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Re: Lennon's Feedback



Bryce's post and Mark's response:

>> As far as I know the first recorded instance of guitar feedback was 			>>on the Beatles' "I Feel Fine" which came out in November of 1964.   			>>It was at the very beginning and was accidental but the Beatles liked it >>and kept it on the song.  

>Bryce:

>That's what McCartney said, but I'm not buying it. The Who were using
>feedback before this and had opened for The Beatles. So were The Kinks
>and Tridents (Jeff Beck's group). If Lennon "discovered" it "by
>accident," he must have been completely oblivious of the music scene in
>England...do you think that could possibly be the case? I don't know for
>sure, but I sincerely doubt it.

I agree that it was certainly no accident that The Beatles recorded this
moment of feedback on "I Feel Fine", and I also agree that The Who,
Kinks and Jeff Beck are the only artists who have some claim to
feedback's "discovery" as a musical device, but the fact remains that
The Beatles were definitely the first band to record feedback on record
(meaning popularly released, not bootleg).  They didn't "discover" it
nor did they master it (as did Who, Kinks, Beck), but they did get it on
vinyl first and that in itself was another breakthrough for rock and
roll.  It gave popular audiences a preview of the glass shattering
noises which lurked around the next corner.  
- --Leo