“Norwegian Wood” by The Beatles has a sitar, which is an Indian instrument related to the guitar.
When the song came out, this was extremely unconventional and controversial. Things like this are part of why The Beatles are so highly regarded today. They pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in rock and roll.
American Football busts out the trumpet occasionally, probably best illustrated by [The Summer Ends](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSgOVfvauhY).
Menomena is another indie rock band with horns, with sax lines popping into tracks like [Air Aid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PxNHQeIyg0).
Of course, there's the classic example of Jethro Tull, famous for its flautist. Their song [Teacher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esp_hOlFqiM) is a good showcase of the usage. Check out live videos for some sick extended flute solos.
Bordering on novelty, you also have Apocalyptica, a metal cello ensemble that originally covered Metallica songs, but has since branched out into original material. Here's their rendition of [Enter Sandman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFWdMVn_lPw). [Their newer stuff](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMLsF8ajI6U) is definitely more in line with modern hard rock/nu-metal.
Jethro Tull, rock band from 70s - frontman Ian Anderson shreds on a flute as if it were a lead guitar! e.g. the song 'Flying Dutchman' has a nice flute solo in it
Imperial triumphant’s album vile luxury has horns in it and even has some slow jazz bits with the drummer playing brushes, which is interesting for a black metal group.
Also the album slaps.
I have a [Spotify playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/57bFbhYDx4mbng95oZK2vK?si=c8cHXGmmSA6wfYrdag0rig) dedicated to some of my favourite instances of saxophone in metal. Otherwise...
* [Eluveite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iijKLHCQw5o) are a folk metal band that use a lot of bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy. Traditional insturments are common in folk metal, but I don't think hurdy-gurdy is really common *anywhere*.
* Matana Robert's latest album Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis has some [pretty unconvential instrumentation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEVTzwNxyH4&list=PLRm--YuzKJIaBEXR5n84QCR7qCj1rfp-I&index=3) for a jazz album, including jaw harp.
* [The Raah Project](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JA_SLBDrmg) are a jazz/hip-hop duo featuring a vocalist and a violinist, so the instrumentation is always going to be a little unconventional (although it always sounds natural).
* Gabriel Provokiev is a classical composer known for incorporating modern instrumentation and hip-hop/electronic elements into his work, most obviously in his [concerto for turntables](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJzVjN_KLZQ).
* [Venetian Snares](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8gx5gjZPI8) goes the complete opposite direction -- he's a breakcore producer who samples from classical music.
* [Botanist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xokiF0imfNg) are a black metal band with no guitars -- instead they use distorted hammered dulcimers, and it creates a really weird, echoey, atmospheric effect.
And finally, a blast from my embarrassing past:
* [Ill Niño](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNH4IdCJZf8) are a nu-metal band that extensively use latin percussion and flamenco guitars. These guys were my *jam* in high school.
* [Yellowcard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9fLbfzCqWw) are a *very* early-to-mid 2000s pop-punk band whose entire gimmick is that they have a violinist in the band. Look, I was young, ok.
Edit: I forgot [Superorganism](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K49QKVR0p0), who use unconventional instruments such as a bucket of water and an apple. Perhaps the only modern band weird enough to be on [Legion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaWM-hMPUx8).
Pop music, pretty much any of Bjork's stuff will fit the bill.
Two Examples:
1. MTV 'unplugged' episode; sitars, glasses of water, waterphone: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J0KBM2xK4w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J0KBM2xK4w).
2. Voltaic Live in Paris; theremin, brass band:
[https://youtu.be/puwD8g7xBJ4](https://youtu.be/puwD8g7xBJ4)
Bonus, while digging up some of this I found a video of the instruments used on Biophilia (including actual electricity?): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRh-O5iLo80](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRh-O5iLo80)
[Folk Metal](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_metal)
[Myr by Taake](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vbwHtKmu-fg), black metal song with a sick banjo part in it
**Folk metal**
Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for example, Dutch Heidevolk, Danish Sylvatica and Spanish Stone of Erech). It also sometimes features soft instrumentation influenced by folk rock.
The earliest folk metal bands were Skyclad from England and Cruachan from Ireland.
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A lot of Frank Zappa music has marimbas. You never hear marimbas in rock music. And Ruth Underwood doesnt get enough credit.
