Keyboards are critical to hard rock music, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Gillan, Uriah Heep and UFO just to name a few. As a rule metal bands don’t have them or a very small amount of them. To me keyboards give a band much more variety in music. I’m a big fan of keyboards in hard rock.
It really depends on the band and the keyboard gear their playing with. Some bands used the “modern” (for the time) Yamaha models which sounded very cheap and cheesy. I used to love the sound of Gregg Rolie’s Hammond B-3 organ when he was in Journey. My favorite band Thin Lizzy, added a keyboard player on their last few records. The recordings were fine but the keys were turned up way too high in the mix during concerts. Guitars should always be the focal point of all hard rock guitar-driven bands
The organ/keyboard is one the main reasons why I could never really get into The Doors. I just find that most of the time it cheapens and weakens any song, sometimes to an almost comedic level, which clearly is not its intended purpose.
Jeff used the word cheesy, and I think that, to me, that is a really great description to the sound. Dated would be another one.
“Cheesy” describes Europe’s use of the keyboards on the song “The Final Countdown”. God, I hate that song cuz of the keyboards.
“Awesome” describes Blizzard Ozz’ use of keyboards on the song “Mr. Crowley”. God, I love that song cuz of the keyboards.
Rattle,
Fair enough, I do suppose the cheese is less in some instances, but to me, it’s still cheese. 🙂
I would say it has it’s place. I do enjoy RUSH, VH, Ozzy and Iron Maiden’s limited usage of the instrument. John Lord was a God on keys and it’s well placed in Deep Purple. There are times when its era defining like in Journey or Styx songs. Not my cup o’ tea when they do it. Even Yngwie’s key player I find off putting. Dream Theater is a mix of good and almost tolerable.
Then again I play drums and it’s another percussive instrument…”too many notes.”
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Keyboards are critical to hard rock music, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Gillan, Uriah Heep and UFO just to name a few. As a rule metal bands don’t have them or a very small amount of them. To me keyboards give a band much more variety in music. I’m a big fan of keyboards in hard rock.
It really depends on the band and the keyboard gear their playing with. Some bands used the “modern” (for the time) Yamaha models which sounded very cheap and cheesy. I used to love the sound of Gregg Rolie’s Hammond B-3 organ when he was in Journey. My favorite band Thin Lizzy, added a keyboard player on their last few records. The recordings were fine but the keys were turned up way too high in the mix during concerts. Guitars should always be the focal point of all hard rock guitar-driven bands
The organ/keyboard is one the main reasons why I could never really get into The Doors. I just find that most of the time it cheapens and weakens any song, sometimes to an almost comedic level, which clearly is not its intended purpose.
Jeff used the word cheesy, and I think that, to me, that is a really great description to the sound. Dated would be another one.
“Cheesy” describes Europe’s use of the keyboards on the song “The Final Countdown”. God, I hate that song cuz of the keyboards.
“Awesome” describes Blizzard Ozz’ use of keyboards on the song “Mr. Crowley”. God, I love that song cuz of the keyboards.
Rattle,
Fair enough, I do suppose the cheese is less in some instances, but to me, it’s still cheese. 🙂
I would say it has it’s place. I do enjoy RUSH, VH, Ozzy and Iron Maiden’s limited usage of the instrument. John Lord was a God on keys and it’s well placed in Deep Purple. There are times when its era defining like in Journey or Styx songs. Not my cup o’ tea when they do it. Even Yngwie’s key player I find off putting. Dream Theater is a mix of good and almost tolerable.
Then again I play drums and it’s another percussive instrument…”too many notes.”
No keys, more GUITAR!
Without keys there never would’ve been “Frankenstein,” which is 1 of the greatest instrumentals of all time!