The Ventures

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Bob Bogle (guitar, bass; born January 16, 1934, died June 14, 2009), Nokie Edwards (guitar, bass; born May 9, 1935), Gerry McGee (guitar; born November 17, 1937), Mel Taylor (drums; born September 24, 1933, died August 11, 1996), Don Wilson (guitar; born February 10, 1933)

The Ventures are best remembered for a pair of Sixties smashes, “Walk – Don’t Run” and “Hawaii Five-O.” Yet their most impressive feat was charting 38 albums from 1960 to 1972. The Ventures’ “big guitar sound” made them an instrumental institution in the Sixties. Guitar Player magazine called them “the quintessential guitar combo of the pre-Beatles era, influenced not only styles, but also a generation’s choice of instruments.”

The Ventures’ nucleus came together in 1958, when Don Wilson and Bob Bogle met on a car lot in Tacoma, Washington. The two guitarists played as a duo before hooking up with guitarist/bassist Nokie Edwards and drummer Howie Johnson. They performed as the Impacts and the Versatones before settling on the Ventures. “We were venturing into a different style of music, and the name would give us room to expand,” Wilson told journalist Robert J. Dalley. The Ventures self-released two singles on their Blue Horizon label, including “Walk – Don’t Run,” released in 1960. When that song became popular on local radio stations, Seattle-based Dolton Records (a Liberty affiliate) signed the group and reissued the single. It became a #2 national hit, and an instrumental standard, selling 2 million copies.

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Popular tags: surf, instrumental, surf rock, 60s, rock  See more

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1		Hawaii Five-O			331
2		Walk Don't Run			323
3		Pipeline			227
4		Perfidia			173
5		Wipe Out			168
6		Walk - Don't Run			151
7		Walk, Don't Run			119
8		Ghost Riders in the Sky			113
9		Diamond Head			109
10		Apache			95
11		Telstar			86
12		Secret Agent Man			82
13		Tequila			79
14		Out of Limits			69
15		The House Of The Rising Sun			67

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