The Oboe in Pop and Rock

The Oboe : 

The Oboe In Pop and Rock

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The oboe is generally only occasionally used in various pop and rock music recordings. However, there have been some bands that have a permanent oboist.

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In the 1960’s and 70’s several bands had oboist members including: Roxy Music (Andy Mackay), The Moody Blues (Ray Thomas), Electric Light Orchestra (Roy Wood), Icehouse (Iva Davies), and Japan (Mick Karn). Roxy Music Electric Light Orchestra Japan

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The oboists in these bands generally used the oboe as a secondary instrument, not playing it on every song. Japan and Roxy Music, however, did use the oboe quite frequently.

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Iva Davies Front man of the Australian electro/new wave/rock band Icehouse, Davies played French horn with the Sydney Youth Orchestra and was a member of the Epping Boys High School Band where he played Euphonium. He was also an oboe and composition student at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music.

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The oboe began to be used in mainstream music in the 1960’s. At first it was used as an introductory instrument, and was later additionally used in the bridges, instrumental breaks, and choruses of songs.

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Here’s some recordings with oboe.

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Marian Faithfull “The Evening of the Day” 1964

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In the next recording the oboe is used in conjunction with the bassoon for the chorus.

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Sonny and Cher “I Got You Babe” 1965

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1967 The Turtles “Happy Together”

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The oboe was used in mainstream music throughout the 1960’s, and then in the 70’s and 80’s things got a little weird. The oboe was still used in some pop music, but in the rock genre the use of the oboe only seems to aggravate the ridiculousness inherent in new wave and glam rock.

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“Ladytron” by Roxy Music 1972

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1980 Japan “Gentlemen Take Polaroids”

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1982 Icehouse “Street Café”

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1985 Madonna “Crazy for You”

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In the 1990s, the oboe was used in rock most notably by Sigur Rós (played by Kjartan Sveinsson), as well as by indie rock musician Sufjan Stevens (who also plays English Horn and often uses both instruments on his albums). Jarlaath, the vocalist of the French gothic metal band Penumbra, plays the oboe in a number of the band's songs, as does Robbie J. de Klerk, the vocalist of the Dutch melodic death metal band Another Messiah. In America, the band Hoboe defines itself as a rock band showcasing amplified oboe, fronted by oboist Zen Ben.

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1993 Blur “Starshaped”

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1994 Seal “Kiss from a Rose”

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The next recording is the last one. It brings us to today’s use of the oboe which tends to be incorporated with string quartets or full orchestras, with the traditional instruments of rock bands. The effect is an acoustic indie sound.

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2008 Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground “Into the Realm of the Unknown”

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The End