Worst Use of Synths in Rock

Post Reply New Topic

I don't have a problem with keyboards in rock. It can be used in good ways, like "Tom Sawyer" by Rush, "Baba O'Riley" by The Who, and "Jump" by Van Halen. But occasionally a synthesizer will come along in a rock song and just ruin everything.

Examples include:
"Final Countdown" by Europe (not even a good song by itself, and the synths don't help)
"Rainbow in the Dark" by Dio (badly played, and sounds like it was recorded on a Casio)
"Turbo Lover" by Judas Priest (just...ugh)

Can anybody think of other examples?

"The Final Countdown" is one of my favorite songs in the world ever. (And that's, like, out of a bazillion songs.) Don't diss the Final Countdown.

I would say that a majority of the '80s bands misused or overused the synth. It was new technology. It was a trend. It was the 1980s!

The first off the top of my head is "Runaway" by Bon Jovi. C'mon, it's 1984, and that synth sound is the best you can come up with, and only use rapid chords? Bah. Speaking of that, what a terrible intro to that song. I'm not a big Bon Jovi fan, even though they released a few very well written songs; but that stupid synth tambre? I think they could have done better than that.

Another is "Down with P" by the Rentals (I think that is what they were called); it is the 90s now, and even though I think it is cool to use retro 70's analog (um was there any other kind? lol) synth sounds like they did, the synth leads were TOO LOUD! It got annoying when you can't hear the band under the synth leads; also the leads in that song were played in a sloppy manner. It's too bad, because the song again is musically well written; the lyrics are okay I guess.

Let me think about this for a while; periodically, I shall come up with other ones.

Right. The practice of using synths for rapid chords is pointless, boring, and it gets annoying. I would prefer something more melodic, at the very least. The same pattern of simple synth sounds follows in:

- "Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley
- "I Want A New Drug" by Huey Lewis & The News (and the Ghostbusters soundtrack, which sounds the exact same)
- "Simply Irresistible" by Robert Palmer
- "Cars" by Gary Numan
- "Don't You Want Me" by the Human League
...and any modern trance/techno/electronica song. People don't know how to use synths anymore.

What are you guys' opinions on the synth-based bands, like E.L.O. and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer? What do you think of the world-famous "Axel F"? I would love to share all my favorite songs that I think effectively used the synthesizer. But all this listening to 1980s music suddenly makes me want to start a thread called, "Worst Use of Cowbells in Rock."

It's not a matter of improper use of synthesisers, but a natural progression of musicality spawning from Stockhausen, Ligeti and Carter instead of Carlos, Vangelis and Jarre.

Okay, good uses of synths?

- "Power Windows" by Rush. Easily the peak of their synth period. Listen to "Grand Designs" or "Middletown Dreams" and tell me those aren't good synths.
- "Purple Rain" by Prince. "Beautiful Ones" and "Computer Blue" stand out in my mind.
- The first Black Mages album. Check out "Force Your Way" for the bitchin' organ/guitar duel.

Wait a second. I happen to like "Cars" by Gary Numan. I think his synth sound is somewhat groundbreaking. Yes, what he played was very simple, but it worked. However, I will admit that Kraftwerk's Autobahn, even though they wrote it in 1974 and they were years ahead of their time, can get annoying after a while.

It all depends on what kind of musician is writing the synth track. I don't think very many musicians know how to write music for an instrument they can't play.

U2 has used a synth with pretty good effect. I think the opening of Where the Streets Have No Name is a synth. Hell, isn't Metallica's Orion opened with a synth?

I happen to like Dio's Rainbow in the Dark, but frankly, the synth bit could be played with a guitar and sound just as well, or better.

if "simply having a wonderful christmas time" by paul mccartney counts as "rock", then off the top of my head i would go with that as my worst.

Ah - I have another one. "Push it" by Salt N Pepa. Why of all great sounds available in 1986, did they use that one? It sounds like they used a Casio keyboard (a toy, not the professional ones - Casio did make a few professional ones at that time).

You're refering to the Casio VL-1. A classic.

You are talking about keyboard only?

lol how about synth horn section and tom toms as well?

If you know about Brazilian music there is a offshoot of thier popular music and bossa nova called tropicalismo. It is a mixture of western rock/pop and Brazilian styles. During the mid 80s due to being stifled by a military dictatorship, the Brazilian music industry (which was only just coming back from exile) had quite universal production style shall we say.

I can sort of forgive some of the greats like Caetano Veloso and Milton Nascimento but man they can do so much better.