TENNESEE (CelebrityAccess) – Famed Nashville engineer and inventor of the fuzz pedal, Glenn Snoddy, passed away Monday at the age of 96.
Snoddy began his career as a radio engineer before eventually helping to establish Castle Studios as Tennesee’s first go to recording spot. He also worked at the Bradley Brothers-owned Quonset Hut where he oversaw sessions by country music greats like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Marty Robbins.
But, that was far from Snoddy’s biggest contribution to the genre. In fact, it was during a 1960 recording session for Robbins’ hit, “Don’t Worry,” that he and the band stumbled upon a distorted guitar tone that was so unusual, it forever altered the sound of popular music history.
When “Don’t Worry” went on to top the Billboard Country Songs chart a year later in 1961, Snoddy decided to re-create the sound by housing it inside a small box that gave guitar players the ability to go from a clean to a fuzzy sound at the push of a button.
Snoddy’s invention was such a revelation that it wasn’t long before The Gibson Company came knocking. They bought the rights to his patent and manufactured their own – the Maestro Fuzz-Tone FZ-1, which took the world by storm when just a few years later The Rolling Stone’s delivered “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”
So, here’s to Glenn Snoddy and his incredible invention! Rock and roll would have sounded far less crude without it.
