I used to work with a classical wind instrumentalist. He was an older fellow, and was really into early classical / renaissance music. He would always ask about electronics, and brought up the Fuzz Tone, specifically. He had been in a club sometime in the 60s, and heard a guitarist with this weird sound. He asked him about it, and the guy showed him a Fuzz Tone pedal. My coworker was apparently quite impressed with the thing, as he was bringing it up over thirty years later. He asked if it was a common thing, and if there was anything like it today. Like I said, he didn't delve much into popular music, so he was a rather naive about distortion / OD, particularly as a favorable effect (he was also sort of an audiophile, and obsessed with accuracy in reproduction).
What is my point? Oh, yeah; people in the club were really impressed at all of the far-out sounds the guitarist was getting. He did comment that he was a little disappointed in the lack of dynamic range, though.
.
