Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein, from 1973, is a classic synth jam.
But – while you’ve probably heard Winter’s Frankenstein dozens of times – you may not know much about the songs’ origin – or how Edgar Winter came to be one of the few badasses of the keytar….
Winter recently explained the epic genesis of Frankenstein:
“The original riff for that (came) back when I was playing with Johnny (Winter). As a matter of fact, we played it at Woodstock.
And that’s a little known fact. I had written that riff basically thinking (how) I wanted an instrumental that I could use as a showcase. I thought of myself as an instrumentalist, though not as a singer at all.
I wrote the riff just thinking of that particular blues trio. Now what would be a cool, really powerful riff that I could use as a basis for a song? (Sings opening riff.)
I said, ‘That sounds really powerful and sort of bluesy.’
And I was playing Hammond B-3 and alto sax. And I also played drums as a kid. Played all of those instruments in various bands that Johnny and I had together.
And I said, ‘Well, I’ll just use this instrumental as sort of a platform. And I’ll play a little organ and play some sax.’ And then we had two sets of drums onstage. And I did a dual drum solo with Johnny’s drummer, Red Turner, and we played that song all over the world and then completely forgot about it. I didn’t think of it for years.
Then, with the advent of the synthesizer … I had just seen the synthesizer in various music stores. Manny’s in New York was the most popular music store. And I’ll never forget walking through the store and looking at these new synthesizers.
Basically, there were Moogs and ARPs back then. And the Moog was a built-in unit with the keyboards being a part of the control unit itself. But the ARP-2600 had a separate keyboard, a remote keyboard that was attached to the brain or the guts of the instrument with an umbilical-type cable. I looked at the keyboard and I said, ‘Wow, that looks pretty light. It looks like you could put a strap on that thing like a guitar.’ That’s exactly what I proceeded to do. The rest, as they say, is history.
I never thought about recording that song. I had no intention of recording it. We just called it ‘The Instrumental.’
It didn’t have a name. … And ‘Frankenstein’ was this big opus that was 15 or 20 minutes and had all of these parts. … And the way the whole thing came about was that back in those days, in recording bands would typically go into the studio with three or four songs. They’d have three or four songs written and sit down in the studio and actually create an album in the studio…. But one of the cardinal rules was the tape was always rolling. Whatever you played would not be lost and would be captured some kind of way. We loved playing that song and it was a song we used to, when we’d come in, to start the session a lot of times, we’d warm up by playing that song just because it was so much fun.
And I was talking to Rick Derringer about it … and Rick said, ‘Maybe we could edit that instrumental into something that would be usable.’ And I thought, ‘Wow, that’s kind of a crazy idea.’ But I like crazy ideas. It didn’t sound like anything else we were doing as a group, but it sounded like a good excuse to have a big end of the project bash and get a little more blasted that usual and have a big editing party.
That’s basically what we did. So we were sitting there with pieces of it lying all over the control room, draped over the backs of chairs and overflowing the console and the couch. And we were trying to figure out how to put it all back together.
And then, at that point, the drummer, Chuck Ruff, mumbled the immortal words, ‘Wow, man, it’s like Frankenstein.’
Wow. ‘Frankenstein.’ I think that’s it. It really has that musical imagery. When you hear that theme, you can just see that hulking monster, that hulking, lumbering monster. I couldn’t have written something that sounded more like Frankenstein if I’d been thinking about it, with that intention. As soon as I heard, ‘Frankenstein!,’ the monster was born! And that’s the story.”
Edgar Winter – Frankenstein – Live Studio Performance – 1973
via ffhir1776:
The Edgar Winter group in a 1973 live studio performance. Watch as Winter demonstrates his mastery of several instruments including the synthesizer, saxophone, and timbales all in one stellar performance of his rock classic Frankenstein.
The other players are Chuck Ruff on drums, Rick Derringer on guitar, and Dan Hartman on bass. Derringer was a frequent guitarist for Winter in both the studio and on tour. His biggest hit as a solo artist was his 1974 Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo. Frankenstein was the big hit off of Winters They Only Come Out at Night LP, which Derringer produced.