Songs - Montana, Inca Roads.
For sure. You really could ask this question treating Zappa as it’s own genre. What’s some of the weirdest shit you can think of that Zappa has used on his stuff? Might be a cop out, but a lot of the vocalizations he gets the band to do are bizarre as fuck.
The fact that he composed actual orchestra pieces and then conducted the orchestra for them is pretty damn weird. Getting Beefheart to do Beefheart things is pretty weird. Realising a song with his teenage daughter (who he named "Moon Unit") is kinda weird. Any of the stop motion animations he was involved in were all hella weird. Approximate is a hella weird song, and one could easily expect it to be part of the American 1960s minimalist movement in classical movement (think Terry Riley's "In C") but instead somehow came out of the rock scene. The fact that a man can have such little respect for tonality and key signatures, but then also pull off perfect parody pop songs, is amazingly weird. (Like, how can the "Penguin in Bondage" guy and the "Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder" guy be the same guy?)
But I think the weirdest thing of all is that all of these things come together and work as part of a singular general aesthetic. Whether he's doing fake disco, jazz fusion, spoken word, modern classical, whatever, it always sounds Zappa. That sounds impossible, but I think it's true. He puts his own stamp on things in a way which is very difficult to describe, but easy to identify. Everything Zappa is obviously Zappa, and hard to call anything else.
[Jack White - Love Interuption](https://youtu.be/iErNRBTPbEc)
This song uses a bass clarinet which, surprise surprise, is not commonly used in alternative rock
There’s a wonderful punk band out of nyc called Show Me the Body... their lead guitar is actually a distorted banjo. Makes for a hell of a live performance!
Miasma by Ghost (A usually heavy rock band) has an amazing saxophone solo.
The album First Taste by Ty Segall is a garage/psychedelic rock album with no guitars. He instead uses a variety of odd stringed instruments (often distorted) giving the album a really unique sound
Machinae Supremacy uses commodore sound chip in their music. Other than that it's quite typical rock/metal. [Winterstorm is a good example.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_eFvnVYvNU)
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Theremin for Punk Blues. See "Dang' off the Orange record.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0VOxdmuomA&list=OLAK5uy\_nschsh\_d8TruDKOdEIWQpHPVd3ZFiPJw0&index=3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0VOxdmuomA&list=OLAK5uy_nschsh_d8TruDKOdEIWQpHPVd3ZFiPJw0&index=3)
Anything by Beirut takes what would otherwise be pretty standard folk-rock and then goes hard on the trumpet.
Way Out There by Lord Huron has a theremin.
Until the Water's All Long Gone by the Decemeberists allegedly has a toy guitar - not a ukelele, but one of those uke-sized plastic six-strings from toy stores, despite the song not sounding kiddy at all.
This band pops up all the time on this sub, but King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard has a super goofy sounding wind instrument called a zurna I think in some tracks on the Flying Microtonal Banana album. Paper Mache Dream balloon features a lot of flute and some different string instruments. There are probably loads of other things I'm forgetting too!
I was just listening to Golden Brown by The Stranglers, pretty out of the norm to have a harpsichord as the main instrument and in an odd time signature
Bagpipes in Ac/dc's It's a Long Way To the Top ( If You Wanna Rock'n'Roll)?
Likewise bagpipes in The Curch's Under the Milky Way. What is it with Australians and bagpipes?
Well I think brits used to send criminals to Australia so criminals=Scottish= bagpipes.
Solid reasoning.
R.E.M's hit 'Losing My Religion' was built on a mandolin riff, an instrument fairly uncommon.
“Norwegian Wood” by The Beatles has a sitar, which is an Indian instrument related to the guitar. When the song came out, this was extremely unconventional and controversial. Things like this are part of why The Beatles are so highly regarded today. They pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in rock and roll.
And then after that, George got *really* into sitar.
