The Ventures Biography

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The Ventures
Pop Music | 3 CD Set
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By 1959, instrumental rock was making huge inroads into the white rock 'n' roll scene as rockabilly slowly gave way to teenage love ballads. Local bands around the country were into rock for their club-going audiences and those ballads were fading, rock was evolving and vocals (aside from the major stars like Elvis) were not. Johnny and the Hurricanes, Duane Eddy, Link Wray and the Ventures became major headliners and there's little doubt that the Ventures had become the most recognized instrument group of the time. Formed in 1959 in the Tacoma, Seattle area, the Ventures (originally the Impacts) were Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, guitars, Nokie Edward, bass, and Skip Moore, the first of three drummers the band used, including Howie Johnson, who was injured in a car accident and replaced by Mel Taylor. Bogle switched to bass guitar in 1963. Players joined and left the group in the '60s but Bogle and Wilson were the keys. "Walk - Don't Run" was originally a jazz instrumental that Chet Atkins covered on his HI-FI IN FOCUS album but the Ventures took to it with gusto, emphasizing the beat and seeing it climb to No. 2 on the charts in 1960. The band's first recording, "Cookies and Coke," was on the Blue Horizon label, formed by Wilson's mother. They recorded "Walk - Don't Run" and sent it to DJs, including Seattle's popular Pat O'Day, who began using it to end newscasts. Dolton Records heard it and signed the band. In the next four years, four more Dolton releases hit the charts, including No. 15 in 1960 "Perfidia" and the 1964 re-release of a surf version of "Walk - Don't Run," which hit No. 8. By this time, the ever-flexible and versatile Ventures had included surf music in their repertoire. The fuzz-guitar sound began in 1962 in "2000-Pound Bee." The band may have had its last major hit in 1969 with the theme from TV's "Hawaii Five-O," which went to No. 4, but its staying power has never diminished. It is still one of the most popular American bands ever in Japan. The band recorded 50 albums between 1960-73 and at least 13 of them were solely for Japanese fans.

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