Hartman co-wrote, with Winter, most of the songs and did most of the lead vocals. They Only Come Out at Night is a must for any early 1970s classic rock collection. It is a solid production from start to finish featuring several music styles from pop rock to progressive rock, to the party novelty We All Had a Real Good Time. The acoustic ballad Autumn written and sung by Hartman is one of my favorites off the LP. Hartman would have his biggest hit as a solo artist in 1985 with I Can Dream About You, which peaked at number 55 on the charts.
I obtained this video via another YouTube channel. I noticed the audio was way out of sync with the video so I fixed that and did some other minor editing. This is an exceptional look at an era in music that many feel was the peak of artistic expression and song craft. An era when raw talent and musicianship mattered most as opposed to todays visual and sex obsessed music industry. Oh to be back in the days when the music mattered most!
Edgar Winter on synthesizer, saxophone, and timbales
Chuck Ruff on Drums
Rick Derringer on Guitar
Dan Hartman on Bass
Hey! Thanks for this one. I haven't seen this performance in a long time. Nice piece of Fusion.
I got to see this live when I was a kid–seemed very much longer and had a few more parts: "Frankenstein" = monster made of many parts. Seen it on TV several times too– all different and fitting the ambient mood. They played to their audience, something that is not done anymore, and they were very good at it.
Still don't think I could look cool wearing a strap-on though. But Winter– doesn't seem to matter, Ha!
Hey! Thanks for this one. I haven't seen this performance in a long time. Nice piece of Fusion.
I got to see this live when I was a kid–seemed very much longer and had a few more parts: "Frankenstein" = monster made of many parts. Seen it on TV several times too– all different and fitting the ambient mood. They played to their audience, something that is not done anymore, and they were very good at it.
Still don't think I could look cool wearing a strap-on though. But Winter– doesn't seem to matter, Ha!
Hey! Thanks for this one. I haven't seen this performance in a long time. Nice piece of Fusion.
I got to see this live when I was a kid–seemed very much longer and had a few more parts: "Frankenstein" = monster made of many parts. Seen it on TV several times too– all different and fitting the ambient mood. They played to their audience, something that is not done anymore, and they were very good at it.
Still don't think I could look cool wearing a strap-on though. But Winter– doesn't seem to matter, Ha!
great article but one very false fact, Dan Hartman did not die because of suicide, he passed away from complications of an illness, this is an absolute fact as I was honored to have him as a mentor and friend.
marc – thanks for the note. That was part of the text attached to the video, I edited it to remove this.
Sorry about the suicide reference. My source was All Music Guide. After reading your comment that his death was not a suicide I went back and checked and AMG is now no longer reporting his death as a suicide. I guess someone infromed them they had it wrong too. I removed it from my YouTube comments.
One of the all time classics. The first time I had any concept of HEAVY. At ten I had a little FM radio next to my bed — usually pretty tame middle of the road radio fare back then. Then FRANKENSTEIN came on and my world changed with that opening riff. I knew I was now a lover of HARD ROCK….which of course led me to Sabbath, etc in the next few years
Great vid. Always been looking for the radio version that had the fantastic yodel in it though.
There’s no yodeling in Frankenstein, you’re thinking of Hocus Pocus, by Focus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ouPGGLI6Q
I USED TO LISTEN TO THE ALBUM VERSION ON AM RADIO STATIONS HERE IN MY COUNTRY AND I STILL SUPPOSE THE LEAD GUITAR IS BY RONNIE MONTROSE,BUT THIS VERSION HAS RICK DERRINGER ON GUITAR SO NOW I’M CONFUSED ABOUT THAT.WHAT IS THE REAL FACT? GREETINGS FROM TEZIUTLÁN,PUEBLA,MÉXICO.
Rick had played with Johnny and Edgar in the band White Trash, Rick Derringher went on to produce the album for Edgar that had both Frankenstein and Free Ride top 40 hit records on it. Ronnie Montrose did play guitar on the album but because of some disagreement between Edgar and Ronnie, Ronnie left the band. It was later said that Rick had provoked the argument, but I don’t remember Ronnie confirming that. Rick went on to play guitar for Edgar for awhile. Johnny made the comment that Edgar was changing guitar players quite a bit around this time and I don’t remember whether Rick stepped in before all the other guitar players, or after. Side info-New York Dolls also had a completely different song named Frankenstein around this time and the one big hit record that Rick had, he had done first with Johnny Winter’s White Trash-Rock and Roll HootchieCoo(I like Rick’s solo album version of it better), oh Rick’s album was called All American Boy. Hope this info helped.
