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What’s That Sound? 14 Everyday Items (That Ended Up Being Musical Instruments)

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Toward the end of my time as a music major in college, I took an electronic music class. 

We learned to compose music using tape loops, recorded sounds, and old, analog modular synthesizers with the big patch bays.

They were of course, totally great, but were considered very outdated, as it was the mid-80s.  There was even an oscilloscope in the studio. 

One day, I went to the instructor’s office to ask him a question. He cautiously opened the door just enough so that I could get a glimpse inside as we spoke. What I saw was of an assortment of cryptic, odd-shaped bundles on the shelves, wrapped in brown paper. In the very back of the office, a long-haired man I had never seen before was tinkering with some sort of keyboard contraption. I said to my professor, “man, that’s a pretty wild office you have there.”
Looking a bit shifty, he said something to the effect of “you didn’t see any of this”.

I learned later that the guy in the back of the office was named Eugene X. Rator.

He was working on a keyboard that, depending on which key you pressed, would play various household appliances. I never got to hear it played.

But I never forgot it.

The idea of music being made with items that would not normally be considered musical instruments is a fun topic.

Pop and rock music recordings feature many examples of this.

Below is a list of just a few of them. I tried to avoid synthesized sounds, samples, previously existing recordings of sounds, and actual musical instruments. (You’ll likely notice that the tape loop of cash-oriented sounds on “Money” by Pink Floyd is not included. I encountered conflicting information as to where some of the sounds originated as well as what some of them were, so I stayed out of it – but it’s amazing all the same.)

A playlist of all the songs is included at the end. Here we go!


Walkie-talkie:


Planet Claire
The B-52s

At about the 22 second mark of the song, you will begin to hear a rhythmic pattern of beeps and static from a Walkie-Talkie. Played by Fred Schneider, as seen in this video:


Bicycle bell and horn:

You Still Believe in Me
The Beach Boys

Brian Wilson used more than a few unconventional sounds in Beach Boy recordings, and Pet Sounds certainly has its share.

My favorite is the bicycle bell and horn employed on “You Still Believe In Me”, to help give the song a juvenile aura. You can listen to the instrumental track and get a behind-the-scenes feel for the recording process here:


Spade and gravel:

You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)
The Beatles

Lots of nutty things are happening throughout what is basically a 5-part stitched together musical collage – and one of the oddest Beatles tracks out there. 

It starts out somewhat normal, but then suddenly we are in some sort of nightclub and Paul becomes a lounge singer named Denis O’Bell, with calypso-jazz backing. At 2:20, the beat changes yet again, with an old timey piano thing, amid comical voices, bongos and a cuckoo sound. 

And listen carefully to hear road manager Mal Evans rhythmically running a spade through gravel. The song eventually morphs into a jazz shuffle with, among other things, George Harrison playing vibraphone, and the Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones playing alto saxophone. Which only adds to the bizarre fact that any of this even exists.


Fingernails:

9 to 5
Dolly Parton

What sounds like a typewriter on the recording is actually Dolly rhythmically strumming her acrylic nails together. 

She explains here:


Knife/bicycle spokes, bottles being smashed:

I Will Follow
U2

U2 exploded into the universe with this opening track from their debut album.

When I hear it, I literally must follow. If the driving guitar and forceful rhythm of the song along with Bono’s urgent wailing isn’t enough intensity, then how about all that wondrous clanging in the bridge? Like, what is that? 

Glad you asked. It’s Bono smashing bottles, and producer Steve Lilywhite running a knife along the spokes of a spinning bicycle wheel. Genius.


Kazoo sound:

Crosstown Traffic
Jimi Hendrix

To get the effect of buzzing traffic, Jimi doubled the guitar line with what sounds like a kazoo.

But he improvised by using a comb and a piece of cellophane.


Billiard balls:

We Walk
R.E.M.

Producer Mitch Easter recorded drummer Bill Berry playing pool. And then he slowed down the tape so that the billiard balls knocking into each other sound more like eerie, ominous thunder.


Sugar packet:

Sweet Emotion
Aerosmith

Back in 2013, Steven Tyler told Howard Stern that when they were recording “Sweet Emotion”, he couldn’t find the maracas he was supposed to play.

