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Are keyboards/synths really THAT bad for rock music? Name bands that make good/horrible use of Synths?

I can see why it might be called cheesy or corny but remember how the electric guitar was attacked in the 50s and 60s? Yes... somebands do think the keyboard is a tool to make rock sound like disco but don't some bands make great use of it? (NIN, Manson, Type O negative, Deadsy,)

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    I think there's a lot of newer bands that make good use of synths. It's all up to the listener if they do or do not like keyboards in their rock. Here's a bunch that I recommend:

    * Lost Sounds

    * The Capricorns

    * The Data Break

    * Quasi

    * Mates of State

    * the VSS

    * Pretty Girls Make Graves

    * Cansei De Ser Sexy (CSS)

    * Trans Am

    * Destruction Unit

    * Captured! By Robots

    * Black Sunday

    * Julie Ruin

  • 1 decade ago

    Good: Deep Purple, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Type O, NIN, and there are a few black metal/power metal bands that do well with them, like Sonata Arctica. Sabbath also made use of a live keyboardist from the mid 70s onward. Oh yeah, and I might as well give a shout out to Iron Butterfly, because In a Gadda Da Vida was awesome. Other than that, everybody who ever used a keytar, (with exception of Sonata Arctica) can basicall die.

  • 1 decade ago

    There are plenty of bands that use keyboards/synths, and each band uses it a different way. Motion City Soundtrack is a band that uses them in a more melodic way, where as The Locust...well they use them in my opinion an equally awesome way. I think Hellogoodbye uses some synths as well...anyways, here's a few bands that I know for sure use keys or synths and all rock:

    Thursday, The Locust, MCS, Horse The Band, Underoath...

  • ?
    Lv 4
    5 years ago

    There's always people doing stuff like this. For example, from what I've heard, Frank Zappa made it look disgusting and too adult. Marilyn Manson makes it look suicidal. There's always going to be people on both sides of the extremes. If we really can classify the Beatles as rock, then these would be technically rock. You never hear a Beatles song or video with George Harrison busting into a 2 minute solo. People double standard a lot.

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Because synth so often means pre recorded music. Press button A, you're almost waiting for them to flip the rhumba switch and rock out the whole mall. I guess that's ok in the studio, but not when I'm paying for live music.

    I'm not just bagging on the synth, drum machines suck as well. How anybody can listen to either after hearing an actual piano or drum amazes me. Yes you can draw some comparisons to electric guitars, but face it nobody has ever taken the synthesizer to the next level, like the guitar.

    Source(s): press #127 for Punk Bop Bop chicka chicka chicka beep a beep
  • 1 decade ago

    Good bands w/ synth/keyboard:

    Van Halen

    G n R

    Europe

    Children of Bodom

    Dragonforce

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    It's actually a fairly good instrument. Eddie Van Halen did the best synth that i can think of in Jump, but my favorite rock bands that use keyboards are DragonForce and Cradle of Filth.

  • 1 decade ago

    Good- Lots of great new-wave/synth-pop bands from the 80's (Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, etc.), although that depends on your definition of "rock."

    Horrible- "The Final Countdown" by Europe.

  • 1 decade ago

    Dream Theater - The Jordan Rudess Dream Theater anyway...

    Yes - i.e. Rick Wakeman...

    Emerson Lake and Palmer - Keith Emerson is a synth god

  • joe
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    best use of a synth is brendon benson solo music. he used the origianl bob moog synth all of the time. his raconteur stuff is good, but solo he's way better. check out the album lapalaco for great moog synth work.

    pete townshend did it great on the who's next/lifehouse album.

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