In literature, “onomatopoeia” is a word that’s employed to mimic any audible sound not pertaining to any spoken language. Examples include buzz, crack, pop, whoosh, etc. Inserting these “meaningless” words into a piece of prose, however, does have the effect of capturing a more-convincing snapshot of reality.
But this doesn’t just work on paper; it can also work in music, whereby the original units of music–say, a guitar note or piano chord–can be used to recreate sounds other than the ones originally intended. These examples of instrumental onomatopoeia are ultimately made all the more resonant–and more closely reflective of the multi-facetedness and varying dimensions of reality– by such extra-musical inclusions. Here are ten examples that really ring.
10. “Through the Fire and Flames” by Dragonforce
Sound Mimicked: Retro videogame sound effects
Mimicked by: Molly Hatchet-guitars on speed
Being that this band is so steeped in fantasy, role-playing, dragons, swords, and the like, it makes sense that the sound they’d vie for would be something out of an old Sega or Atari game. Listening to the furious solos gives you, if not a headache, the distinct feeling that you just completed a level in Mega Man. Or protected a village from a rampant hobgoblin.
9. “Hot for Teacher” by Van Halen
Sound Mimicked: An idling Harley-Davidson
Mimicked by: Alex Van Halen’s Drum Kit
Imitating a Harley-Davidson perfectly fits the song’s major themes: rudeness, rebelliousness, and downright sleaziness. While David Lee Roth makes come-ons to a teacher twice his age, and Eddie shreds and taps away at his red-and-white-striped guitar, Alex taps at his snare as if it had a built-in muffler.
8. “The Joker” by Steve Miller Band
Sound Mimicked: A cat-call/whistle
Mimicked by: Steve Miller’s squawky guitar
You hear it during the first verse section right after Miller purrs the line, “Some people call me Maurrrrrice…” as a sort of way of reaffirming the promiscuous nature of the song, which deals heavy in booze, dope, and sexual mischief. The groove is as mellow as can be, and a perfect accompaniment to those times you feel like being that thing he mentions after “joker” and “smoker.” Midnight-something-or-other…
7. “Quadrant 4” by Billy Cobham
Sound Mimicked: Plasma rifle blasts
Mimicked by: Tommy Bolin’s technically-virtuosic guitar playing
Steve Stevens, guitarist for Billy Idol, has admitted to being influenced by Bolin (and this song in particular) in his own solo stylings, namely in the song “Rebel Yell,” wherein he plays a toy ray gun through his guitar pick-ups. Bolin, however, didn’t need props or gimmicks to make his guitar emit sounds that Buck Rodgers would be proud of. His playing style was a highly technical, virtuosic one, skirting every line between jazz, prog, metal, and beyond. Emphasis on the beyond: in the song “Quadrant 4,” from drummer Billy Cobham’s album Spectrum— on which Bolin plays guitar with zero restraint–it is through the wildest scale-melting noodling, and the right combination of effects pedals, that he makes his guitar sound like it’s charging up and blasting laser beams in rapid succession. It makes you wonder what his guitar looks like by the end of a recording session like that.
6. “Skin Graph” by Silversun Pickups
Sound Mimicked: A revving stock-car engine
Mimicked by: Brian Auburt’s heavily fuzzed-out guitar
Auburt is a noise-ologist; he is all about tinkering with gear to make sounds that a guitar isn’t really supposed to make. He is also a faithful Billy Corgan disciple, who had a similar penchant for stretching his guitar past the 21st fret, employing hundreds of dynamically-distorted layers of fuzzy effects and atmospheric squeals. Auburt, a like-minded fan of pitting harsh and mellow together in the name of musical ambivalence, combines the two especially well on the first track off of Silversun Pickups’ latest album Neck of the Woods. In it, contrasting verse and chorus sections are segued by a sound that resembles a NASCAR racer, accelerating around a sharp bend. And that’s exactly what it feels like when you go on a ride-along with this song.
5. “Of Lilies and Remains” by Bauhaus
Sound Mimicked: A life-support machine
Mimicked by: Daniel Ash’s avant-garde/mimimalistic guitar playing
As Peter Murphy whispers morbid poetry into what feels like the ear of a coma patient, Daniel Ash keeps us in suspense of recovery, playing a guitar note that sounds a bit too much like a life-support machine. And then, during what might be sort of a chorus, the patient’s heartbeat appears to escalate as the backbeat picks up, like a struggle to stay alive long enough to finish hearing the song.
4. “Love Cats” by the Cure
Sound Mimicked: Cats meowing
Mimicked by: Robert Smith’s guitar scratches
The “cats” appear at the very beginning and end of the song, a conceptually-befitting artistic choice on Robert Smith’s part. As the song is very much about two smitten lovers, whose affections are comparable to those of cats in heat, replicating a couple of alley cats helps to paint a poignant mental picture. The jazzy upright bass, piano hooks, and “skatting” Robert Smith mark a genre the Cure seldom occupy but, with those distinctive coos and earnest vocals, there’s no denying the party responsible.
3. “Njosnavelin” by Sigur Ros
Sound Mimicked: Cello
Mimicked by: Jonsi’s bowed guitar
Also mimicked by instruments are the sounds of other instruments; here in particular, a cello, a stringed instrument that belongs more in an orchestra and less in a nightclub. To achieve this sound, you can go out and buy an e-bow for about a hundred bucks, which is a device that–standing in for a pick–emits a continuous vibration, which creates a sort of infinite guitar sustain. Or you could do what Jonsi of Sigur Ros–like many other guitarists before, during, and after him–does, and pull out an actual violin bow and embrace the electric guitar, like some beautiful symphony hall classicist. The result speaks for itself, as does your jaw hanging on the ground for you to trip over.
