A particular keyboard sound in Bobby Brown songs
by Will
In college (UConn, 1988-1992) my friends and I listened to a lot of Bobby Brown, Bel Biv DeVoe, Janet Jackson — all huge pop hits at the time. In high school I would never have dared listen to pop music as it was all very uncool. But part of growing up for me was being able to enjoy things that weren’t cool or fashionable to the smart crowd that I desperately wanted to join. Bobby Brown has got to among the least hip of all pop music but when I listen to his “Don’t Be Cruel” album all I really think is: I love this album. Music categorizers call that genre of R&B pop “New Jack Swing” but it wasn’t called that back then. If anything, we’d describe it as Bobby Brown music.
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That’s “Every Little Step.” If you hear that song and don’t smile you are a robot.
There was one particular keyboard sound that all of those songs used. It’s the very first non-drum sound in the song that comes in just before the :05 second mark, then two times at the :07 second mark, three quiet ones at :09, and then a rising set of four notes at :12. What is that sound? What do I call it?
Comments
I think I had a keyboard that called it “sting”
I don’t know what it’s called, but I love that song a lot, and I love new jack swing in general. It’s probably the least likely subgenre that I love.
I wasn’t sure that my esteem for you could grow and then you wrote this and it did.
Search your AppleLoops for “OrchHit” and you’ll find that sound
Sounds like the keyboard hook from Yes’ Owner of a Lonely Heart.
I think it is the same sound bank that Brad Fiedel used in the chase music from “The Terminator” to emphasize hits. Off to my Prophet 600 to find it.
I’ve always heard that sound described as “synth strings.” I think it’s pretty funny/cool that in attempting to mimic the sound of actual strings they ended up stumbling upon this totally unique sound that is now very indicative of a time and a certain cheesy pop-ness.
Your next entry should be about freestyle. As corny-80′s-genres-that-are-actually-very-very-good go, New Jack Swing has nothing on freestyle.
“orchestra hit”
I was excited that I knew the answer is Orchestra Hit, so excited, in fact, that I’m going to post a comment even though your question has already been answered by the earlier comments.
Correction: it’s called “Orchestra Hit.”
i was at a friend’s house and i noticed a book that was a manual for hip hop drumming, written by zorro, the drummer for bobby brown’s band. it had a whole section on new jack swing.
“my prerogative” was my jam back in the day. also, one of the first albums i ever owned was “new edition” because of the song “cool it now.”
Yay for game!
I worked at a record store in the mall when this album came out. The cassette sold so much, if I’d worked at an IHOP, the hotcakes would’ve sold “like Bobby Brown cassettes”.
“Orchestra Pit”
-Terry
it’s called my dick hitting a keyboard. :)
Doibles, please force the phrase “selling like Bobby Brown cassettes” into a conversation anyway.