The Roland TR-808 is easily speaking the most influential drum machine of all time. Produced from 1980 through 1983, this analog drum machine has been used in in thousands of songs, has been name checked in the lyrics of dozens of songs, has arguably influenced drum machine design more than any other product, and has been copied & emulated in both hardware & software. However, it would take the second most influential drum machine to take over the charts.
Initially the 808 was considered a commercial failure. Roland intended the instrument to be used by musicians to make demo recordings. The logic was that by owning an 808, a songwriter could avoid hiring a drummer for a demo session, which would likely also reduce the recording costs as well. However, professional songwriters felt that using the artificial sounding 808 in a demo session would make their song less likely to be taken on by a recording artist, thus limiting a songwriter’s potential income. Furthermore, while it retailed for far less than some other more advanced drum machines, at $1,195 it was quite expensive ($4,558 in 2022 when adjusted for inflation).
It took a younger generation of musicians who bought 808s second hand (reportedly for as little as $100 in 1983) to embrace the instrument because of its artificial nature, not in spite of it. Namely, I’m talking about hip-hop as well as musicians who created dance music in a style that would evolve into techno and electronica. In particular, Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock” (1982) was the first hip hop tune to widely show the potential for the 808.
However, there were some chart toppers early on that featured the 808. “Sexual Healing” (1982) by Marvin Gaye was the first hit to use the 808. Other (non-hip hop) hits to use the 808 would appear on the charts well after the 808 was no longer in production. For instance, Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” didn’t appear until 1987.
As suggested earlier the true game changer in terms of influence on the charts was the LinnDrum. Produced from 1982 through 1985, the LinnDrum was the first widely available drum machine that used digitally sampled recordings of real drum sounds. The LinnDrum, also called the LM-2, was an updated version of the LM-1 (produced from 1980 through 1983). Both machines used 8 bit samples, which is comically low by contemporary standards, but was the state of the art in the early eighties. The LM-1 featured a sample rate of 28 kHz, while the LM-2 increased that to 35kHz, producing frequencies up to 14 kHz and 17.5 kHz respectively.
While the LM-2 was significantly less expensive than the LM-1, both were quite expensive with the LM-1 retailing for about $4,995, and the LM-2 selling for $2,995 ($19,055 and $9,426 respectively in 2022 dollars). Despite the expense, several high profile bands and artists used these drum machines. The Human League, Gary Numan, Michael Jackson, and Prince all used the LM-1. The cheaper price of the LM-2 spread its usage to bands and artists including: Peter Gabriel, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, Giorgio Moroder, ABC, Devo, and John Carpenter. Given that many of these artists were prominent chart toppers of the era, it’s clear that this is when drum machines truly start to have a significant impact on the market.