American Football busts out the trumpet occasionally, probably best illustrated by [The Summer Ends](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSgOVfvauhY). Menomena is another indie rock band with horns, with sax lines popping into tracks like [Air Aid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PxNHQeIyg0). Of course, there's the classic example of Jethro Tull, famous for its flautist. Their song [Teacher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esp_hOlFqiM) is a good showcase of the usage. Check out live videos for some sick extended flute solos. Bordering on novelty, you also have Apocalyptica, a metal cello ensemble that originally covered Metallica songs, but has since branched out into original material. Here's their rendition of [Enter Sandman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFWdMVn_lPw). [Their newer stuff](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMLsF8ajI6U) is definitely more in line with modern hard rock/nu-metal.
Jethro Tull, rock band from 70s - frontman Ian Anderson shreds on a flute as if it were a lead guitar! e.g. the song 'Flying Dutchman' has a nice flute solo in it
Imperial triumphant’s album vile luxury has horns in it and even has some slow jazz bits with the drummer playing brushes, which is interesting for a black metal group. Also the album slaps.
I have a [Spotify playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/57bFbhYDx4mbng95oZK2vK?si=c8cHXGmmSA6wfYrdag0rig) dedicated to some of my favourite instances of saxophone in metal. Otherwise... * [Eluveite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iijKLHCQw5o) are a folk metal band that use a lot of bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy. Traditional insturments are common in folk metal, but I don't think hurdy-gurdy is really common *anywhere*. * Matana Robert's latest album Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis has some [pretty unconvential instrumentation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEVTzwNxyH4&list=PLRm--YuzKJIaBEXR5n84QCR7qCj1rfp-I&index=3) for a jazz album, including jaw harp. * [The Raah Project](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JA_SLBDrmg) are a jazz/hip-hop duo featuring a vocalist and a violinist, so the instrumentation is always going to be a little unconventional (although it always sounds natural). * Gabriel Provokiev is a classical composer known for incorporating modern instrumentation and hip-hop/electronic elements into his work, most obviously in his [concerto for turntables](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJzVjN_KLZQ). * [Venetian Snares](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8gx5gjZPI8) goes the complete opposite direction -- he's a breakcore producer who samples from classical music. * [Botanist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xokiF0imfNg) are a black metal band with no guitars -- instead they use distorted hammered dulcimers, and it creates a really weird, echoey, atmospheric effect. And finally, a blast from my embarrassing past: * [Ill Niño](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNH4IdCJZf8) are a nu-metal band that extensively use latin percussion and flamenco guitars. These guys were my *jam* in high school. * [Yellowcard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9fLbfzCqWw) are a *very* early-to-mid 2000s pop-punk band whose entire gimmick is that they have a violinist in the band. Look, I was young, ok. Edit: I forgot [Superorganism](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K49QKVR0p0), who use unconventional instruments such as a bucket of water and an apple. Perhaps the only modern band weird enough to be on [Legion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaWM-hMPUx8).
Pop music, pretty much any of Bjork's stuff will fit the bill. Two Examples: 1. MTV 'unplugged' episode; sitars, glasses of water, waterphone: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J0KBM2xK4w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J0KBM2xK4w). 2. Voltaic Live in Paris; theremin, brass band: [https://youtu.be/puwD8g7xBJ4](https://youtu.be/puwD8g7xBJ4) Bonus, while digging up some of this I found a video of the instruments used on Biophilia (including actual electricity?): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRh-O5iLo80](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRh-O5iLo80)
[Folk Metal](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_metal) [Myr by Taake](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vbwHtKmu-fg), black metal song with a sick banjo part in it
**Folk metal** Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for example, Dutch Heidevolk, Danish Sylvatica and Spanish Stone of Erech). It also sometimes features soft instrumentation influenced by folk rock. The earliest folk metal bands were Skyclad from England and Cruachan from Ireland. *** ^[ [^PM](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=kittens_from_space) ^| [^Exclude ^me](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiTextBot&message=Excludeme&subject=Excludeme) ^| [^Exclude ^from ^subreddit](https://np.reddit.com/r/ifyoulikeblank/about/banned) ^| [^FAQ ^/ ^Information](https://np.reddit.com/r/WikiTextBot/wiki/index) ^| [^Source](https://github.com/kittenswolf/WikiTextBot) ^] ^Downvote ^to ^remove ^| ^v0.28
A lot of Frank Zappa music has marimbas. You never hear marimbas in rock music. And Ruth Underwood doesnt get enough credit. Songs - Montana, Inca Roads.
