Will I love Analog Days?

This book will change your idea of the place and importance of synthesizers in music history. I had the privilege to be taught by Trevor Pinch as an undergraduate and have followed his work closely since. His passing in late 2021 left a massive hole in the field of Science and Technology Studies and he is sorely missed.

The book is based on primary research on the genesis and development of the Moog synthesizer, perhaps the most important instrument in electronic music history. Unlike most texts on the instruments of electronic music, which dig into the technical details of synthesis,… show more.

We rock guitarists tend to think of ourselves as pretty darned special. I mean, wasn’t the introduction of the solid-body electric guitar synonymous with and indispensable to the formation of rock music itself? We get so cocky we forget that the invention and development of the analog synthesizer, which happened around the same time, brought its own dazzling array of brand-new sounds, never heard before. How were they created? Whose genius was behind it? How do they fit into the music of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Edgar Winter, and The Grateful Dead? Did LSD have anything to do with it?… show more.