The Ventures

One Liner:  Original Gangsta guitar Gods - The Band that Launched 1,000 Bands.

Wikipedia Genre:  Guitar and more guitar
Home: Tacoma, WA

Poster Position: 20
Weekend One Only: Saturday.

Thoughts:  Holy hell.  Never would have picked the Hawaii Five-O guys to be added to the ACL lineup.  These guys are instrumental fire - you have absolutely heard some of their songs before, and they've influenced all sorts of bands since the 50's.  I'm just going to crib a few complete paragraphs from Wikipedia, because they explain much better than I could.

"The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band, formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar in the United States and across the world during the 1960s. While their popularity in the United States waned in the 1970s, the group remains especially revered in Japan, where they tour regularly to this day. The classic lineup of the band consisted of Wilson (rhythm guitar), Bogle (initially lead guitar, switched to bass), Nokie Edwards (initially bass, switched to lead guitar), and Mel Taylor (drums).

Their first wide-release single, "Walk, Don't Run", brought international fame to the group, and is often cited as one of the top songs ever recorded for guitar. In the 1960s and early 1970s, 38 of the band's albums charted in the US, ranking them as the 6th best album chart performer during the 1960s, and the band had 14 singles in the Billboard Hot 100. With over 100 million records sold, the Ventures are the best-selling instrumental band of all time.

The Ventures have had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide. The band was among the first to employ and popularize fuzz and flanging guitar effects, concept albums, and twelve-string guitars in rock music. Their instrumental virtuosity, innovation, and unique sound influenced many musicians and bands, earning the group the moniker "The Band that Launched a Thousand Bands". Their recording of "Walk, Don't Run" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its lasting impact, and in 2008 the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."

See what I mean?  Rock and Roll Royalty right here!  We'll start with that big song - "Walk Don't Run."  15.3 million streams.  

That is from 1960.  Sixty-two freaking years ago.  Also, they super aren't really playing that song.  They're guitars aren't even plugged in.  You've heard it everywhere from American Pie to Wayne's World 2, and it probably makes you think of "Misrilou" that you heard in Pulp Fiction.  

The two main guys met when one went to buy a car from another's father's dealership.  They bonded over guitar love.  Sadly, it sounds like the original members are all dead.  So I'm not entirely sure who it is who will take the stage in October, but would be interesting to see I suppose.

They can also get funky, it's not all just surf rock.  "Also Sprach Zarathustra," from their album of movie theme songs called Now Playing, gets into a freaking groove.  They have an entire album of instrumental Carpenters' covers.  Multiple Live in Japan albums.  An album of Jim Croce tunes.  The Theme from Shaft!  And album of classical covers! (and "Peter and the Wolf" is pretty trippy).  "Whole Lotta Love" cover!  Beatles, The Band, The Doors, The Stones, Elvis, CCR, The Monkees, Stevie Wonder, Aretha, and more and more and more.

Here are a few more - I've just let this stuff play for a few days at work.  It's definitely well-done guitar rock over the years.

"Hawaii Five-O"

"Pipeline"

Some legit surf rock royalty stuff right there.

"Wipeout"

"Apache"

Other than the fact that no one from the original band is even alive anymore, and as such how is this even really "The Ventures", I'd absolutely go see them plow through this stuff.  Even if half of the songs are covers (like most of their albums!) I'd go watch.  They were freaking awesome back in the day.