The Science of Pop Rock

Musical tastes keep changing, but the science of sound remains the same.

You may not realize that some of the most popular rock music ever made was largely the work of an accomplished M.I.T.-trained engineer and inventor - Tom Scholz. (pronounced like Schultz) -- co-founder of the rock and roll band: Boston.

While many people consider Scholz to be one of the kings of Dinosaur Rock (i.e. outdated music), there is no doubt that his inventions fueled a whole new era of analog (non-digital) technology.

His Rockman guitar effect is still a genius blending of chorus (a phase-shifted audio doubler) and analog distortion, the forerunner of all current production-quality guitar "enhancement".

Okay, the guy didn't invent guitar, but he invented a clever method of making rock guitar audibly-pleasant to a vast cross-section of the world's population who might have never listened to ANY rock-music.

And let's not forget the beautiful vocals of the late Brad Delp, the band's lead-vocalist and co-founder.

It's not brainy, but its authors are.

This fortunate mix of music, pre-digital sound reinforcement, and electronic genius made Boston one of most listened-to bands in human history.

And while your taste in music might be different than mine, you almost certainly know Boston's music.

Not bad for an American band. ;)

2100 PDT 10/02/07

I realize that the links are to buy Boston's music, but if you scroll down a little, you'll find samples of their work...for reference.

Epithets of the 21st Century

Admittedly, I make some fairly outlandish statements.

But I'm certain that honest thinkers will recognize that I am not apt to make even hard-to-follow statements without good reason.

My experiences are both unique and agonizingly mundane...as are most people's, I suspect.

But I am not just a marionette of history. I seek to make sense of things for the benefit of myself and others hoping to find meaning in life.

In short, I believe that misdirection, misunderstanding and misanthropy tend to disintegrate the very structure of this corner of the universe in space and time...not mystically so, but in reality...so I avoid them at all costs.

You see, I recognize that each representative of humanity (even one that we loathe) is an incalculably valuable commodity in the universe...for various reasons.

This will no doubt surprise people who think of me as a self-infatuated ideologue, but I am sure that the evidence of my benign nature is widely apparent outside of this blog.

But one of the features of human beings is that they believe as they will. And I accept that being the brunt of ridiculous beliefs is a natural function of such complex beings as humans, so I've learned to hear-out the most ridiculous hypotheses for the sake of that understanding.

But even though I am only a high-school graduate with Multiple Sclerosis, I know that manipulating truth, for whatever purpose, is just plain destructive. So I make every effort possible to get the facts straight all the time.

If that can be considered a service to ANYONE, I'm sure they're getting a good deal.

What If Shroedinger's Cat Choked on a Quantum Hairball?

photo from: "Court Martial", Star Trek, Episode 15, copyright Paramount Pictures

If I could have foreseen this predicament would I have acted differently?

It's the plot hidden behind every time-travel story ever written, yet in any given circumstance beyond your influence the question remains: "what would YOU have done?"

Given exactly the same circumstances as another, how would YOU have acted?

And how can you be sure that at the hypothetical MOMENT OF TRUTH, you would really act as expected?

Anyone who has experienced the changing fortunes of life, understands depth of the question.

Even the late Gene Roddenberry, creator of the 20th Century's most profound science-fiction parable, Star Trek.

Would YOU Beam Down?