The Animals’ inclusion of the pipes on “Sky Pilot” speaks to the way the instrument has been historically used to critique colonialist enterprises, in spite of its contemporary ties to those very enterprises. The Jacobites were members of a Scottish rebel militia that rose against British forces in 1745, and historians commonly cite their resulting defeat as the end of the Scottish clan system and of traditional Gaelic culture in general. But the song the pipe band was playing was “All the Blue Bonnets Are Over the Border,” a tune linked with the Scottish Jacobite rebellion. In order to include pipes on “Sky Pilot,” Burdon covertly recorded a practice session of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards pipe band-one of many groups that retains its links to British military units today. The single was released in January of 1968, during a time that also marked the launch of the Tet Offensive and the escalation of the Vietnam War. Take, for example, Eric Burdon and The Animals’ 1968 hit “Sky Pilot,” which includes a full 60 seconds of Scottish bagpipes. Sometimes, this artistic choice works on two levels: First, there’s the visceral impact of the instrument’s unique sound, and second, there’s the bagpipes’ more subversive history of being associated with protest. In addition to being spectacularly anarchic-sounding, bagpipes have long been part of a tradition of protest-one that’s perfectly in line with the disruptive ethos rock was founded on.įor decades, rock musicians have been using bagpipe noise to amplify political messages in their work. AC/DC’s first big hit, “Long Way to the Top,” notably used bagpipes during the era of its frontman Bon Scott, whose birthday is still celebrated in Scotland every year (he would have turned 70 today). It’s also why they’ve historically worked so well with rock music. The bagpipes don’t simply request your attention-they hold it hostage, which is why they work for ceremonial events like weddings and funerals. Unlike with other instruments, this volume range is static, making the noisiness of the Scottish bagpipes both very public and impossible to ignore. Scottish bagpipes are the noisiest unamplified instrument on earth: A single set of pipes produces between 95 and 110 decibels of sound, putting them closer to a jackhammer (95 decibels) than to a piano (60 to 70 decibels). ![]() ![]() Dozens of kinds of bagpipes exist throughout the world, but it’s the loud Scottish variety that are prominent in popular culture and that many associate with an iconic kind of racket. With his casual remark, my friend inadvertently made a profound point about the instrument: The history of the bagpipes’ inclusion in rock music is, in many ways, a history of noise. ![]() In May 2020 he was appointed Pipe Major of the Western Australia Police Pipe Band.Doctors Aren’t Sure How This Even Came Out of a Patient Haley Weiss In January 2020 McLaren stepped down from his post as the Pipe Major of the Glasgow Police Pipe Band and the director of the National Youth Pipe Band in order to return to his native Australia. Prior to his move to Scotland, McLaren attended Trinity College and was pipe major of Trinity College Pipes and Drums until 1997 when he joined the WA Police Pipe Band for 10 years. After moving to Scotland from Kalamunda, Australia, in 2007 became a member of the National Piping Centre in Glasgow and in 2011 became the first West-Australian to ever win the World Pipe Band Championships as part of the Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band. He is currently the Pipe Major of the Grade 1 Western Australia Police Pipe Band, Piper’s Trail Pipe Band, the former Pipe Major for the Grade One Glasgow Police Pipe Band, and the former director of The National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland. Alisdair McLaren (born 1979) is an Australian bagpiper.
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