Growing up, one of my favorite instrumental groups was the Seattle based combo, "The Ventures". I'll never forget my first album, "Hawaii Five-0" and their "10th Anniversary" double record set in 1970. Bob Bogle, lead guitarist and co-founder of The Ventures with Don Wilson, were known for 1960's instrumental hits including "Walk, Don't Run." Bogle died this week at age 75. The Ventures sold millions of albums and heavily influenced a generation of rock guitarists and in 2008, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Hall's website hailed The Ventures as "the most successful instrumental combo in rock and roll history." "Walk, Don't Run" reached No. 2 on the Billboard chart in 1960, and a revised version, "Walk, Don't Run '64," reached No. 8 in 1964. Among the band's other hits were "Perfidia" and the theme from "Hawaii Five-O."The band first got its start in 1958 in Tacoma. A native of Wagoner, Oklahoma, Bogle was working as a bricklayer when he walked into a Seattle used-car lot where Wilson was a salesman. “I said, ‘Can you get me a job?’ ’’ Wilson recalled. “I was working on commission, and I wasn’t doing very well and wanted a weekly paying job.’’ Wilson quit the car lot to work as a hod carrier. They discovered that they both had once owned guitars and could play a few chords. They bought guitars at a pawnshop and while learning how to play, began entering talent contests together. After four or five talent shows, they started winning with Bogle initially playing lead and bass and Wilson played rhythm guitar. They were soon joined by Nokie Edwards, another guitarist, and drummer Howie Johnson, later replaced by Mel Taylor. "Our aspirations were to pick up nothing heavier than a guitar," Wilson said last year. "But it just mushroomed into something where we became internationally known."
The Ventures were particularly popular in Japan, where Wilson and Bogle played as a duo during their first tour in 1962 because the promoter couldn't afford to pay the other two band members. The two Americans made such an impression, Wilson recalled last year, that when the band came back in 1964, "there were 6,000 people at the airport." He said he didn't realize at first the Japanese fans were there to see The Ventures.
Needing a permanent drummer for the group, they hired Howie Johnson, and, in the midst of a fast-paced touring schedule, they recorded an album to capitalize on the success of the single. The lineup of Bogle, Wilson, Edwards and Johnson remained intact until 1962. The group found early success with a string of singles, but would quickly become leaders in the album market. The Ventures were one of the pioneers of the early concept album idea, where, starting with 1961's The Colorful Ventures, each song on their albums was chosen to fit a specific theme. Some of the Ventures' most popular albums at the time were a series of records of dance music.
Later in '62, Johnson was injured in an auto crash, which caused irreversible spinal damage. On doctor's orders, he quit the band. Bogle and Wilson already knew Mel Taylor, house drummer at The Palomino in North Hollywood (the venue where they would play numerous shows during their resurgence in the 1980s). Taylor had performed as drummer on the Bobby "Boris" Pickett hit "Monster Mash", The Hollywood Argyles' "Alley Oop" and "The Lonely Bull" by Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass. Taylor was known for a very aggressive, hard-hitting style of drumming. They invited him to some recording sessions, which led to him becoming a permanent member of the Ventures.
The combination of Edwards on lead guitar, Taylor on drums, Bogle on bass and Wilson on rhythm guitar created what many fans felt were The Ventures at their very best. This lineup remained unchanged until Edwards left the band in 1968, to be replaced by Gerry McGee. Edwards came back in 1973 and remained with them until 1984, although he has toured and gigged with them dozens of times in the subsequent years. Edwards' replacement in 1984 was, once again, Gerry McGee. Drummer Mel Taylor remained with The Ventures until cancer took his life in 1996. His spot has since been filled by his son, Leon Taylor. (Original drummer Howie Johnson had died in 1988).
Their commercial fortunes in the US declined sharply in the early 1970s due to changing musical trends. In the late 1970s and into the 1980s, a resurgence of interest in surf music led to some in the punk/new wave audience rediscovering the band. The Go-Go's wrote "Surfin' And Spyin'" and dedicated it to The Ventures. The Ventures recorded their own version and continue to occasionally perform the song. Their career was given another rejuvenating shot in the arm by Quentin Tarantino's use of The Lively Ones' version of Nokie Edwards' "Surf Rider" and several other classic surf songs in the soundtrack of the hit movie Pulp Fiction.
The Ventures became one of the most popular groups worldwide thanks in large part to their instrumental approach—there were no language barriers to overcome. The Ventures are still the most popular American rock group in Japan, the world's second largest record market. One oft-quoted statistic is that the Ventures outsold The Beatles 2-to-1 in Japan. They produced dozens of albums exclusively for the Japanese and European markets, and have regularly toured Japan from the 1960s through to the present. According to a January 1966 Billboard Magazine article, The Ventures had five of 1965's top 10 singles in Japan. A recent Japanese pop music poll listed "Ginza Lights" as the most popular song of all time; it was composed and recorded for their 1966 LP Go With The Ventures.
In March 2008, The Ventures were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with John Fogerty as their presenter. In attendance were original members Don Wilson and Nokie Edwards, late 1960s member John Durrill, current guitarist Bob Spalding, and current drummer Leon Taylor who, along with Mel Taylor's widow, Fiona, accepted on behalf of The Ventures late drummer. Bob Bogle and Gerry McGee were unable to attend the ceremony. Fiona Taylor gave special mention to her husband's predecessor drummers Skip Moore and Howie Johnson. The Ventures performed their biggest hits, "Walk Don't Run" and "Hawaii Five-0", augmented on the latter by Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame musical director Paul Shaffer and his band.
Bogle was one of the most influential guitarists of our generation. His legacy and the music of The Ventures will surely live forever.
