Tuesday, June 22, 2010

I remember when keyboards weren't cool!

Was Looking at this photo recently of the band Brainiac and was thinking how a lot of bands utilize keyboards, computers, and synthesizers to create music these days. This photo was taken in 1996, a year when Nirvana was the biggest thing since the Beatles and when hip hop and rock where fusing together in different ways. The band Brainiac and a few contemporaries of the time like Girls against Boys and Clickatat Ikatowi where utilizing keyboards in heavy, punk rock infused ways. Some of it a little danceable but mostly in way that most people probably overlooked at the time. Besides it was way too uncool to have a keyboard in your band, especially if you rocked! A band like Brainiac not only made it sound and look cool but they created an energy that was very punk rock in uncertain punk rock times. Here the late great Tim Taylor can be seen frozen in time during what was probably a noisy spazztic freak out of a Brainiac show. I've noticed how those that are way ahead of their time are often overlooked and forgotten, despite the contributions of their art. Hopefully there is some documentation of what has been done to remind us that somebody helped paved the way and contributed to the progress that we take for granted. Cheers to Brainiac and the other pioneers of their days, RIP Tim Taylor.