Petition to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Attachment 5 - The Ventures: A History in Music
A Guide to the Demo Audio Cassette
This Attachment briefly describes the selection of songs by The
Ventures included on the enclosed single-copy audio cassette, which I
compiled to familiarize the members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Foundation with the musical heritage of The Ventures. I believe
that the songs I have selected give a concise (2-hour) overview of The
Ventures' almost 40-year career as the all-time most important and
influential instrumental rock and roll band in the world.
Side A
- The '60s -
The Hit Years: In 1960, The Ventures recorded "Walk, Don't
Run," which soon became their first hit single and the trademark song
by which they are best known. It established forever the format, the
style, and the sound that would define The Ventures -- driving
guitars with an strong underlying drum beat. Other hit singles followed
throughout the decade of the 1960s, including "Perfidia," "Lullaby
of the Leaves," "Slaughter on 10th Avenue," "Diamond Head," "Walk,
Don't Run '64," and "Hawaii Five-0." All 14 of The Ventures'
top hit singles are included on Side A of the demonstration cassette.
However, The Ventures' real success was in the album charts,
where they placed a remarkable 37 albums during the period 1960 to
1972. In fact, they rank 6th among all 1960s recording artists on
the album charts, behind the likes of The Beatles, Frank Sinatra,
Elvis Presley, Ray Conniff, and Ray Charles.
- The '70s -
Versatility Unleashed: By the mid-1960s, The Ventures had
already made several concert tours to Japan and were beginning to
grow in popularity in that country. At that time, they started to
compose songs and record albums specifically for the Japanese market.
Some of their Japanese "pop" compositions like "Kyoto Doll" and "Reflections
in a Palace Lake" became #1 hits in Japan and eventually led to The
Ventures being ranked among the top 10 composers in Japan (the
first non-Japanese ever to achieve that distinction). During the late-1960s
and the 1970s, The Ventures also began to expand their musical
versatility by recording albums for the U.S. market that featured
different genres of rock music and even non-rock music. Among these
were hard rock songs like "Underground Fire" (an original Ventures
composition) and "Light My Fire," classical compositions like "Bach's
Prelude," R&B-inspired early rock classics like "Honky Tonk" and "Guitar
Boogie Shuffle," Latin classics like "Andalucia," the Rolling Stones'
hit "Paint It Black," and folk-rock songs like Jim Croce's "Time in
a Bottle."
Side B
- The '80s -
Decade of Transition: By the late-1970s, the "rock" music scene
in the U.S. was starting to turn to "disco." The Ventures tried
to follow that trend, with "disco" versions of well-known songs like
Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" and the theme from the popular
film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." But, the popular music
scene in the U.S. was moving away from the guitar-laden musical style
of The Ventures, and their popularity in the U.S. slowly declined
as the country embraced the repetitive "dance all night" beat of "disco."
Therefore, for The Ventures, the 1980s was a period of transition,
as they experimented with forming their own Tridex recording label,
recording several well-known songs like "Runaway" and the theme from
the film "Goldfinger" in a ska/reggae style, and eventually settling
in to a mellow rock style with songs like "Comin' Home" and "Showdown
at Newport."
- The '90s -
Wild Again: Through the early-1990s, The Ventures continued
to record many albums strictly for the Japanese market. Those albums
contained mainly soft ballads, including "Kimi Ga Irudakede," "The
Sun Also Rises," and "Kiss Me." Then in 1996, The Ventures
returned full force to their "rock and roll" roots with the album
"Wild Again," which featured the driving guitars and pounding
drums that are their trademark sound. "Wild Again," which was
originally released only in Japan and enjoyed a 1997 U.S. release
by GNP Crescendo records, features such heart-pounding tracks as "Baja,"
"Wham," and an unbelievable Venturized version of "Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony." The "Wild Again" album received widespread
critical acclaim and was followed up with "Wild Again II" (which
is also scheduled for a U.S. release by GNP Crescendo Records later
in 1998). This album features strong surf-inspired songs like "Hurricane,"
"Blue Dawn," and "Spanish Armada." The final track on the demo tape
is "Surf on Guitar," a medley of some of The Ventures' most
popular hits.
After listening to this demo tape, I think that even the most jaded member
of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation would have to agree that,
like fine wine, The Ventures seem to just get better and better
with age and are ready to "Walk, Don't Run" into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame!
Source: Based on an audio cassette compiled by Arnold van Beverhoudt, Jr.
as a single-copy demo tape for the sole purpose of supporting the petition
for the induction of The Ventures into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame. No duplication or distribution of this tape is permitted without
the express permission of The Ventures.
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