Mellotronics

The keyboard-orchestra in rock history

by Claudio Fabretti

I brani storici con il mellotron al centro della nuova puntata di Rock in Onda, il programma condotto da Claudio Fabretti tutti i mercoledì dalle 12 alle 14 sulle web-frequenze di Radio Città Aperta (www.radiocittaperta.it).

Attraverso 26 pezzi ripercorriamo l’uso di questa magica tastiera-orchestra nella storia del pop e del rock, passando dai pionieri sixties Moody Blues, Beatles, Kinks e Pink Floyd ai fasti dell’era prog (Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Goblin), dagli insospettabili Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath e Lynyrd Skynyrd agli irriducibili Omd che ne preservarono l’uso nel decennio dei synth, dalla riscoperta di Talk Talk e Paul Weller agli imprevedibili seguaci dei 90’s (Smog, Pulp, Smashing Pumpkins) fino ai trionfi orchestrali di Air, Radiohead e Coldplay.

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Mellotronics – L’uso del mellotron nella storia del rock

Il mellotron è uno strumento a tastiera creato da Nick Awde a Birmingham nel 1963. Dotato di una serie di nastri magnetici con suoni preregistrati, veniva utilizzato per imitare archi, cori e strumenti a fiato. Era a ogni modo fornito anche di altri settaggi (organo, fisarmonica, chitarre e via dicendo), che però non comparivano in ogni modello e venivano comunque utilizzati molto di rado.

The first to use it was Graham Bond, whose tracks haven't been included in this selection as they're extremely rough and naive. For the curious, the first rock song to feature a Mellotron is his "Lease On Love", released as a 7-inch single in 1965.

From there until well into the mid-Seventies the Mellotron ran rampant, particularly in Britain, where it went on to define first a slice of psychedelic pop and then progressive rock as a whole. Among the few of that movement who didn't use it, Keith Emerson stands out, his virtuoso streak being a poor match for a keyboard that, since it essentially played a set of tapes, didn't allow the keys to be struck with too much speed or force.

The Mellotron slowly declined in the second half of the Seventies, gradually supplanted by polyphonic synthesizers, before all but disappearing at the dawn of the Eighties, when samplers made it look obsolete.

In the Nineties, however, it made a comeback, particularly in Britain, where it was Britpop's guiding spirit Paul Weller who suggested reviving it. From then on several American bands would use it too, Smashing Pumpkins above all.

Oggi come oggi il suono del Mellotron è abbastanza diffuso, benché spesso falsificato al computer

(da “Tastiera o orchestra? Mellotron – Le 80 canzoni essenziali” di Federico Romagnoli)

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06/03/2026

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Claudio Fabretti, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition

Mellotron on OndaRock

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Miscellaneous

Mellotron – The 80 Essential Songs

Mellotron and its Kin

Discography

	Show tracklist

	1. Moody Blues – Nights In White Satin (1967) 2. The Beatles – Strawberry Fields Forever (1967) 3. Kinks – Phenomenal Cat (1968) 4. Pink Floyd – Julia Dream (1968) 5. David Bowie – Space Oddity (1969) 6. King Crimson – In The Wake Of Poseidon (1970) 7. Yes – Heart Of The Sunrise (1971) 8. Black Sabbath – Changes (1972) 9. Led Zeppelin – Rain Song (1973) 10. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Tuesday’s Gone (1973) 11. Traffic – Dream Gerrard (1974) 12. Genesis – Entangled (1976) 13. Goblin – Suspiria (1977) 14. Big Star – Kangaroo (1978) 15. Heart – Down On Me (1980) 16. Joy Division – Decades (1980) 17. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Maid Of Orleans (1981) 18. Talk Talk – Life’s What You Make It (1985) 19. Paul Weller – Wild Wood (1993) 20. Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (1995) 21. Smog – Prince Alone In The Studio (1995) 22. Pulp – Help The Aged (1997) 23. Radiohead – Exit Music (1997) 24. Air – Dead Bodies (2000) 25. Coldplay - In My Place (2002) 26. Horrors – Changing The Rain (2011) Base strumentale: Archive - Lights (excerpts)