Instrument that put a song over the top

squeeb
squeeb Posts: 426
edited July 2010 in The Clubhouse
I was listening to Stranglehold by Ted Nugent on the drive home the other night. I thought, without the awesome guitar that songs would be farily lame. It got me thinking - what other songs without a certain part or instrument would not be nearly as good.

Here are a few I thought of right off the top of my head:

In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins - drums
Urgent by Foreigner - saxophone
And of course, Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult - cowbell. :p

Are there others???
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  • zombie boy 2000
    zombie boy 2000 Posts: 6,641
    edited July 2010
    The minikorg in Just What I Needed by The Cars.
    I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore
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  • Jstas
    Jstas Posts: 14,808
    edited July 2010
    Flute in anything from Jethro Tull
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  • squeeb
    squeeb Posts: 426
    edited July 2010
    zombie boy 2000 wrote: »
    The minikorg in Just What I Needed by The Cars.

    Thanks - had to google "minikorg" to find out what the heck it was. Basically, a small organ. Come to think of it, I think I have played one from time to time. :D

    Made me think of another one - a hooter on any of The Hooters songs. Did not really care that much for the sound but LOVED the name.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,733
    edited July 2010
    The cheap-jack (Yamaha) electric organ solo in Steely Dan's first hit, Do It Again.

    The electric sitar part in that song is a close runner up - oh, those boys!

    edit: two other, related runner-ups: the acoustic guitar parts bravely soldiering on against the rock 'n' roll tumult in the Rolling Stones' Satisfaction and the Who's Won't Get Fooled Again.

    Non-starter - the Who's version of Pete Townshend's funny little dirty joke of a song, Squeezebox, on The Who By Numbers, which lacks even a note from a squeezebox of any description... but does feature Pete Townshend bravely soldiering on with a banjo solo :-)
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  • Disc Jockey
    Disc Jockey Posts: 1,013
    edited July 2010
    Lucky Man - ELP - The Moog Synthesizer
    "The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage." Thucydides
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  • jflail2
    jflail2 Posts: 2,868
    edited July 2010
    Within You Without You and Tomorrow Never Knows- Beatles.

    OM- Moody Blues

    Lebanese Blonde- Thievery Corporation

    All 4 are (in my mind) driven by the scitar, which I absolutely love.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,733
    edited July 2010
    I really like this thread topic, by the way!

    Here's another one, the deep drum (not sure what it is and cannot find the credits on-line) on Jennifer Warnes' song Way Down Deep on her album The Hunter. The song's a pretty slight confection, rendered intense by the drum. Whoompf.
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  • ShinAce
    ShinAce Posts: 1,194
    edited July 2010
    Little Brother - The way you do it
    Zither, or sitar, or whatever you want to call it.
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  • Rev. Hayes
    Rev. Hayes Posts: 475
    edited July 2010
    The "electric jug" on any of the Thirteenth Floor Elevator's stuff!!!

    "bllloobbblll, bllloooblll":p

    such a cool sound
    Sounds good to me...
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  • John30_30
    John30_30 Posts: 1,024
    edited July 2010
    Theremin == Beach Boys == Good Vibrations.

    I can't believe no one mentioned that no-brainer y.....wait, what?

    Disc Jockey wrote: »
    Lucky Man - ELP - The Moog Synthesizer

    goofy trivia- my sister's ex, a decent musician/songwriter in his own right bought two of the 1st Moog synthesizers ever used by the Moody Blues off an ad in Rolling Stone. He figured they'd be an easy novelty flip and he'd make a few bucks. Turned out he figured wrong.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,733
    edited July 2010
    ShinAce wrote: »
    Little Brother - The way you do it
    Zither, or sitar, or whatever you want to call it.

    A zither and a sitar are rather different instruments... :-)
    Then again, there's also the autoharp...
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  • zombie boy 2000
    zombie boy 2000 Posts: 6,641
    edited July 2010
    Anytime the surf guitar group Man or Astroman? uses a theremin. That thing can be used to infinitely bad **** results in the right song.
    I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore
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  • fatchowmein
    fatchowmein Posts: 2,637
    edited July 2010
    November Rain by Guns 'N Roses - violins

    Suburbia - Pet Shop Boys - dogs barking
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  • Willow
    Willow Posts: 10,999
    edited July 2010
    sythesizer- anything 80s

    harmonica- Anything Neil Young

    drums- Moby dick
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  • Danny Tse
    Danny Tse Posts: 5,206
    edited July 2010
    The synthesizer solo in Van Halen's "Jump"

    It may sound cheesy now, but it was "da bomb" back then. Love how the electric guitar solo segued into the synth solo.
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  • Jstas
    Jstas Posts: 14,808
    edited July 2010
    zombie boy 2000 wrote: »
    Anytime the surf guitar group Man or Astroman? uses a theremin. That thing can be used to infinitely bad **** results in the right song.

