# (Where you believe) the song would be better if one of the instruments were removed. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2020, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975 "2020-02-15T12:58:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975/1 "2020-02-15T12:58:58Z")
Case in point: [_Burnin’ for You_ by **Blue Öyster Cult**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn-8n4QKUS4). It’s a good, hard-rock’n tune. But IMO it would be even better & heavier if they would have omitted the keyboard track and simply stuck with guitars. It sounds especially cheesy in the chorus from [1:39 to 1:41](https://youtu.be/kn-8n4QKUS4?t=99). ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975/2 "2020-02-15T14:01:43Z")
Genesis “Ripples”. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Dol5N1SbYl0/maxresdefault.jpg "Ripples") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dol5N1SbYl0) Tony Banks’ keyboards pretty much shit all over Steve Hackett’s beautifully haunting guitar solo. (Instrumental passage starts about four minutes in.) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975/3 "2020-02-15T14:58:06Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Case in point: [_Burnin’ for You_ by **Blue Öyster Cult**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn-8n4QKUS4). It’s a good, hard-rock’n tune. But IMO it would be even better & heavier if they would have omitted the keyboard track and simply stuck with guitars. It sounds especially cheesy in the chorus from [1:39 to 1:41](https://youtu.be/kn-8n4QKUS4?t=99). Yeah, less keyboard…but MORE COWBELL! I know it’s an iconic part of the songs, but I’d like to hear The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” recorded without the synths. I think they overly tame the Moon/Townshend dynamic of near chaos by inserting what is essentially a metronome into the mix. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975/4 "2020-02-16T00:37:38Z")
Remove the piano from Debussy’s CLAIRE DE LUNE and you get John Cage’s 4’33". Easy. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975/5 "2020-02-16T00:58:02Z")
The siren-like guitar loop in R.E.M.'s [Leave](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdqwvVLa3hc) dominates and ruins the whole song, the only weak point on an otherwise great album. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975/6 "2020-02-16T02:23:15Z")
[The way too ubiqitous Yamaha DX7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3rrjQtQe5A) off most records in the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975/7 "2020-02-16T03:18:17Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Case in point: [_Burnin’ for You_ by **Blue Öyster Cult**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn-8n4QKUS4). It’s a good, hard-rock’n tune. But IMO it would be even better & heavier if they would have omitted the keyboard track and simply stuck with guitars. It sounds especially cheesy in the chorus from [1:39 to 1:41](https://youtu.be/kn-8n4QKUS4?t=99). You must be psychic, because I’ve always felt the same exact way about that song. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975/8 "2020-02-16T03:26:07Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > [The way too ubiqitous Yamaha DX7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3rrjQtQe5A) off most records in the 80s. Those sounds actually seem to be slowly becoming fashionable again. See Beck’s single “Neverending Days.” Don’t know if it’s DX7 sounds, but it’s definitely a throwback to 80s FM synths. I liked them, then I hated them, and now I’m back to liking them for certain types of sounds. You want “glassy” synth sounds, bells, synthy electric pianos, rubber bandy basses, the DX7 and FM synths are where it’s at. (And yes, I know a lot of people are going to say “no” to those sounds, but I think they have their place.) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975/9 "2020-02-16T04:31:21Z")
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Lose the fuckin’ guitar. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975/10 "2020-02-16T06:03:33Z")
[Suggs’s cover of Cecilia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibezahky8o8) is a pretty good reggae-ish groove…but that damn whistling noise that seemed to be fucking obligatory in the 90s really doesn’t improve it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975/11 "2020-02-16T06:11:41Z")
Springsteen’s _Born To Run_. Loose the fuckin’ bells. Bells are not musical instruments, Goddammit! They go on little girls bicycle handlebars. Song would still suck, but not as much. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-you-believe-the-song-would-be-better-if-one-of-the-instruments-were-removed/847975/12 "2020-02-16T08:14:26Z")
All that Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” needs is to lose that police siren. It just doesn’t fit the song.