You Can Put Your Sorries in a Sax, Mister!

It is my belief that there are certain instruments that go in and out of fashion in rock, and others that will always be a part of its musical landscape (like your core instruments of guitars and drums, and variations of the piano). Typically these "additional instruments, like the mandolin, percussion instruments like timpanis and bongos, vocorders, etc add a texture to music on a song-by-song basis and give the ear a little variety.

However, there is one instrument that I feel needs to be retired from ever being used in ANY kind of rock format, and that is the saxophone. I am not referring to the instrument as part of a brass ensemble, like what you would hear on Motown or Staxx albums or the like, where they add to the rhythm and melody of a song. I am talking about the solo sax-that grating, pealing, psuedo-rock posturing piece of metal that can turn a good song into a cringe-inducing, dated homage to what was once cool (I'll add the postulate discounting songs from the 1950s, because it did represent rock back then).

Whenever I hear a sax solo, particularly in music from the 1980s, I have a combination of a laughing-and-cringing facial reflex. My mind forms a distinct image of a guy with those big, black Ray-bans that are supposed to cool but do the exact opposite. I imagine this character leaning back as he lets loose with a sound not unlike the Devil letting out a a high-pitched gas emission. I see a crowd of 80s-banged folks in puffy fluorescent outfits clapping along with big smiles in a club like the one in 48 Hours and wooping it up. Much like a scene from Eddie and the Cruisers II. This is why I was never a Springsteen fan and why I am concerned about The Hold Steady and The Killers.

The sax is the equivalent of your dad wearing black socks with sandals, and it needs to go away.

Forever.

Is there an instrument in rock you think should have a lifetime ban, or at least be on probation?

-Chris