So he found a sugar packet and used that instead.  If you listen to the opening of the song, it fits perfectly, way better than the maracas would have sounded, in my opinion. Tyler also had a great story involving the vibraslap, which I will save for another column.


Tire iron:

Dancing in the Street
Martha and the Vandellas

To beef up the drum track: Co-writer Ivy Jo Hunter reportedly went out to his car, came back with a tire iron and had them record him banging it against the floor on the backbeat.


Microphone stand:

Working in the Coal Mine
Lee Dorsey

According to producer/songwriter Allen Toussaint: The rhythmic sound of a pickaxe at work is, in fact, his brother hitting a microphone stand with a drumstick.


Handheld electronic football game:

The Logical Song
Supertramp

At the 3:21 mark, when Roger Hodgson stutters “d-d-d-d-d-d-d-digital”, the brief, high-pitched trilling sound that follows sounded very familiar to just about any guy around my age. Was that really the Mattel Electronics Football handheld game that we all played incessantly in junior high, making a cameo?  Indeed, it was. 

The game belonged to a producer/engineer who was working in the room next to where the band was recording. It was the perfect effect for that moment and fit right in with the discordant and unhinged overtones of the song’s outro. 


Beer bottles:

Costume Party
Jack Johnson

The singer blew into beer bottles at various stages of consumption, generating different tones, in an attempt to mimic part of the bassline to “Dazed and Confused”.  It shouldn’t have worked in the context of the song, but it kind of does.


Junk from a junkyard:

Breaking the Girl
Red Hot Chili Peppers

Drummer Chad Smith said this about the percussion-heavy instrumental bridge of the song:

“We sent out the runner guy from the house to go to the dump yard and bring back big metallic pipes and stuff. We sat on the ground in the foyer and Flea had this big pipe and was beating it, and I’m playing [car wheel] brake drums and Anthony was playing a garbage can or something.”

Then we all kind of switched and double-tracked it and Brendan [O’Brien, engineer] put a mic out there and would say, ‘OK, now you sit closer, you sit farther’… and it was done in half an hour.”  (from musicradar.com, 4/1/22)

In a related story, this song slaps.


Spoons, pots and pans:

Spoonman
Soundgarden

I almost neglected to include this song, until I woke up in the middle of the night and suddenly remembered it. 

I said to myself, “it shan’t be left off the list!” (Apparently this is how I talk now when I’m half-asleep.)

The inspiration for the song, street performer Artis the Spoonman, makes an appearance on the recording, playing his spoons, and drummer Matt Cameron adds pots and pans to the beat. 

Here is a playlist of all the songs:


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rollerboogie

Music is what brought me here, but I do have other interests. I like ill-advised, low budget movies that shouldn't even be close to good, but are great, and cats too.

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Phylum of Alexandria
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October 30, 2023 7:13 am

Ah, I love when artists opt from some unconventional instruments. Aside from beer bottle again in Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” redo, a few more off the top of my head are:

Jackhammer (and many other objects) by Einsturzende Neubauten in “Steh auf Berlin” and a few others. Maybe the jackhammer one wouldn’t suit your playlist too well, but they made more accessible music in the 90s that probably still had some unconventional instruments in there.

Pig carcass by Scott Walker in “Clara.” To get the sound of Mussolini’s corpse being pummeled, Scott incorporated the sound of a hanging pig carcass getting punched. Unsettling stuff, but damn memorable.

Maybe Eugene X Rator would have appreciated “Plinko” by Bora Yoon, which was made with a cell phone ring:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z30LdH9epKI

Also, I can’t be sure, but perhaps Eugene was inspired by one of the people I cover in my next piece. Certainly sounds like a kindred spirit.

Phylum of Alexandria
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October 30, 2023 8:14 am
Reply to  rollerboogie

I appreciate your own commitment to the suggestions!

Einsturzende Neubauten’s first album is commendable for the purity of its radical vision, but it doesnt’ do justice to the band’s flair for mood and drama beyond primal shrieks. As early as their second album they were adding more intricate arrangements and delicate tension to their sonic assault. Their third album Halber Mensch, commonly regarded as their masterpiece, has a cinematic feel to it.

