Ventures

The Ventures came out of Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, when Don Wilson and Bob Bogle figured an electric guitar could do all the singing a record needed. No vocals, no problem: "Walk, Don't Run" in 1960 made them famous around the world, and it still gets named among the greatest guitar recordings ever cut. It's in the Grammy Hall of Fame now.

The classic four had Wilson chopping out rhythm guitar, Bogle and Nokie Edwards trading places between lead and bass, and Mel Taylor, who took over the drums from Howie Johnson in 1962, driving the whole clean, twanging machine. Across the '60s and into the early '70s they were an album factory, putting 38 LPs on the US charts and 14 singles into the Hot 100, and they never stopped tinkering: they were among the first rock outfits to reach for fuzz, flanging, twelve-string guitars and the concept album.

America's attention drifted in the '70s, but Japan never let go, and they have kept touring there. Surf and instrumental rock owe them plenty, which is how they came to be called "the Band that Launched a Thousand Bands". With more than 100 million records sold, no instrumental band has sold more, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted them in 2008.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.