DJ Jim Q's Playlist: INNOVATION

Welcome listeners to the final playlist of the year. This month’s theme is Innovation, brought to us by our friends from the Isfahan chapter of CreativeMornings. Creativity and innovation are so intertwined they are almost synonyms. Although in contemporary culture the term innovation is often associated with technology and invention, the original meaning was to renew or restore. So rather than inventing from scratch, innovation is more about breathing new life into the familiar.

Art, and music in particular, is driven by innovation. In music, new or novel discoveries are often uncovered through accident or intentional misuse. Music lore is filled with stories of artists discovering new sounds or techniques through happy accidents or bold experimentation.

In 1951, while recording Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats “Rocket 88”, producer Sam Phillips discovered that the speaker cone of the guitar amp had been damaged during transport. The torn cone created a buzzing fuzz sound that Phillips liked, and they recorded the guitar through the damaged speaker, making it one of the earliest examples of distorted guitar on a recording. Inspired by this, Ray Davies of The Kinks famously slashed the speaker cone of his guitar amp to achieve the distorted guitar sound for “You Really Got Me.”

There is the famous example of John Lennon, who, while in the studio recording Revolver, accidentally loaded the tape reel into the player backwards, resulting in the song “Rain” being played in reverse. Lennon liked the sound of his voice played backwards and included it on the recording, making it one of the earliest examples of intentional technique called backmasking which would go on to be used on countless recordings.

Then there is the story of the production of the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive.” As the story goes, the drummer had to unexpectedly leave the sessions when he learned that his mother had passed away. The remaining bandmates first tried a drum machine but didn’t like the results. So the producers took a two-bar segment of a previously recorded drum track from their song “Night Fever.” They spliced the tape into a loop and used it as the foundation for the band’s biggest hit. The band listed the drummer on the track as “Bernard Lupe,” a joke name based on the famous studio drummer Bernard Purdie. Apparently Bernard Lupe became a sought-after drummer after the track’s release, much to the amusement of the Gibb brothers.

Fast forward to the late 70s. Grand Wizard Theodore was practicing his DJ set, apparently a little too loudly for his mother. She burst into his room to reprimand him, and as she stood in the doorway, scolding him, he placed his hand on the spinning vinyl to stop the sound so he could hear her. As he held the record, he slowly rocked it back and forth on the platter, creating a subtle rhythmic sound. Recognizing the potential, Theodore refined the technique and incorporated it into his DJ sets as a rhythmic enhancement. That was the invention of scratching and turntablism.

It was another studio mistake that defined the drum sound of the 80s. While recording what would become the opening track of Peter Gabriel’s third album, “Intruder,” something surprising happened. Gabriel had asked his former Genesis bandmate Phil Collins to play a simple drum part without using cymbals, and as the drummer experimented with the sparse beat, the tape was rolling. In the control room, recording engineer Hugh Padgham had a microphone open that was normally meant only for communicating back and forth with the musicians between the control room and the recording booth. This mic had heavy compression, which squashed loud sounds and boosted quiet ones, and it had a gate that abruptly cut off the natural decay of sounds, so it was never meant to record music. But Padgham accidentally left it on. When that mic picked up Phil’s drumming along with the regular drum mics, it created a huge, powerful drum sound with a quick, dramatic cutoff. The combination of extreme compression and the abrupt cutoff of the room’s reverb gave the drums an epic punch, creating a sound no one had ever heard on a record before. That accidental discovery ended up on the recording of “Intruder” and later became the famous gated reverb drum sound of the 1980s, most recognizable on Phil Collins’ own “In the Air Tonight.”

Later that decade, the Japanese electronic instrument manufacturer Roland launched the TB-303, a synthesizer intended to replicate the sound of a bass guitar to accompany guitarists or pianists. One problem though: the notoriously difficult-to-program synth sounded nothing like a bass guitar, and for that reason, among others, it was a commercial failure. However, DJs and house producers in Chicago, like DJ Pierre of the group Phuture, soon discovered the odd little instrument, likely in the bargain bin. With no expectations, the curious producer found an otherworldly sound by tweaking the instrument’s knobs in real time and emphasizing harsh, resonant tones. By using the instrument differently than intended, the iconic squelchy tones of acid were revealed, and acid house was born. The track “Acid Tracks” in 1987 is considered one of the first examples, but that signature TB-303 sound can be heard in tracks as recent as Charli XCX’s “365.” Its sound is uniquely its own and still nothing like a bass guitar.

I guess the lesson here is, don’t follow the rules. Innovation is found just beyond what is allowed, expected, or recommended. Misuse, abuse, and disregard for tradition can inspire something new. The best creative endeavors are rebellious. Reinvention is meant to be messy. Innovation is often just one mistake away.

The theme this month is Innovation, and for your listening pleasure, I’ve hand-selected these 30-plus songs of change, evolution, and renewal in the hope they might inspire ingenuity and inventiveness. Queue it up and let’s get creative.

Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats bring us a braggadocious celebration of 1950s automobile technology in “Rocket 88.” For those more interested in personal innovation, Winter McQuinn’s “Working on Me” gives us a little encouragement. “Gates of Steel” by Devo, also my favorite Devo song, suggests a break from limitations and oppression. And any innovation playlist is bound to include a track from the futuristic French duo Daft Punk, so I selected “Technologic” for this mix. Finally, the playlist wraps with Melody’s Echo Chamber singing a dreamy song about dreamers with “In the Stars.”

Thanks for listening. If you enjoy these playlists, please follow me on Spotify and give a shout on Bluesky.