自1955年摇滚乐诞生后，电吉他演奏成为一种流行的乐器，许多成功的乐曲使用电吉他创作，许多电吉他的作品创造出伟大的乐曲。The Ventures虽不是最早用电吉他演奏的乐队，却是最红的演奏团队。他们拥有将近40张的专辑唱片进入排行榜，17支单曲攻下Top 40，2把电吉他的演奏乐队却创造了许多摇滚乐队的梦想，流行音乐在60年代的奇迹。
The Ventures是由爱好吉他的工人Bob Bogle与好友Don Wilson组成，并凭借单曲 「Walk Don’t Run」在西雅图的电台大受欢迎，唱片公司回头来将单曲发行至全美国，于是登上了排行榜亚军，随后推出专辑“Walk Don’t Run”，而“Walk Don’t Run”亦自此与The Ventures划上了等号。
之后，随着「Perfidia」、「Ram-Bunk-Shush」两支单曲在1960-61成为畅销曲，且由于不用受限于人声的表达风格，很快地，他们演奏的范围便扩及--扭扭舞、乡村、流行、电视配乐、迷幻，乃至地下音乐（Garage车库摇滚），其中，1964年的「Telstar」再度成为他们的畅销曲，而他们作品的销售亦已在美国累积超过2千万张的数字。而后，1969年的电视配乐「Hawaii Five-O」亦再度拿到单曲第4名，在榜上停留了3年。随着70年代的到来，The Ventures更将演奏内容扩充到朋克、迪斯科、雷鬼、抒情摇滚及拉丁音乐 ，此外，由于在日本地区大受欢迎，亦自此开始在日本直接发片。
Not the first but definitely the most popular rock instrumental combo, the Ventures scored several hit singles during the 1960s — most notably Walk-Dont Run and Hawaii Five-O — but made their name in the growing album market, covering hits of the day and organizing thematically linked LPs. Almost 40 Ventures albums charted, and 17 hit the Top 40. And though the groups popularity in America virtually disappeared by the 1970s, their enormous contribution to pop culture was far from over; the Ventures soon became one of the most popular world-wide groups, with dozens of albums recorded especially for the Japanese and European markets. They toured continually throughout the 1970s and 80s — influencing Japanese pop music of the time more than they had American music during the 60s.
The Ventures origins lie in a Tacoma, Washington group called the Impacts. Around 1959, construction workers and hobby guitarists Bob Bogle and Don Wilson formed the group, gigging around Washington state and Idaho with various rhythm sections as backup. They recorded a demo tape, but after it was rejected by the Liberty Records subsidiary Dolton, the duo founded their own label, Blue Horizon. They released one vocal single (Cookies and Coke), then recruited bassist Nokie Edwards and drummer Skip Moore and decided to instead become an instrumental group.
The Ventures went into the studio in 1959 with an idea for a new single they had first heard on Chet Atkins Hi Fi in Focus LP. Released on Blue Horizon in 1960, the single Walk-Dont Run became a big local hit after being aired as a news lead-in on a Seattle radio station (thanks to a friend with connections). In an ironic twist, Dolton Records came calling and licensed the single for national distribution; by summer 1960, it had risen to number two in the charts, behind only Its Now or Never by Elvis Presley. After Howie Johnson replaced Moore on drums, the Ventures began recording their debut album, unsurprisingly titled after their hit single.
Two singles, Perfidia and Ram-Bunk-Shush, hit the Top 40 during 1960-61, but the Ventures soon began capitalizing on what became a trademark: releasing LPs which featured songs very loosely arranged around a theme implied in the title. The groups fourth LP, The Colorful Ventures, included Yellow Jacket, Red Top, Orange Fire and no less than three tracks featuring the word blue in the title. The Ventures put their indelible stamp on each style of 60s music they covered, and they covered many — twist, country, pop, spy music, psychedelic, swamp, garage, TV themes. (In the 70s, the band moved on to funk, disco, reggae, soft rock and Latin music.) The Ventures lineup changed slightly during 1962. Howie Johnson left the band, to be replaced by session man Mel Taylor; also, Nokie Edwards took over lead guitar with Bob Bogle switching to bass.
One of the few LPs not arranged around a theme became their best-selling; 1963s The Ventures Play Telstar, The Lonely Bull featured a cover of the number one instrumental hit by the British studio band the Tornadoes and produced by Joe Meek. Though their cover of Telstar didnt even chart, the album hit the Top Ten and became the groups first of three gold records. A re-write of their signature song — entitled Walk-Dont Run 64 — reached number eight that year. By the mid-60s however, the Ventures appeared to be losing their touch. Considering the volatility of popular music during the time, it was quite forgivable that the group would lose their heads-up knowledge of current trends in the music industry to forecast which songs should be covered. The television theme Hawaii Five-O hit number four in 1969, but the Ventures slipped off the American charts for good in 1972. Instead, the band began looking abroad for attention and — in Japan especially — they found it with gusto. After leaving Dolton/Liberty and founding their own Tridex Records label, the Ventures began recording albums specifically for the Japanese market. The group eventually sold over 40 million records in that country alone, becoming one of the biggest American influences on Japanese pop music ever.
Nokie Edwards left the Ventures in 1968 to pursue his interest in horse racing for a time, and was replaced by Gerry McGee; though he returned by 1972, Mel Taylor left the group that year for a solo career, to be replaced by Joe Barile. (Taylor returned also, in 1979.) By the early 80s, the Ventures core quartet of Wilson, Bogle, Edwards and Taylor could boast of playing together for over 20 years. Though Edwards left the band for good in 1984 (replaced again by Gerry McGee) and Mel Taylor died mid-way through a Japanese tour in 1996 (replaced by his son Leon), the Ventures continued to pack venues around the world.
