The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington. Founded by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, the group in its various incarnations has had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide. With over 100 million records sold, the group is the best-selling instrumental band of all time. In 2008, the Ventures were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Their instrumental virtuosity, experimentation with guitar effects, and unique sound laid the groundwork for innumerable groups, earning them the moniker “The Band that Launched a Thousand Bands”. (More from Wikipedia)
Instrumental rock music is common in the surf world, but there were instrumental rock bands that predated the surf craze. One is the past UARB the Piltdown Men. But the most popular instrumental rock band of all time is unquestionably the Ventures. Still, surf rock and rock instrumentals are indelibly linked these days. The website Rate Your Music shows a list of the Top 50 Surf Rock Instrumentals as rated by visitors to their site; they include 4 tracks by the Ventures and 7 by the British band the Shadows.
Two guitarists from Tacoma, Washington, Bob Bogle and Don Wilson formed a duo in 1958 called the Versatones, later named the Impacts; they began playing dates with a variety of rhythm sections. Since both band names had already been registered, they changed their name to the Ventures. After being rejected by a Liberty Records subsidiary called Dolton Records, the two formed their own label, Blue Horizon Records and released a single, “Cookies and Coke”, with Don Wilson on vocals. Later they added Nokie Edwards (bass guitar) and Skip Moore (drums) and became an instrumental rock band.
The band heard a track called “Walk, Don’t Run” on an album by country guitar virtuoso Chet Atkins called Hi-Fi in Focus and decided that it would make a great single for the group. The Ventures released “Walk, Don’t Run” on their Blue Horizon label in 1960; it rose to #2 on the charts, behind only “It’s Now or Never” by Elvis Presley. With Howie Johnson as the group’s new drummer, the band put together their excellent first album, also called Walk, Don’t Run. When Mel Taylor joined the Ventures on drums in 1962, Nokie Edwards became the lead guitarist, with Bob Bogle moving to bass guitar.
John Bush in Allmusic notes: “The Ventures put their indelible stamp on each style of ’60s music they covered, and they covered many – twist, country, pop, spy music, psychedelic, swamp, garage, TV themes.” The Ventures hit again in 1969 with the well-known theme “Hawaii Five-O” for the television show Hawaii Five-O. Allmusic lists an astounding 39 Ventures albums that were released between their albums Walk, Don’t Run and Hawaii Five-O.
Although the Ventures dropped off the US charts after “Hawaii Five-O”, they retained their popularity elsewhere, particularly in Japan where they are touring to this day. In all, 17 of the Ventures’ albums made the Top 40, with total sales of more than 100 million.
(December 2014)
