NPR posted an interview with Mark Mothersbaugh on the synths that changed pop music. Click through and hit the red play button on the top left. The Minimoog Model D gets the focus. This one in via Ali.via NPR: "Long ago, electronic music was created on massive consoles the size of refrigerators. But in 1970, the Minimoog Model D was unleashed, and its impact was nothing short of revolutionary. It was the driving force behind new sounds that emerged in years to come — jazz-rock from Herbie Hancock, electrifying pop from Michael Jackson and futuristic music from Devo, the rock and synth pop group perhaps best known for 'Whip It.'
This year, Moog Music is reissuing the Minimoog, hand-building them almost exactly as they were over four decades ago. Mark Mothersbaugh, a composer, producer and Devo founding member, joined NPR's Rachel Martin to explain the Minimoog's significance — and his pure love for the instrument. (One of Mothersbaugh's own Minimoogs from the mid-'70s joined the interview as well; hear the full conversation at the audio link.)
The revelatory thing about the Minimoog, Mothersbaugh says, was its portability: You could fold it up and travel with it. 'In the old days, synths were like people standing around in lab coats touching knobs and dials,' he says. 'And this allowed you to move out of that environment into nightclubs.'"
Click here for the full interview including video.