2. “Undercover of Darkness” by The Strokes
Sound Mimicked: Saxophone
Mimicked by: Nick Valensi’s guitar tone
The Strokes are all about the power of faithful interpretation; their songwriting formula has traditionally been this: frontman Julian Casablancas (whose vocals are a “faithful interpretation” of Lou Reed’s) writes the song melodies entirely on the keyboard, which is then interpreted by the band’s two guitarists, Albert Hammond Jr. (rhythm*) and Nick Valensi (lead*). Such interpretation skills have been made apparent on songs like “12:51,” in which Valensi plays a single-note guitar hook in a tone that resembles a keyboard line from any given Cars album.
In this song from their latest album Angles, Casablancas has confessed to the song’s being directly influenced by the sax-heavy Clarence Clemens/Jackson Browne song “You’re a Friend of Mine”; listen in particular to the low-level tone of that guitar lick Valensi plays in the verse, the thick, scratchy timbre of which sounds not unlike the actual saxophone Clarence Clemens riffs on in the original track.
*mostly
1. “NYC” by Interpol
Sound Mimicked: Subway squwalls
Mimicked by: Reverb-soaked guitars
This song is both conceptual and experiential; the feeling recreated is literally the sum of all the parts: the slow-chugging guitar riff mirroring the rhythmic lull of a train arriving at its destination, the under-lubricated high note squeals of a second guitar sounding like a mal-attended break system, all thematically tied together by a downtrodden Paul Banks singing, “The subway, it is a porno. The sidewalks, they are a mess. I know you’ve supported me a long time; somehow I’m not impressed. But New York cares.” A very distinct feeling is created, of a lonely New Yorker shuffling through the alienating familiarity of a public transportation system that always runs on time.
26 Comments
Adrian Belew’s menagerie of animal sounds created on guitar? Roaring lions, seagulls, elephants, monkeys… Deserves a nod.
It may be too old for this list, but the work of Jose Feliciano would have fit perfectly. He replicated the sound of a full battle with horses, cannons, small arms, the clash of bayonets and bagpipes AND a fife and drum corps. And he did it all on the acoustic guitar!
Which song(s)? Is it on Youtube? I’d like to hear that. I have heard of José Feliciano, but I haven’t really listened to much of his music.
It’s here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkHuCLO2IMQ
Another classic is Todd Rundgren’s “Motorcycle guitar” in the bridge of Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out Of Hell”. The “motorcycle” intro and subsequent solo were done in a single take!
How about this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gCC-AEk77I
You missed Black Dog by Zep
The intro is supposed to be a dog panting.
I never put that together until you said that but it makes perfect sense now…the cadance and all that Bonzo does….
Steve Miller’s “wolf whistle” is done by sliding the pick rapidly up the low E string. The sound is caused by the edge of the pick rubbing across the string windings. The tone is varied by the speed of the pick slide.
I am shocked that there was not 1 mention of the whistling bird in freebird by lynyrd skynyrd. Antone who has ever watched the VH1 special had to be amazed at the uitar playing of this band.
Shame that there wasn’t a single Hendrix entry on this list. I could have come up with ten examples to fill the list. The most notable one is Star Spangled Banner from Woodstock. Bombs dropping, people screaming.
I used to like “Love Cats” as well, but that one brings back so many memories, some of which are quite happy and sexy. But some make me cry. I’ll be crying all night now after re-listening to the Cure. 🙁
How about Tom Morrello’s guitar solo in Rage Against The Machine’s “Bulls on Parade?”
Sound mimicked: Bagpipe
One example of onomatopoeia I found fascinating when it came out is the bagpipe impression on Big Country”s “In A Big Country” by guitarist Bruce Watson seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB6AzLxWWzE
I love that song, thanks for reminding me! 🙂
What the f.. hell? Onomatopoeia? Are you specifically trying to annoy me by using long and fancy words? Do you know what hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia means? Well, I suffer from that, so stop what you’re doing! Now!
How better to overcome your fear of long words than by confronting them right here! Just stay away from this list: https://www.toptenz.net/top-10-longest-words-in-the-english-language.php
Damn you, TopTenzMaster! I couldn’t help myself, I just had to click that link, and now my brain is skrewed. But tell me if you know what this means: Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz?
Not without looking it up: beef labeling regulation & delegation of supervision law. Huh? IF you like German words, try this list of German words: https://www.toptenz.net/top-10-german-words.php
Haha! That list was brilliant. And actually: yes, I do like German words and Germany in general. That dude called Adolf just spoiled their reputation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLp63WBV-Ic
@ParusMajor: That video clip scared the cwap out of me! Somebody actually likes that band? Besides, doesn’t “du hast mich” mean “you hate me”? And you think that’s gonna make me feel better about Germany? Have you gone mad, like… recently???
OK, maybe that song wasn’t the best choice. How about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVikZ8Oe_XA
Every German person I have ever met personally has been nice and polite, so please forget WW2 already, dudes.
Here’s another one…
The Clash “Tommy Gun”
Topper Headon’s drum roll at the beginning was meant to mimic the sound of a machine gun.
He was after all, the “human drum machine”.
What about the ghost of tom joad by rage against the machine, the start of that sounds just like a helicopter, but tom morello achieves this by tapping his pickups with a pencil.
Idk, but i do believe Mick Mars’ intro to Kickstart My Heart is by far one of the most faithful and famous guitar making-non-guitar-noise. Say what you will about Crue, as far that intro goes, that is pretty much identical to a motorcycle revving. It really is more impressive than about 4 of the entries on this list.
If you like the Mick Mars version then you should love the Sammy Hagar version from Montrose’s first album, released about 16 years before KMH. Bad Motor Scooter…. killer song.