What is a rock Roll band that doesn use typical instruments?
King Crimson, particularly the 1979-83 edition which relied heavily on the Chapman Stick for bass and some melody parts (Elephant Talk) and Roland GR-300 and GR-700 guitar synthesizers (no keyboards) as well as the early Simmons electric drum sets. Tony Levin was probably the first person to popularize the Chapman stick in rock music starting as a sideman with Peter Gabriel in the late 70’s on songs like “Shock the Monkey”. If you want to go even further back you can’t beat the Beach Boys “Good Vibrations” which was way ahead of its time in featuring a Theramin and Viola prominently. The Beatle’s “Here Comes the Sun” was the first single to chart using an electronic synthesizer (a large Moog modular). Jethro Tull of course introduced the Flute as an unlikely lead instrument in a heavy rock & roll setting. UK did the same thing from 1979-83 for the violin. Dream Theater is currently using a fascinating little device called the Hakken Continuum to trigger synthesizer modules.