And here is an example of their gentler later work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCpxP1vnl3U

Last edited 11 months ago by Phylum of Alexandria
Virgindog
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October 30, 2023 8:54 am

Great topic! I’m sure I’ll come up with more examples as the day goes on, but the one that jumped to mind first was “My Spine” by Bjork. It’s just her voice and deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie playing exhaust pipes. It’s a very cool sound.

https://youtu.be/_qMfQlVDGu0

ISurvivedPop
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ISurvivedPop
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October 30, 2023 9:06 am

Kind of shocked that you didn’t mention anything from the album “Barbra Streisand (And Other Musical Instruments)”
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mIpQ1gy3EzzQTbE0Po2yDgqAwGjIDl4U8

ISurvivedPop
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ISurvivedPop
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October 30, 2023 9:31 am
Reply to  rollerboogie

Learned about it from a British magazine a while back, NME or Mojo or something. They called it one of the weirdest pop albums ever made because it used almost anything in the studio as an instrument on some track or other.

ISurvivedPop
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October 30, 2023 9:14 am

This is more classical-ish than pop, but I have to also post Judy Dunaway’s album “Balloon Music”:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kIpHHU0ojuux0Y10yexHgb1aTAv_qi0J0

Phylum of Alexandria
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October 30, 2023 9:21 am
Reply to  ISurvivedPop

Some of that balloon music being generated via vibrators…

ISurvivedPop
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ISurvivedPop
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October 30, 2023 10:53 am

If you’re interested in actual music being played on vibrators, indie rock group Xiu Xiu appears to have done a full album banging on them:
https://xiuxiu69.bandcamp.com/album/kling-klang

Also there seems to be a Pornhub-commissioned song which uses common musical instruments but they’re all played USING vibrators:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvFi5pWbE1E

Phylum of Alexandria
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October 30, 2023 12:33 pm
Reply to  ISurvivedPop

I love Xiu Xiu. I had admittedly forgotten about the Kling Klang project, so thanks for reminding me.

I believe Reeves Gabrels also used vibrators for some of his guitar effects, including on Tin Machine II.

Last edited 11 months ago by Phylum of Alexandria
cstolliver
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October 30, 2023 4:23 pm
Reply to  rollerboogie

Probably a good move, if you’re posting from work. 😉

Zeusaphone
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October 30, 2023 10:09 am

This one has a car (a Volkswagon Golf)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sFK0-lcjGU

blu_cheez
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October 30, 2023 8:34 pm
Reply to  Zeusaphone

I always thought those sounds were a combination of a car and a chainsaw – I was wrong.

Virgindog
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October 30, 2023 10:03 pm
Reply to  blu_cheez

That reminds me, Jackyl had that song with the chainsaw solo.

JJ Live At Leeds
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October 30, 2023 10:39 am

Great subject!

Nice to see Mal Evans getting a shout out. Links to watching the Get Back series and Paul working on Maxwell’s Silver Hammer and deciding that what he needs is an anvil. Mal is despatched to obtain one and despite being in central London where I don’t imagine they were in abundance comes back with one and finds himself playing it.

Then there’s Paul himself featuring on Super Furry Animals track: Receptacle For The Respectable playing (or rather chewing) carrot and celery.

A couple of personal favourites;

Madness: Driving In My Car. Starts With a revving engine, then features car horns, breaking glass and a dog barking.

https://youtu.be/rV1_7R_3cXA?feature=shared

The Coathangers; Squeeki Tiki prominently featuring what appears to be a squeaky dog toy.

https://youtu.be/i-c_Ay0oMZk?feature=shared

Virgindog
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October 30, 2023 12:51 pm

This came to mind, too. In the 80s, a 10 or 11 year old put out music as Human Skab using guitar, piano, bottles, a toy gun, and whatever else he had. I think he used a shopping cart in a song or two. Most of his songs were about nuclear war, something we were all worried about at the time.

By sheer coincidence, one of his friends who was somehow involved in the project ended up teaching music at my son’s college.

