The man who created the iconic open hi-hat drum sound in the legendary Roland TR-909 Rhythm composer is planning to sue “every c#%t” involved in techno and house music since 1987.
Saburo Yoshida, 113, claims that he never signed the release form with the Roland corporation giving them permission to include the sound in their machine. Furthermore, he claims that he was never paid for his work properly.
Speaking in Tokyo this afternoon he told our reporter, “Back in ’83 we were crazy you know. We’d spend days tweaking shit to make it sound right and totally lose ourselves in the vibe, sometimes we went for weeks without seeing our families or even going to the toilet. We were all about focus. We knew this shit had to be tight.”
“When the thing came out we were all chuffed to bits, over the moon. We knew we had created something sick and we were all just stoked to be part of it. Roland kept us in noodles while we were working on it and that was enough for most of us. But shit got real as soon as Derrick May dropped “It Is What It Is”. I instantly had people coming up to me in the street shaking my hand, thanking me for for the Hi-Hat. I was on top of the world!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTUNMpgYGHw
But unhappier times were ahead for Yoshida.
“Even though I was loving the attention the old ball and chain was in my ear 24/7 asking where the dollar was. I couldn’t stand the nagging anymore so I went back to Roland HQ and had a meeting with the bosses. They wined and dined me but ultimately the only remuneration I received for my work was a crate of Sapporo, a carton of Benson & Hedges and a couple of ageing prozzies – the wife wasn’t too impressed about those I can tell you!”
Yoshida then went off grid and became a recluse.
“You know, my head was so messed up. Here I was, essentially the father of techno, yet I couldn’t rub two ha’pennys together. So I packed up my shit and moved out of the city just to get away from everything. Then one day in about 1992 I was fishing on a lake near my cabin and these annoying kids came over with a ghetto blaster blaring out, proper shit the trout up it did. After cussing them off all I could hear was the tormenting sound of Joey Beltram’s ‘Energy Flash’ and that’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks, I had made the mother fucking ride cymbal too! Back in the day we all thought it was pretty shit, didn’t think anybody was ever going to use it so kinda just threw it in there and had done with it. All this time I had been vex so hard about the hi-hat that I’d completely forgotten about the ride. It was time to sort this shit out!”
After moving back to Tokyo, Yoshida unsuccessfully attempted to sue Roland repeatedly over a period of 16 years.
“I was about to throw in the towel when one my spar’s suggested that I approach the actual artists that had used my sounds to see if they felt like hooking a brother up. All of them told me to fuck off in no uncertain terms so I’ve now started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money so I can sue these c#%t’s and buy the wife a new Honda.”
Nobody from Roland was available to comment, but there are concerned rumblings from the Deep House community as producers race around trying to find a new synth in case the guy that created that bass sound in NI Massive cops the hump too.
source:
http://www.d3ep.com/news/creator-of-the-909-hi-hat-sues-house-music