Silver Apples
USA, 1967–2020
New York duo of Simeon, playing a home-built bank of oscillators, and drummer Danny Taylor, active 1967-1970 and revived in the 1990s. Working outside academic electronic music, they combined oscillator drones with psychedelic rock on some of the first electronic rock records.
MusicRoots documents 1 artist who influenced Silver Apples and 6 artists Silver Apples influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.
Who influenced Silver Apples?
- The Rolling Stones — How Coxe learned the instrument at all: he put a Rolling Stones record on and played the oscillator against it. The first electronic rock record was taught by rock records.
Which artists did Silver Apples influence?
- Suicide — Alan Vega named Silver Apples as one of the core inspirations that led him to form Suicide — their oscillator-and-drum minimalism is the direct ancestor of Suicide's synth-punk.
- Radiohead — Radiohead are among the acts cited as influenced by Silver Apples' pioneering electronic rock.
- Moby — Moby is among the electronic artists cited as influenced by Silver Apples' oscillator-driven sound.
- Beastie Boys — The Beastie Boys are among the acts cited as influenced by Silver Apples' early electronic experimentation.
- Spacemen 3 — Silver Apples' oscillator-driven repetition prefigured Spacemen 3's hypnotic, drone-based psychedelia.
- Stereolab — Silver Apples' use of early synthesizers in a rock context directly shaped Stereolab's vintage-electronic sound.