Gibson’s 10 Great Rock Instrumentals
nicely illustrates at least one reason why instrumentals tend not to be as
popular as songs: there are no words to sing along to, so that melody had
better be extremely catchy.
Here’s the list:
Beck Bolero
– Beck, Page et al
Black Mountain Side – Led Zeppelin
Jessica –
Allman Brothers
Sparks –
The Who
Rebel Rouser
– Duanne Eddy
Frankenstein
– Edgar Winter Group
Walk Don’t Run – The Ventures
Maggot Brain
– Funkadelic
Mood for a Day – Steve Howe
Eruption –
Van Halen
Make that two reasons: you can’t dance to a lot of this stuff. I mean, Mood
for a Day is an impressive display of virtuosity, but does it get your toes
tapping?
Maybe there are three
reasons. There’s a line somewhere that
divides “appreciation” and “participation.
You listen to and appreciate a Brahms symphony or
well-done bit of prog rock. You sing
along to a good folk song. Pop/soul/rock
‘n’ roll? You get up and dance while you’re
singing. While you might appreciate all the pieces on this list,
you’re only going to participate in a
couple of ‘em.
