Rock and roll is one of the most popular music genres globally, with the electric guitar being the genre’s primary instrument. However, the tone of an amplified guitar is not just a louder version of an acoustic instrument. Instead, it’s an entirely different sound altogether.
Distortion is a distinct characteristic of rock guitars. Although players initially used loud amplifiers, guitar pedals became worthy substitutes. Here are four legendary moments in distortion pedal history.
Keith Richards Introduced the Fuzz Pedal to the World
To give a brief introduction to guitar pedals, we must discuss the three types of gain increases. They are overdrive, distortion, and fuzz. Fuzz is the roughest and wildest tone of the three, and its most famous example appears on “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones.
On this recording, Keith Richards used a Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone pedal for the song’s signature hook, which was groundbreaking at the time. After this song’s release, the use of distortion and guitar pedals overall became more popular for adding tonal variety to the sound of the electric guitar.
Jimi Hendrix Heralded the Era of Psychedelia
No one changed the sound of electric guitar more than Jimi Hendrix. His audio experiments completely changed the way that rock guitarists viewed their instruments. Throughout his career, he tried to use cutting-edge studio technology to explore the sonic capabilities of recorded music.
Consequently, he worked with skilled technicians, such as Eddie Kramer and Roger Mayer, on his albums. For “Purple Haze,” Roger built Jimi a pedal called the Octavia. This pedal duplicated the guitar signal and simultaneously sent it out an octave higher combined with the original pitch. Additionally, it added a distorted fuzz to the sound.
Stevie Ray Vaughn Popularized the Tube Screamer
Before “Let’s Dance,” Stevie Ray Vaughn was a relatively obscure blues musician from Texas. However, at the Montreux Jazz Festival, David Bowie felt astounded by Stevie’s playing and asked him to perform on some of his upcoming recordings.
Nile Rodgers plays the song’s iconic rhythm guitar track, but Stevie blows through the mix with his biting solo, using the Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer. This overdrive pedal is one of the most popular in its field, and Stevie remains one of the pedal’s most famous users.
Kurt Cobain Changed the Dynamics of Popular Music
Upon its release, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” made an impression that few songs ever achieved. It ushered in a new era of rock music in the early 1990s. But more importantly, it changed the dynamics of popular music composition overnight.
Using the soft verse, loud chorus volume dynamics that the Pixies pioneered, one press of Kurt’s distortion pedal caught the ears of the entire music world. This song’s influence on other popular songs of the time is unmistakable, and you can hear soft-loud dynamics in various eclectic genres to this day.
The power of the distortion pedal is simple yet profound. These four legendary moments in distortion pedal history shaped the world of rock music, and consequently, pop culture as a whole.
