when electronics were scary

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When I was younger,robot voices on records scared me for some reason and I could hardly bear such sound for a long time.But then Kraftwerk became one of my most adored bands.Now that electronics are such a part of music,compared to maybe a generation ago,it's hard to think of a time when electronics were scary.When I listen to I Feel Love by Donna Summer (yes) I get reminded of the fear that electronic music used to hold and still holds for some - I think it's part of why I love the song.What songs remind you of when electronics were a threat?Or does no one else have a rockist past?

― Damian, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

When I was 10 I used to sit in the dark with Pink Floyd's "On the Run" playing, frisson delish.

― dave q, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Welcome to the Machine" too. The bits on "Sheep" where the voice 'morphs' into that portamento synth screech was apocalyptic for me! I'm going to replace my 70s Floyd collection today!

― dave q, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah,that's gotta be in the best use of vocoder thread.Dogs barking through a vocoder?Like,noooo waaaay...

― Damian, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

That track 'Dogs' was immortalized in 'WKRP', wasn't it! They were trying to have a sensible conversation in the control room and dogs were barking thru vocoders interrupting them, or something...

― dave q, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I used to be awestruck by the sound of extreme gtr flanging. "Someone Could Lose a Heart" by Eddie Rabbitt, that knocked me out as a kid. Led Zep's "Nobody's Fault But Mine", Kiss' "I Want You" too. Not stictly 'electronic music' of course, but fits into 'reacting to a processed sound', and at the time I didn't know if it was a guitar or a synth anyway.

― dave q, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Word on those vocal fx on 'Animals'. But I can't remember ever being scared of electronics, although the Cylon voices on Battleship Galactica were sort of scary ;) Surely those voices had the biggest influence on electro?

― Omar, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Planet Rock scared the shit out of me - heard it coming out of a boombox on a playground, first day of school, sixth grade. It sounded like nothing I had ever heard on the radio or at home. Was completely fascinated, but too afraid to ask the older kids who were playing it what it was. Finally figured it out months later courtesy of a friend's older sister.

Weren't friends' older sisters the best back then?

― fritz, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I remember electronic music being repulsive, but I don't know exactly what it was that was so repulsive because I never wanted to find out.

― Lyra, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

See the thread on The Passage.

Early Cabs and Throbbing Gristle were pretty damn disconcerting, too.

― Jerry, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Agree on the TG. 'Hamburger Lady' scared me. Also a Coil track.. 'The Sleeper', was it?

― daria gray, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Tangerine Dream,Pink floyd,Emerson Lake and Palmer synthesizer, strange noises, spaced out most of the time, not scared, peace love and flowers man, great days no trouble,magic,beutiful people.Shame we can't go back.

― Rooster UK, Saturday, 25 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

How about that odd whooshing white noise far in the back of The Beatles' "I Want You"? When I was very young I remember that being part of the very first Beatles album I'd ever heard--I'd be lying in bed and my much older brother would be pumping up his stereo and I'd hear that song and it'd feel like a tornado was about to hit the house and the world was going to end--and it does in that very song.

― X. Y. Zedd, Sunday, 26 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

today i love new order. but when i was a little kid in the 80s watching their music videos, they scared my brother and i half to death! always dancing around with synths and shooting out crazy sounds. now that i think about it, it wasn't exactly like that, but it sure seemed like it then... eeek!

― bluepxl, Monday, 27 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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