Edwin starr instrumental series#

Bob Crewe first heard the song as a jingle being demoed for a Diet Pepsi commercial, decided to cover it, and it became a hit.

Edwin starr instrumental series#

Whenever I hear this song I automatically think of Don Draper and Roger Sterling of Mad Men. Even though the song has never been used on the series (to the best of my memory) it would have been perfect to include on the soundtrack. There's a reason for that it would be pretty hard to beat the Brass.ĥ) 'Music to Watch Girls By,' The Bob Crewe Generation (1967) With its lyrics, the song has seen coverage by everyone from the Beatles to Chet Baker, but not too many groups attempt an instrumental version. Four of those Grammys can be attributed to 'A Taste of Honey' which appeared on an album with infamously risqué cover art, Whipped Cream & Other Delights. I'm not the least bit ashamed to admit that I absolutely love Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.why should I be? Yes, their music was considered a little cheesy and often used on The Dating Game, but they were an enormously successful group, as evident by their six Grammys, fifteen gold records and fourteen platinum disks. The above clip is from the 1963 film A Swinging Affair-and doesn't the blonde look like she's having fun?Ĥ) 'A Taste of Honey,' Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass (1965) But ultimately, we must thank Dick Dale & The Del Tones for taking a 1920s' song with Greek/Middle Eastern roots and making it an anthem of the 1960s' American surfing scene. Oh, and for reintroducing 'Miserlou' to the public's ears via the soundtrack of 1994's Pulp Fiction. We can thank Quentin Tarantino for a lot of things.for example, Christoph Waltz, Christoph Waltz, and Christoph Waltz. Let's face it-they don't make 'em like this anymore.ģ) 'Miserlou,' Dick Dale & The Del-Tones (1962) It's impossible for me to ignore my inner go-go girl when this song gets going.

And as a cat aficionado, I love the bit of trivia revealed by the group's guitarist Steve Cropper that the song and title were inspired by the funky feline strut of a cool cat named Green Onions. It's a no-brainer that any list of great instrumentals is going to include Booker T & the MGs' classic, 'Green Onions.' As I noted on REBEAT, the song isn't even my favorite by this group (that would be 'Time Is Tight') but I don't think there's any other rock instrumental that is more quintessential 1960s with its hypnotic Hammond organ and bass riffs. Jazz guitarist Johnny Smith composed the song in 1954 with chords based on 'Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise.' For the Ventures, it was their first single and the song that catapulted them into notoriety in 1960.Ģ) 'Green Onions,' Booker T & the MGs (1962) 'Wipeout', which is an actually easy riff after you've been playing for a while. Both have equal musical merit and contributed to the surf rock legacy but ultimately, 'Walk Don't Run' has the edge because it's more difficult to play on the guitar vs. It was tough to choose between 'Wipeout' and 'Walk Don't Run' for this list. Although certainly not the only instrumentals from the decade, some of them proved that often a song can be a greater hit when the vocals are sweetly absent.

I have a soft spot for instrumentals and perhaps no other decade spawned as many, and with such musical variety, as the 1960s. When was the last time an instrumental song became a hit? It seems like no one is writing or playing them these days, and that's a shame.