I can’t say you need to listen to all eight and a half minutes of this. You’ll get the idea soon enough.

https://youtu.be/uiDijbXNYyA

Phylum of Alexandria
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October 30, 2023 2:12 pm
Reply to  Virgindog

And somehow it’s not too far from Pere Ubu…

Virgindog
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October 30, 2023 3:07 pm

This doesn’t really count. It’s just me tooting my own horn and clanging my own thwacks. For this project a couple decades ago, the lovely Ms. Virgindog and I went to Home Depot and started banging things together. Whatever sounded good went into our cart and ended up on this Beatles cover.

https://youtu.be/CWnVGnf_0IU

I’d do it completely different today but, eh, no regrets.

Virgindog
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October 30, 2023 4:02 pm

Ack! How could we forget “Bridge Over Trouble Waters?” Hal Blaine used his tire chains to help get those huge bangs.

https://www.billboard.com/pro/hal-blaine-every-no-1-hit-wrecking-crew-drummer/

stobgopper
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October 30, 2023 6:35 pm

Speaking of the Fab Four, we could go on for a few with them. A personal fave: the whizzy air sound made by blowing through comb and paper.

blu_cheez
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October 30, 2023 8:32 pm

Super fun article – can’t believe you left out the bullhorn, though – sound of the 90s!!

Seems like Basil Poledouris would not had a career without a hammer & anvil present (see: the Conan & Robocop soundtracks).

Also: the super “synth-y” slap in Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” was a leather belt being snapped.

ThinkMusicPhilly
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October 30, 2023 9:20 pm

Skeleton Key always used a bunch of “junk” percussion.

https://youtu.be/hGLgPOSCi48?si=e6KPK1N8RmuLUkjh

Also, the first to come to mind for me was Six Drummers who did some one-off videos and the movie Sound Of Noise.

https://youtu.be/d6ubqBBBiYY?si=3aFGTSaMX8tcezDB

https://youtu.be/sVPVbc8LgP4?si=IwVTYCp50eMhSpda

Phylum of Alexandria
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October 31, 2023 7:35 am

I think I saw these guys in Philly opening for Fugazi. I like them more now than I did as a high school kid.

Zeusaphone
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October 31, 2023 8:25 am

Here’s someone playing a saw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmft674XPC0

spacecitymarc
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October 31, 2023 9:44 am

Back in my heedless multitracked youth, I recorded an epic mashup of Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen” and Todd Rundgren’s “Slut” and needed a cowbell for the intro. I don’t have a cowbell. Turns out a drumstick on the lip of a pot does the trick just fine.

Virgindog
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October 31, 2023 10:43 am
Reply to  spacecitymarc

I’d like to hear that.

LinkCrawford
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October 31, 2023 11:26 am

This made me think of “The Blacksmith Blues” by Ella Mae Morse, a #3 hit in 1952, and one of Nelson Riddle’s early arrangement hits. The song has what sounds like a hammer on iron, but it’s actually a triangle striker hitting a glass ashtray. Apparently they broke a few ashtrays recording the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr6Djj7MtMQ

spacecitymarc
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October 31, 2023 1:26 pm
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Eric-J
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October 31, 2023 3:19 pm

Shocked to find no one has included “Mr. Blue Sky” by ELO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQUlA8Hcv4s

The bright clangs were made by hitting a fire extinguisher with a drumstick.

cappiethedog
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October 31, 2023 10:06 pm

The kid who likes to blow stuff up in Super 8 has a hand-held electronic football game. Top-notch period detail. I owned a Space Invaders game that barely resembled Space Invaders. Two rows of four random shapes. And a spaceship you could hit with your eyes closed. Entel’s version of baseball was a lot of fun. Seven-game series with your buddy, and wager, either loose change or Wacky Packages. We also played the board game Risk. In retrospect, what the hell kind of children’s game was that?

Aaron3000
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November 1, 2023 4:51 pm

What happens when a couple of studio employees get bored one night and record an album’s worth of Christmas songs using nothing but office supplies?

https://youtu.be/RmlI7ejjYLk?si=mQwNt5bWbwoPmhHv

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