History Forgotten

I found it interesting that, after Google decided to put up a doodle of a mini-Moog synthesizer to celebrate the birthday of its inventor Robert Moog, Ivan Hewett had to write a piece for the London Telegraph explaining what the damned thing was and why it was important. True, the Moog was an analog device that would eventually be dwarfed by digital technology. Also, it now belongs in the ranks of other “historically informed” instruments, whose performers understand the delicate balance between getting what you want and wanting what you get. My guess is that the “Moog sound” has not, itself, been forgotten but that most record collectors neither know nor care very much about its origins. This a bit of a pity, but it seems to indicate that our own cultural disposition to ignore history has migrated across the pond, at least as far as the United Kingdom.