The Who Mailing List Digest V4 #122

[patrick_hannigan@nhusd.k12.ca.us]

I've been lurking and reading thw "Who invented feedback?" discussion
with amusement.  

The answer to that question is like asking who invented car trouble. 
The first guy who had a car invented it without a doubt.  Similarly, the
first guy who plugged the first electric guitar into the first amplifier
undoubtedly invented feedback at that moment.   A reading of the history
of electric guitar reveals that feedback was the main problem to be
overcome in the development of the instrument.  Pickups have to be
shielded and wound and configured a certain way or feedback will be a
constant.  The first electric guitar makers struggled to eliminate or
control feedback from the beginning, way before the kinks, who or any
rock band.
The real question is:  Who first "used" feedback as a musical statement?
I invented using car trouble to effect on a date with a beautiful girl
many years ago.


- -Hannigan


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