While listening to recommended streaming playlists as I write, as a writer often does, I found myself no longer writing and only listening when the song “Lovefingers” by Silver Apples came into my headphones. I was immediately captivated by the blend of rock and electronica, and subsequently saved the song to my library. Naturally, I didn’t do much digging into the band, nor did I look at the date the song was released. I simply enjoyed it and moved along.
Videos by American Songwriter
Imagine my surprise when a few weeks later, I came across a YouTube video by Bandsplaining (embedded below) where he details the exact same experience. “Lovefingers” caught his attention, and like me, he assumed it was a modern electronic band experimenting with a somewhat older formula of rock. He revealed, to my shock, that “Lovefingers” was actually released in the late 1960s. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I was listening to some 21st-century band that put an electronic spin on 1960s revivalist rock.
That wasn’t the case at all. Rather, I was listening to one of the most pioneering electronic rock groups of all time. They were called Silver Apples, and I still can’t believe that I had never heard of them before. They were the first rock/pop band to use electronic music techniques outside of the dark rooms of academics.
How Silver Apples Influenced the Future of Electronic Rock
Silver Apples was formed in New York in 1967. They ended up coming to an end in 1970 before reviving yet again in the 90s and 00s. Sadly, the band’s core members Simeon and Danny Taylor have since passed on, so Silver Apples are no more. But the music they left behind enormously influenced the world of electronic rock. In fact, I’d be bold enough to say that they were the first electronic rock band. Though, I’m sure a music historian would have something to say about that.
Regardless, Silver Apples were hugely influential. They performed their music using a primitive synth made by Simeon himself. The band released several albums, but their releases in the 1960s (Silver Apples from 1968 and Contact from 1969) are among their most astounding.
Those albums did poorly upon their release, likely because the band was too ahead of its time. Following a catastrophic lawsuit against the band for using a photo of a plane crash as an album cover for Contact and a few other factors, the band disappeared for about two decades.
Then, they came back in the 90s. It only took a German label releasing a bootleg of their old records to revive underground interest in Silver Apples. The band would revive again in the 2000s, notably without drummer Taylor following his death in 2005. Simeon would continue to perform as Silver Apples until 2016.
There’s a lot I could say about this band’s use of oscillators, telegraph keys, and pedals to control the electronic portions of their music. But, truly, this is the kind of band that you need to listen to in order to understand how groundbreaking they really were. I recommend listening to their debut self-titled album in full.
Photo by Mick Hutson/Redferns
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