In a previous blog article, titled The Change of Popular Music Between 1963 and 1987, I pointed out the absence of "distorted electric guitar" in the soundtrack of the movie Dirty Dancing, which takes place in 1963. Because that sound is absent, the movie's audience perceives subconsciously that the movie takes place before the so-called British Invasion of music that began in 1964 and that is identified with the Beatles.
Today I came across two YouTube videos that provide relevant details about the development of distorted electronic guitar. In particular, an electronic device called the Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone entered the market in 1962. This new device enabled electric-guitarists to control their instrument's distortion far better.
The introduction of this device is pointed out in the two YouTube videos.
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In the video titled "A Brief History of Electric Guitar Distortion" watch especially from 5:45.
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In the video titled History of Guitar Distortion", watch especially from 6:25.
Although the device went on sale in 1962, its sales and use did not explode until 1965, when The Rolling Stones released the song "I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". The Wikipedia article about that song includes the following passage (emphasis added):
The Rolling Stones first recorded the track on 10 May 1965 at Chess Studios in Chicago, Illinois, which included Brian Jones on harmonica. The Stones lip-synched to a dub of this version the first time they debuted the song on the American music variety television programme Shindig!
The group re-recorded it two days later at RCA Studios in Hollywood, California, with a different beat and the Maestro fuzzbox adding sustain to the sound of the guitar riff. Richards envisioned redoing the track later with a horn section playing the riff: "this was just a little sketch, because, to my mind, the fuzz tone was really there to denote what the horns would be doing." ....
The song's success boosted sales of the Gibson fuzzbox so that the entire available stock sold out by the end of 1965.
In the following years, distorted electric guitar characterized popular rock-and-roll music.
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