<p>Recording engineer Glenn Snoddy, age 96, died May 21.</p>
<p>The song was on the loudspeakers at the lake where we swam away the summer days. It was on the radio in the old car we crowded into on those the sweltering evenings. We heard it at dances, on our bedroom stereos and our transistor radios, in public spaces, anywhere pop music was played. It was 1965, and the song was “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”</p>
<p>The tune was catchy and contained several hooks: the repetitive driving melody of the verses, the simple drum break you could beat along with on the dashboard, the singalong chorus with it’s “Hey, Hey, Hey. That’s what I say…”</p>
<p>But first and foremost, right out of the gate, was the unmistakable opening guitar riff that threaded its way through the entire song. Those 10 fuzzy notes signaled that for the next few minutes (3 minutes, 45 seconds, to be exact) The Rolling Stones would be in your head. It is certainly one of the most identifiable musical phrases of our time.</p>
<p>Guitarist Keith Richards’ special sound is due to a Gibson Maestro Fuzz Tone, a device that was rather new at the time. This device came about because of an electronic malfunction in a recording console during a Nashville session supervised by studio engineer Glenn Snoddy.</p>
<p>As he and producer Don Law listened to the bass track playback on a Marty Robbins recording, they realized something was not right. The bass line was coming out distorted, reminding them of a “rumbling car muffler.” The bass player wanted to re-record the part, but Law and Snoddy thought the sound was just interesting enough to leave it in. They went with their gut, and Marty Robbins 1961 record, “Don’t Worry,” went to No. 10 on the country charts.</p>
<p>Realizing they might have something, Snoddy, with the help of Revis Hobbs, a fellow engineer, eventually came up with a box that could reproduce the sound. The president of Gibson Guitar company, who had at one time turned down Les Paul and his solid body guitar, decided that maybe this new world of electronic music might be worth a second look.</p>
<p>At first, Gibson’s Fuzz Tones weren’t big sellers, shipping less than 10 between ’63 and ’64. But then “Satisfaction” hit the charts. Suddenly every working and aspiring young rock guitarist wanted one. By late ’65, Gibson sold 40,000 pedals.</p>
<p>I was one of those aspiring teenage guitarists who played around with a Fuzz Tone. I can’t remember if it was an actual Gibson Fuzz Tone. By the time my friends and I could get our hands on one, the Gibson model had spawned a host of knock-offs, so it was probably a cheaper version. I’m also pretty sure it wasn’t mine. It likely belonged to someone in one of the other garage bands in the neighborhood.</p>
<p>It was a kind of an in-joke, but it was mostly true that no two bands in the neighborhood could perform in public at the same time because we had only so many microphones, PA speakers, amps and parts of drum kits between us.</p>
<p>The Fuzz tone sound went on to become as much a part of pop music as the solid body electric guitar. In an interview, Keith Richards said he was just using the Fuzz Tone to fill the space where he imagined a horn section would eventually play. He claims he heard the now-familiar version of “Satisfaction” for the first time on the radio after their manager, unbeknownst to the band, decided to release the Fuzz Tone take. Of course, his memory could be as faulty as mine.</p>
<p>It’s curious how history is so often made through accidents, serendipity, other’s decisions and plain old dumb luck. However it happens, though, guitarists specifically and music lovers in general would do well to pause and remember Glenn Snoddy who changed the way we listen to music. RIP.</p>
