PART FIVE: SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
Well, folks, it’s been a trip. For the past four months, we’ve charted the unlikely and remarkable birth of fuzz, from a one-in-a-million studio accident to the creation of the first-ever effects pedal: the Maestro Fuzz-Tone FZ-1. We’ve also covered how that particular box of wonder was marketed so woefully that it almost ended up as a footnote in the history of popular music. Almost.
So how exactly did fuzz become one of the defining sounds of rock ’n’ roll? And how did the FZ-1 in particular overcome its disastrous product launch in 1962? The answer, as with so many things in life, is Keith Richards.
A New Kind Of Sleepwalking
The Rolling Stones debuted as a band on 12 July 1962 at the Marquee Club in London. This was the same year that the Maestro Fuzz-Tone was released. But the Stones had slightly more success when it came to marketing their wares.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had formed the band the year before., on 7 June 1963, and dropped their self-titled debut album on 16 April 1964.
