PLAYLIST

11 Songs With Saxophones In Them I Actually Like

Sax and Drugs and Rock-and-Roll

My Springsteen problem is just that saxophones don’t belong in rock & roll.

Courtney Love

It’s a sad day in my house when I agree with Courtney Love, but on this, I sort of agree…But not completely.

Sax is great. Springsteen is too orchestral for my tastes, and too piano-centric. Too many superfluous sounds. I prefer the sound rawer and purer, with the guitar as the focal instrument (after the vocals). This isn’t an article dissing’ Bruce; he’s a brilliant songwriter and performer. Just not my taste.

The tale, true or not, is that a Gibson Maestro Fuzz-Tone pedal — the god of rock’n’roll pedals — replaced the desired saxophone on Satisfaction because Keith Richards couldn’t get a sax player in time for the recording session. And that changed music forever. If you’re interested in more about this development, there is an archived The Atlantic article you might enjoy.