I saw Edgar Winter group and Rick Derringer play “Frankenstein” at the San Diego Sports Arena around 1973. I can honestly say there isn’t a week that goes by I haven’t thought of that performance. The best ever. I have been to 100’s of concerts and that one still tops all of them.
“Really good shewww”.
My first concert when I was 14 was The Edgar Winter Group in Spring, 1973. I already loved them and really loved Rick on guitar from his previous work with Johnny and Edgar. Was greatly surprised when they came out and Edgar told us all that he had Rick with him to play guitar that night in Tampa. Rick played R&RHK and Still Alive and Well. Of course, I was estatic. It was a great show. Dan Hartman was full of energy and Edgar was the BEST! I will never forget that night. FWIW, ELO opened the show.
RIP Dan!
Wow,what an amazing performance ! The short interview/chat at the beginning was also a treat.Thanks for posting this very talented man and group.
Love this guy. He and Johnny.
Saw him in the 70’s and met him in 2011 Aug. 13.
Marksville Louisiana
where did that video go??? it now says ‘unavailable’
Updated!
I meant the video of the early studio session – I’m familiar with it .. the embedded link still says ‘unavailable’.. thanks for the reply tho
Aw, man. Remember when pop and rock musicians actually PLAYED their instruments and worked together in BANDS! Great fun!
“pieces of [3-inch audio recording tape] lying all over the control room, draped over the backs of chairs and overflowing the console and the couch..” “…man, it’s like Frankenstein.” “…you can just see that hulking monster, that hulking, lumbering monster. I couldn’t have written something that sounded more like Frankenstein… the monster was born! And that’s the story.”
Well, I’ll give you that the 60s often felt like walking through Shelly’s novel… oh no, psychedelic light shows and electronic music?!? ..and so forth. A real contrast to the prevailing Folk-Rock Peacenik Movement. So that might have been an influence on the, uh, composition. Which was a jam at Woodstock and then ad nauseum every damn where else throught the 70s and beyond, if I recall the grind correctly. Awesome longevity for an instrumental jam. A tribute to the freak’s natural born music talent. But truth be told, you could easily change the entire vibe of this live tenet of the rock stage opener by simply tweaking the oscillator filter(s) on the bass/lead synth part, which is a patch (originally on ARP2600 or whatever you use to ape it, digi-sample etc) that demands a loud “unison” setting—all oscillators on one note to make each key as powerful as possible when played: no filtering to smooth/quiet a brash sawtooth waveform (square wave is a different story and could also be used to change the lead synth part of this tune into a clarinet-like mellow piece of music) nor any multi-voice parts needed.. which latter effect, in the 60s-early70s required an organ because multi-voice synths hadn’t yet been invented). So it’s really about a synthesizer programming arrangement thing, not what they said. What’d they say? Oh, right. Looked like mad scientists in the mixing booth. Yeah well, it always looks like mad scientists in the mixing booth. Because, after all, that’s essentially what the mixing booth is. But really, the image of Frankenstein comes from people’s amazement, or shock/fear thereof, the New Sound of the Future: Electronic Synthesizers. Especially when you play this one live at a USA Heartland location. There, you can still sometimes see the fear in the hillbillies’ eyes when they hear that sawtooth waveform amplified loudly in their faces.
“… one of the cardinal rules was the tape was always rolling. Whatever you played would not be lost and would be captured some kind of way.”
Listen up, kids. Most of these people back in the day, did NOT have the freedom of home recording studios. Not on the professional level, for that matter. Unless they were hippies like these guys were. The same applies today/as ever with sadistic pop-producers in expensive studios. But home studios gives us the Solution, as with so many things so many talented geniuses suffered over for so long.. such as an orchestration that can be heard before presenting to a live rehearsal. Point: make use of these amazing tools, and then Demand More Humane Recording Arts Behavior. For example, Leave The Recording Stream On From The Moment The Talented Musicians Begin Playing Their Instruments.
“I Can Dream About You” actually charted to #6 on Billboard’s Hot 100, there’s another inconsistency which needs to be retracted. It was his biggest hit, but not his biggest seller. The disco hit “Instant Replay” only charted to # 29, but sold a million copies, and is certified Gold.
Although he was HIV positive, he did not die of AIDS, but of a brain tumor.