It's my observation that instrumental song hits were abundant at the beginning of the 70's but by the 70's end they were rapidly falling out of favor.  What's up with that?

As I think of the most striking examples, it seems as though the genre instrumentals were borrowed from changed as the decade went on.  In the early 70's, pop, funk and classical takeoffs were all over the airwaves.  As the decade wore on, this was less the case, and there were a lot more jazz and disco (later techno) flavored instrumentals.

If you look into the 80's, you'll find that instrumental hits were more few and far between.  Through the 90's and today, they are almost non-existent.

One theory I have involves the increase in the use of synthesizers (first) and computers in the making of music.

Any thoughts on this?

ISTM that instrumentals became part of the song, i.e., solos.

There are several bands in the 80s and 90s that did instrumentals: Metallica (The Call of Ktulu, Orion), Faith No More (Midnight Cowboy), Alice in Chains (Whale and Wasp), 316 (Van Halen - though it's more a solo). 'course, none of these were hits.

Gone are the days of pieces like "Classical Gas".

I'm listening to "Mars, Bringer of War" at the moment.

In Canada, instrumentals still made brief appearances in the late 80s and early-mid 80s ...

In the mid-late 70s, there were artists like Meco, Herb Alpert and Walter Murphy.  Most notably in Canada, it was the pianists Hagood Hardy and Frank Mills who brought instrimentals into the chart big time with several instrumental favourites

In the 80s, instrumentals still charted now and then.  Here's a brief bunch of 'em ...

The Empire Strikes Back - Meco
Hooked on Classics - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Hooked on Big Bands - Frank Barber Orchestra
Hooked on Swing - Larry Elgart and His Manhattan Swing Orchestra
Route 101 - Herb Alpert
Papa's Got A Brand New Pig Bag - Pigbag
Chickadee - Frank Mills
Pop Goes the Movies (Part 1) - Meco
Axel F - Harold Faltermeyer
Miami Vice Theme - Jan Hammer
Crockett's Theme - Jan Hammer
Love Theme From St. Elmo's Fire - David Foster
Winter Games - David Foster
Into the Night - Exchange

Let's not forget a biggie from the 70's. And, although he was not a chart topper, I have several pieces of work that still get a spin: "White Rock", "Criminal Record", "Journey to the Centre Of the Earth", "The Six Wives of Henry VIII", and "No Earthly Connection".
I'm pretty sure none of these lapsed into the 1980's, where Rick Wakeman was also very prolific.

There was also Kenny G. during the late '80s. He probably had the last instrumental to make the top 40 chart.

There was also Kenny G. during the late '80s. He probably had the last instrumental to make the top 40 chart.


There were instrumentals in the US Top 40 in the 90s and 2000s  One that springs to mind is "Children" by Robert Miles

I guess it depends what you term instrumental...The break dance hit 'Rocket' could be seen as an instrumental, and that was around 1983, though it technically does have lyrics as well. There were a number of break dance instrumentals that hit the charts in the early to mid 1980's form memory...And in 1990 Guru Josh had that instrumental 'Infinities 1990', althoug, technically it also had lyrics which were on repeat, "Nineteen ninety, Time For The Guru."

Im also pretty sure that there were more than just one or two instrumental hits of the nineties as well, though I could be wrong.








AN

I guess it depends what you term instrumental...The break dance hit 'Rocket' could be seen as an instrumental, and that was around 1983, though it technically does have lyrics as well. There were a number of break dance instrumentals that hit the charts in the early to mid 1980's form memory...And in 1990 Guru Josh had that instrumental 'Infinities 1990', althoug, technically it also had lyrics which were on repeat, "Nineteen ninety, Time For The Guru."

Im also pretty sure that there were more than just one or two instrumental hits of the nineties as well, though I could be wrong.

AN


I definitely consider 'RockIt' an instrumental, perhaps of the pre/early-'Techno' variety.  (I don't remember 'Infinities 1990' but give you the benefit of the doubt.)  I agree, even in the late 80's/90's and on there have been onesy-twosy instrumental hits.  But at that point, 'hit' instrumentals were the exception more than the rule.  Contrast that with the early-mid 70's (and of course prior to that) where instrumentals were a measurable proportion of the hits songs on the charts, I'll guesstimate from 2 to 5% or more.  Thus if you pick a week at random during the early 70's (pre-1975) and look over the Top 40 hits, there's likely to be one or two instrumentals on it.

Hmmm.  I just looked it up - to my great surprise, 'RockIt', although seemingly popular, didn't hit the Top 40.  It peaked at Billboard #71.  :-\\

You're right about instrumentals.

There were a lot of good instrumentals in the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and even in the past seven years, they're just getting harder and harder to find each passing decade. Most radio stations tend to avoid them now.

Good instrumentals are still being made, though.
Here are several of the best recent ones that I could think of, but alas I still had to leave out some other good ones since I couldn't find videos for them on YouTube.

Sandstorm -- Darude (2001)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSYxT9GM0fQ

Dayvan Cowboy -- Boards of Canada (2005)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2zKARkpDW4

Crowd Chant -- Joe Satriani (2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LjaEi4bsI4

Kernkraft 400 -- Zombie Nation (2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0vYmXIrmUI

Adagio for Strings -- A remix of Barber's original by Ferry Corsten (2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nPAkX1oot0

XXI Air Jordan Commercial -- Jonathan Elias (2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au9YJA5cCiY

Let's not forget a biggie from the 70's. And, although he was not a chart topper, I have several pieces of work that still get a spin: "White Rock", "Criminal Record", "Journey to the Centre Of the Earth", "The Six Wives of Henry VIII", and "No Earthly Connection".
I'm pretty sure none of these lapsed into the 1980's, where Rick Wakeman was also very prolific.



I LOVE "Journey to the Centre of the Earth". Great album-and in my mind what I would call a masterpeice. Because I love it so much, I found "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" at a yard sale and bought it (without ever hearing it). I wasn't as impressed with it as I was with "Journey..."



Cat

I also really LOVED The Eve Of The War from Jeff Waynes War Of The Worlds double album. Though, as a single here in Australia it was released with lyrics: 'Hundreds of anything coming from Marse re a million to one he said....But still, they come.' While I like the lyrics most really only bought the single for the music I think.








AN

Also forgot another great from the 1970's, JEFF BECK!!
"Blow by Blow" and "Wired" are timeless pieces.......

(I'm sure Cat has a copy of each!)

Also forgot another great from the 1970's, JEFF BECK!!
"Blow by Blow" and "Wired" are timeless pieces.......

(I'm sure Cat has a copy of each!)



Actually, I don't. Sorry.



Cat