The Shadows – The Guitar Sound Of The Sixties

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Does the sound of sixties guitar music evoke memories of fish, chips and condoms or images of being trapped in an elevator? The Shadows stand out for their exploration of the sound of the electric guitar. By the time The Shadows, Duane Eddy, Dick Dale and The Ventures arrived, the electric guitar had been around for many years, but it was the bands of the sixties that began to experiment with the guitar as a form of electronic music. Except for Dick Dale there were no aspirations towards virtuosity, but the guitar sound of the sixties was marked by a high standard of musicianship.

The Youtubevideo is of The Shadows performing their first megahit, “Apache”. Okay, this clip is a bit blurry but how cool is the bass guitar player? The collar turned up and the cigarette in the machine heads. Bet he didn’t ‘arf pull the birds! (I think he must be Jet Harris).