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Let's spread some musical misinformation

When the Van Halen family were still living in The Netherlands, Eddie and Alex both played the kazoo. When they moved to the US, they had to drop the kazoo, as those weren't allowed in the US back then.

They were once allowed in the USA, kazoo being short for 'Kalamazoo harp'. That was before people realised how awful they were and their banning in the USA under the 21st amendment to the US Constitution which assures the right to free speech but not the right to shout 'Kazoo!' in a theatre. It does permit the use of banjos, though, which must have been some sort of oversight.
 
Kazoo is one of the traditional Dutch folk instruments. The other traditional Dutch folk instrument is, of course, the bagpipes. The Scots claim the bagpipes as their own but they were imported from the Netherlands.

The most impressive Dutch instruments are the water-driven pipe organs. They had to dam a lot of water for that to ensure that that 17th century prog rock could be performed. One or two of those prog pieces are now just finishing.
 
They were once allowed in the USA, kazoo being short for 'Kalamazoo harp'. That was before people realised how awful they were and their banning in the USA under the 21st amendment to the US Constitution which assures the right to free speech but not the right to shout 'Kazoo!' in a theatre. It does permit the use of banjos, though, which must have been some sort of oversight.
Banning banjos would have upset a vast majority of the farmers. I doubt if politicians know the difference between a guitar and a banjo.
 
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They were once allowed in the USA, kazoo being short for 'Kalamazoo harp'. That was before people realised how awful they were and their banning in the USA under the 21st amendment to the US Constitution which assures the right to free speech but not the right to shout 'Kazoo!' in a theatre. It does permit the use of banjos, though, which must have been some sort of oversight.
A little known but widely applied aspect of the 22nd amendment is the "bass solo" clause. Although bass solos are not prohibited (see how the 18th amendment went) they are regulated by executive order. Currently they are limited to 4 bars. There are scofflaws who play longer solos (I'm looking at you Billy Sheehan) as an act of civil disobedience. These fanatics claim that the 22nd amendment can not supersede the first amendment. To date, no one has been charged as the SCOTUS will likely find in favour of bass solos being free expression essential to a functioning democracy and covered by the first amendment. And then there will be bass solos everywhere.

Both Justin Chancellor and John Myung have claimed to have songs written that include more than 100 bars of bass solo and will be published when the bass solo clause of the 22nd amendment is struck down.
 
Way back before there was a staples center in LA, Mavis Staples and her sisters were hanging out. When their father called to tell them he'd just opened the staples center, all the sisters wanted to go see it. Because Mavis was the only one with a driver's license she said "I'll take you there" and with her sisters' help, wrote the song on the way.
 
Apart from some weird and incompatible tunings, the standard A is defined as a 440 Hertz tone. Why 440 Hertz? Well, it's a multiple of 55! Why 55 Hertz? Because it's a compromise between the mains frequencies of Europe (50 Hertz) and America (60 Hertz).
Measuring frequencies in Hz is relatively new; it is only since 1944. Prior to that, drummers were called percussionists and were real musicians. Percussionists defined A as 26,400 beat per minute.
 
Apart from some weird and incompatible tunings, the standard A is defined as a 440 Hertz tone. Why 440 Hertz? Well, it's a multiple of 55! Why 55 Hertz? Because it's a compromise between the mains frequencies of Europe (50 Hertz) and America (60 Hertz).
That's why there's no Hertz Rent-A-Car in Europe. Their cars are all 60 cycles...which is weird because there's TONS of cycles there.
 
Hertz Van Rental started out as the Netherlands' premier kazoo player - an involuntary reaction to forcing out those high-pitched notes coined the term "brown sound" - before switching to guitar and influencing the young Eddie Van Halen. Eddie might have made his fame and fortune in the USA, but it was Hertz's move to London that resulted in his name becoming Cockney rhyming slang for any extraordinary guitar playing:

"Get a load of that soloing - he's bloomin' Hertz Van Rental, he is!"
"Would you Adam and Eve it?!"
 
In the 70s and 80s, Fender was obsessed with Japanese miniaturization of electronics. Sensing a trend, Fender tried to develop a line of miniature guitars and basses. They were very successful and had fully functioning prototypes of all their guitars and basses.

Unfortunately, they quickly realized that there was very little demand as few players could play the instruments.

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In the 70s and 80s, Fender was obsessed with Japanese miniaturization of electronics. Sensing a trend, Fender tried to develop a line of miniature guitars and basses. They were very successful and had fully functioning prototypes of all their guitars and basses.

Unfortunately, they quickly realized that there was very little demand as few players could play the instruments.

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The weird part is that those are all considered medium scale.
 
It is weird that everyone seems to measure scale as the distance from the nut to the bridge. Any well educated luthier will tell you that scale is the ratio of the headstock area to the body area.

This trend would be bucked by inverse scale basses, released without headstocks and barely any body. Oddly, this would prove popular in the '80's due to, like, a totally temporary lack of proper tonewoods.

It also made Thunderbird players temporarily have an inflated sense of self-worth.
 
Thunderbirds were the first miniaturised basses. To play them successfully required a technique called Supermarionation. A band was formed in its honour but, typically, guitarist and vocalist took Thunderbirds 1 and 2 and everybody remembers Scott and Virgil. Bass got Thunderbird 4 and the solo venture sank without trace.