Legend of the 808

Who can see the revolution coming when the revolutionary is first born? When you cross paths with a legend in the making can you feel it?

Words: Amani King

In 1980 a child was born in Japan. The child came from humble beginnings and an unconventional upbringing, but was destined to change the world of music forever. A revolutionary that spoke with a singular voice. A legend was about to be written.

Perhaps this child could only have been born in Japan - at that particular time in history - when Japanese electronic technology was ascendant. Certainly it could only have been born to the family once known as Ace Tone, and later, more famously, as Roland. This family gave the child a name that would become known around the world, TR808 Rhythm Composer, and the child was born to make beats.

Like its older brother CR-78 CompuRhythm, it had a bit of American DNA from musician and engineer Don Lewis, but it was the genius of the family patriarch Ikutaro Kakehashi - deliberately making use of offspec transistors that gave sizzle, snap, and boom to the child’s voice. And under the leadership of Tadao Kikumoto it was the design vision of one Hiro Nakamura that gave the child unique circuitry to house a brain provided by Mr. Hisanori Matsuoka’s software which gave the child groundbreaking capabilities.

TR-808, or just the 808 for short, was the first of its kind. Its voice was like drums but not drums — it sounded more like a futuristic idea of drums. Synthetic. Robotic. Hypnotic. The first fully programmable rhythm making robot at your service. Conceived of as a demo tool, a percussion sketchpad, a portable workshop for professional composers, little 808 stepped out into the world in 1980, looking sharp in its black and gray suit with orange and yellow accents and was… commercially rejected. A shortlived failure. Few saw its potential early on. But the 808 was just getting started. Theories were being sketched out by early electronic musicians like Kraftwerk in Germany and Yellow Magic Orchestra (the first to partner up with the 808) in Japan, and a revolution was brewing on the other side of the Pacific. The 808 found its way into the hands of visionaries who were cutting their own paths and the word started to be heard on the streets.

The 808 and Marvin Gaye gave R&B new feeling with ‘Sexual Healing’. But the real revolution sprang from ‘Planet Rock’. With one irresistible single Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force planted seeds that would grow into the entire culture of Hip Hop and major electronic music genres like Miami bass and Detroit techno. In the 808 revolution to come, Planet Rock was the manifesto.

And you don’t stop! Once the seeds took root the 808 was an irrepressible collaborator. Producers like Rick Rubin and groups like the Beastie Boys got in pretty early as did Whitney Houston on ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ and the sound became so definitive that countless artists had to have the beat and the booming bass of the 808.

SOS Band, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Fatboy Slim, Diplo, Damon Albarn, 808 State (naturally), Talking Heads, New Order, Lil’ Wayne, Kanye, Aphex Twin, Future, Outkast, Usher, Jamie xx, hell, even drummer Phil Collins had an early love affair with the 808’s unique sound, and the list goes on and on.

While the Japanese have invented countless wonderful things. Japan is often thought of as a refining culture more than an inventing one. The Japanese have a talent for taking good ideas and making them great. So it’s fascinating to see how one humble Japanese invention - the first fully programmable drum machine - became a world-wide wellspring of creativity.

If someone randomly says “drum machine” to you, the beats that pop into your head are almost guaranteed to be in the voice of the 808. It is the drum machine to rule all drum machines for its distinctive sound and its musical legacy. The revolution didn’t need to be televised; it was felt on the street. Booties got shook. Bodies got rocked. And right up to the present moment, the beat goes on and on and on.

roland.com/us/promos/roland_tr-808