EARWORM ALERT
One of the first compositions written expressly for the synthesizer is also one of the best-selling instrumentals of all time — but not in its original version.
“Pop Corn” is what German composer Gershon Kingsley called it on his 1969 album “Music to Moog By,” recorded to show off the capabilities of synthesized sound. It wasn’t much noticed at the time — I’d joke about promotion and distribution, but there really was none from Audio Fidelity Records, which was famous for producing the first mast-produced stereo records and catered mainly to audiophiles who liked classical music.
Gershon, who fled Nazi Germany as a teenager, wrote music and directed orchestras for Broadway and Hollywood before getting interested in the new electronic music in the late ’60s. “Music to Moog By” included covers of both Beethoven and the Beatles, along with a few originals.
After that album Kingsley put together the First Moog Quartet, which included Stan Free, who in 1972 re-recorded the song with a group of musicians he dubbed Hot Butter. This version was a global hit — it sold nearly 1 million copies in France alone, topped the charts in a half-dozen countries and reached No. 9 in the U.S.
Its success spawned covers from bands around the world. You’d think the lack of lyrics would help in that regard, but in many languages lyrics were written to accompany the tune. In Czechoslovakia, for example, singer Jiří Korn turned it into “Jako Mandle Pražené,” which translates as “Like Roasted Almonds,” a reference to his lost love’s eyes. I dunno, maybe it sounds more romantic in Czech.
To end on a sweeter note, Here’s Kingsley’s arrangement of “Nowhere Man” from “Music to Moog By.” It holds up pretty well considering how groundbreaking it was at the time.
