Editorial: Moog’s music lives on

Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005 | 9:18 a.m.

The comedy group Monty Python used the line, "And now for something completely different ..." to great effect in the early 1970s. Although the line probably wasn't inspired by Robert Moog, it certainly could have been. Moog, after tinkering since childhood with synthetic sound machines, and after earning his doctorate degree in engineering physics from Cornell University in 1965, went on to invent the Moog synthesizer.

No one much noticed until 1968, when the album "Switched on Bach" came out. It featured the music of the 18th century classical composer and the sound of the Moog synthesizer. Talk about something completely different! No one had ever heard anything like it. New forms of the sound were almost instantaneously everywhere. The Beatles, Stevie Wonder and The Monkees were among the first to successfully use the sound in their albums. Jazz musicians, including Herbie Hancock, took up the sound.

After Moog died Sunday at the age of 71 at his home in Asheville, N.C., obituaries accurately described him as a man who "revolutionized" music. Evolved versions of synthesizers are in wide use today in all forms of recorded and live music. We'll remember Moog for bringing something completely different, and delightful, to our ears.