his best tunes IMO even though he didn't write it.

That's cool. And Carol Kaye played bass on that I believe. And Glen used a Danelectro bass on that solo?

 

[Jazzdogg]

I didn't start gigging in the sixties, but I did start playing bass in '68.

Check out the pick-style playing of bassist Rod Ellicott on the early recordings of Cold Blood!

 

[SoulReflection]

A 60's bassist, Duck Dunn without Booker T and Cropper...

 

[JIO]

Talking about destruction, any other Chicagoans here remember the Disco Demolition Night promotion at Comisky Park on 12 July 1979? You were supposed to bring a disco album to be destroyed between games of a White Sox double header. Welp, the field was so damaged, they had to cancel and reschedule the second game.

Yah, I moved there in '78. Steve Dahl - kind of a jerk. They should have had to pay for the damage.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

Yah, I moved there in '78. Steve Dahl - kind of a jerk. They should have had to pay for the damage.

I agree with you on Steve Dahl. But I would suggest that whoever in the White Sox organization approved that promotion should have been the one to pay. Dahl did what Dahl always did. That disaster was totally in character and super predictable. And not all disco was bad. Much of it, but not all.

 

[GonePlaid]

I agree with you on Steve Dahl. But I would suggest that whoever in the White Sox organization approved that promotion should have been the one to pay. Dahl did what Dahl always did. That disaster was totally in character and super predictable. And not all disco was bad. Much of it, but not all.

I suspect that the extra 'butts in the seats' $ may have helped defray the expense.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

Talking about destruction, any other Chicagoans here remember the Disco Demolition Night promotion at Comisky Park on 12 July 1979? You were supposed to bring a disco album to be destroyed between games of a White Sox double header. Welp, the field was so damaged, they had to cancel and reschedule the second game.

Oops. While checking something else, I was reminded that the second half of the doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers was NOT rescheduled. The White Sox had to forfeit the second game. Easy win for the Tigers!

 

[GonePlaid]

Oops. While checking something else, I was reminded that the second half of the doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers was NOT rescheduled. The White Sox had to forfeit the second game. Easy win for the Tigers!

Either way?

 

[Deleted member 268085]

I suspect that the extra 'butts in the seats' $ may have helped defray the expense.

From the article I'm linking to below:

Admission would be just 98 cents for customers who brought in a disco record.

I don't think that helped much, financially. IMO this article on the promotion is really interesting.

Forty Years Later, Disagreement About Disco Demolition Night

 

[Deleted member 268085]

Either way?

Yeah. They sucked that year, and almost every year since. But they did win the World Series once!

 

[Deleted member 268085]

They're not as well known as the Wrecking Crew, but the Hi Records house rhythm section, comprised of the Hodges brothers: bassist Leroy “Flick” Hodges, keyboardist Charles Hodges, and guitarist Mabon “Teenie” Hodges along with drummers Howard Grimes and Al Jackson Jr., moved a generation – spiritually and physically – with pocket grooves and countermelodies that fueled seminal hits and album tracks by Al Green, Ann Peebles, and Otis Clay, among scores of others. Along with his peer, Donald “Duck” Dunn, his pocket passages defined “Memphis Soul.” Most of Flick's work came after 1970, but I think he fits in here at the '60's club. Here's Flick with the late, great Syl Johnson.

 

[SoulReflection]

They're not as well known as the Wrecking Crew, but the Hi Records house rhythm section, comprised of the Hodges brothers: bassist Leroy “Flick” Hodges, keyboardist Charles, and guitarist Mabon “Teenie” Hodges along with drummers Howard Grimes and Al Jackson Jr., moved a generation – spiritually and physically – with pocket grooves and countermelodies that fueled seminal hits and album tracks by Al Green, Ann Peebles, and Otis Clay, among scores of others. Along with his peer, Donald “Duck” Dunn, his pocket passages defined “Memphis Soul.” Most of Flick's work came after 1970, but I think he fits in here at the '60's club. Here's Flick with the late, great Syl Johnson.

1970 is still within the "Goal Posts". Thanks for the info...