Why did the organ player disappear from the rock band at the end of the 60's?
Asked by
rojo (
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July 7th, 2017
Seems like every band had an organ/synthesizer in the 60’s but toward the end of the era the organist/piano player fell by the wayside and by the mid 70’s was a thing of the past in most bands.
Was it an integral part of the psychedelic sound and disappeared as rock music went in search of new and different sounds and styles?
About the same time it seemed that the size of bands began to shrink and four was, by default or by design, chosen as the optimum number of members needed. Was it and economic choice or stylistic choice that went along with this reduction in band members?
I realize that none of this is a universal truth and that there were bigger bands, smaller bands, bands with synthesizers and organs and even trumpets (although that ain’t what we call rock and roll) but for the vast majority of bands rock became synonymous with a drum set, base guitar, lead guitar and rhythm guitar with one or more also taking up singing duties.
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3 Answers
The best bands did not have an electric organ player. Beatles didn’t! Rolling Stones only occasionally. Bob Dylan only when he went electric at Newport..
But styles change. Remember in the 50s a rock and roll band had to have a sax player, but by the British Invasion, most lost the sax.. Now, bands with a sax are few other than the E Street Band and Steely Dan.
Well I don’t know about organs, but early on synthesizers were huge, could be very delicate and were very expensive. Few bands could really afford them or lug them around on tour (and risk them getting broken). And this was especially true with the rough, tour in a Ford Econoline with your gear stashed in a box trailer behind you, world of most rock bands. It wasn’t until synths started to become compact, relatively sturdy and easily portable in the 1980s that they gradually started making their way back into rock music. And of course nowadays a laptop loaded with a program like Reason and a MIDI controller is all you need for those wonderful keyboard/synth sounds. That shit can be packed into your carry-on luggage.
I just thought about this this week. I ran across a guy who was in a hometown band back in high school and he played keyboards. I don’t know the answer to the question.
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