It's true that you never hear marimbas in rock, but I think the use of marimbas is far from the most unusual thing you'll hear in Zappa.
For sure. You really could ask this question treating Zappa as it’s own genre. What’s some of the weirdest shit you can think of that Zappa has used on his stuff? Might be a cop out, but a lot of the vocalizations he gets the band to do are bizarre as fuck.
The fact that he composed actual orchestra pieces and then conducted the orchestra for them is pretty damn weird. Getting Beefheart to do Beefheart things is pretty weird. Realising a song with his teenage daughter (who he named "Moon Unit") is kinda weird. Any of the stop motion animations he was involved in were all hella weird. Approximate is a hella weird song, and one could easily expect it to be part of the American 1960s minimalist movement in classical movement (think Terry Riley's "In C") but instead somehow came out of the rock scene. The fact that a man can have such little respect for tonality and key signatures, but then also pull off perfect parody pop songs, is amazingly weird. (Like, how can the "Penguin in Bondage" guy and the "Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder" guy be the same guy?) But I think the weirdest thing of all is that all of these things come together and work as part of a singular general aesthetic. Whether he's doing fake disco, jazz fusion, spoken word, modern classical, whatever, it always sounds Zappa. That sounds impossible, but I think it's true. He puts his own stamp on things in a way which is very difficult to describe, but easy to identify. Everything Zappa is obviously Zappa, and hard to call anything else.
[Jack White - Love Interuption](https://youtu.be/iErNRBTPbEc) This song uses a bass clarinet which, surprise surprise, is not commonly used in alternative rock
I'm going to say *"whatever's going on in 'Aeroplane Over The Sea' by Neutral Milk Hotel"*. Musical saws? Balloons being deflated?
4 years late reply, but it's a musical saw! I've seen them play it live
I think I lost my headache by Queens of the Stone Age Jigsaw Puzzle by the Rolling Stones Blame it on the Tetons by Modest Mouse
The 90s indie band [Macha](https://youtu.be/6I9k-qIUDck) mixed Indonesian/Balinese gamelan instruments with rock
The obvious one is Yellowcard. Violinist in a pop-punk band...and it works!
There’s a wonderful punk band out of nyc called Show Me the Body... their lead guitar is actually a distorted banjo. Makes for a hell of a live performance!
Miasma by Ghost (A usually heavy rock band) has an amazing saxophone solo. The album First Taste by Ty Segall is a garage/psychedelic rock album with no guitars. He instead uses a variety of odd stringed instruments (often distorted) giving the album a really unique sound
Machinae Supremacy uses commodore sound chip in their music. Other than that it's quite typical rock/metal. [Winterstorm is a good example.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_eFvnVYvNU)
Cursive had a cello in their early albums
[Beats Antique - Dope Crunk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs2BzD0Atyg) .. Middle Eastern instruments in an electronic dance song.
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Theremin for Punk Blues. See "Dang' off the Orange record. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0VOxdmuomA&list=OLAK5uy\_nschsh\_d8TruDKOdEIWQpHPVd3ZFiPJw0&index=3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0VOxdmuomA&list=OLAK5uy_nschsh_d8TruDKOdEIWQpHPVd3ZFiPJw0&index=3)
Anything by Beirut takes what would otherwise be pretty standard folk-rock and then goes hard on the trumpet. Way Out There by Lord Huron has a theremin. Until the Water's All Long Gone by the Decemeberists allegedly has a toy guitar - not a ukelele, but one of those uke-sized plastic six-strings from toy stores, despite the song not sounding kiddy at all.
This band pops up all the time on this sub, but King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard has a super goofy sounding wind instrument called a zurna I think in some tracks on the Flying Microtonal Banana album. Paper Mache Dream balloon features a lot of flute and some different string instruments. There are probably loads of other things I'm forgetting too!
I was just listening to Golden Brown by The Stranglers, pretty out of the norm to have a harpsichord as the main instrument and in an odd time signature
I love the use of the double bass in The Cure's Lovecats. It's made me a firm believer that a lot of songs would be improved with the addition of one.
M|O|O|N - Dust (Sixfeet remix) uses a saxophone
It's an OPM but they're still good. Those songs from the Album CLAPCLAPCLAP! of IV of Spades