    Beach Boys did it too. "Good Vibrations"

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  • Jstas
    Jstas Posts: 14,808
    edited July 2010
    Danny Tse wrote: »
    The synthesizer solo in Van Halen's "Jump"

    It may sound cheesy now, but it was "da bomb" back then. Love how the electric guitar solo segued into the synth solo.

    I like the "Dreams" keyboard work better

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  • sda2mike
    sda2mike Posts: 3,131
    edited July 2010
    Danny Tse wrote: »
    The synthesizer solo in Van Halen's "Jump"

    It may sound cheesy now, but it was "da bomb" back then. Love how the electric guitar solo segued into the synth solo.

    no...it actually sucked back then...to see a guitar hero playing el-lame-o keyboardlicks marked the end of a really great american rock n roll machine:cool:
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  • squeeb
    squeeb Posts: 426
    edited July 2010
    Danny Tse wrote: »
    The synthesizer solo in Van Halen's "Jump"

    It may sound cheesy now, but it was "da bomb" back then. Love how the electric guitar solo segued into the synth solo.

    Ohh - reminds me of another one. Hot for Teacher by Van Halen - was it the drums or the video??? I think I could have "listened" to that video all day long with the volume off!
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  • Willow
    Willow Posts: 10,999
    edited July 2010
    The cash register in Money! Pink Floyd (tech not an instrument)

    We could also open the field as the human voice is an instrument......
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited July 2010
    Any saxophone riff in any Pink Floyd song. Any drums in Led Zepplin songs.
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  • jeeper_nick
    jeeper_nick Posts: 27
    edited July 2010
    Drums in When the Levee Breaks by Zep - epic
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  • ShinAce
    ShinAce Posts: 1,194
    edited July 2010
    mhardy6647 wrote: »
    A zither and a sitar are rather different instruments... :-)
    Then again, there's also the autoharp...

    I have no idea what it is. It might even be a mandolin.

    If memory serves me right, it was sampled from Tony Rice Unit "A Child is Born".
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  • Danny Tse
    Danny Tse Posts: 5,206
    edited July 2010
    squeeb wrote: »
    Ohh - reminds me of another one. Hot for Teacher by Van Halen - was it the drums or the video??? I think I could have "listened" to that video all day long with the volume off!

    There was music to that clip? ;):D I lost track after "the teacher" started dancing on her desk.
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  • Danny Tse
    Danny Tse Posts: 5,206
    edited July 2010
    Jstas wrote: »
    I like the "Dreams" keyboard work better
    sda2mike wrote: »
    no...it actually sucked back then...to see a guitar hero playing el-lame-o keyboardlicks marked the end of a really great american rock n roll machine:cool:

    I like the song "Dreams", and the whole "5150" album, but looking back....I think the keyboard sound was a little bit too much for a band with a guitar god. But you know what, like any business, you gotta change withe times and keyboards was "in" at that time.
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  • sda2mike
    sda2mike Posts: 3,131
    edited July 2010
    let's see....any rock n roll song....the electric guitar..wow i put some research into that!

    here's anudder: any country song: the pedal steel guitar..
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  • Danny Tse
    Danny Tse Posts: 5,206
    edited July 2010
    The saxophone in Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street", Dire Straits' "Your Latest Trick", and Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)".

    The late Tony Thompson's drums, i.e. Power Station's "Some Like It Hot" and Madonna's "Like A Virgin", amongst many others
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,733
    edited July 2010
    ShinAce wrote: »
    I have no idea what it is. It might even be a mandolin.

    If memory serves me right, it was sampled from Tony Rice Unit "A Child is Born".

    I don't know... but if it were from Tony Rice, I am thinking mandolin.
    A little on the mandolin: http://www.vintagemandolin.com/mandohistory.html

    The zither makes an appearance (although a bit obscured in the mix) in the old Heart song Love Alive.

    The seminal zither-tune is The Third Man Theme, of course :-)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Man_Theme
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  • domflane
    domflane Posts: 653
    edited July 2010
    The drums in Jimi Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary". Mitch Mitchell was a monster . .
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  • Joe08867
    Joe08867 Posts: 3,919
    edited July 2010
    The Drums in Jack n' Diane by John Cougar Mellencamp

    Harmonica in Heart of Gold by Neil Young

    Keyboard in Tom Sawyer by Rush

    Saxophone in Maneater by Hall & Oats

    Man I am going way to far back in the old brain archive.

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