The music of Robert Moog has been piped into our ears since before we knew we were listening.
His synthesizer, which debuted in 1964, is one of the most influential inventions in 20th-century sound.
“I probably started hearing Moogs before I even knew that I was hearing Moogs,” said Sam Rosenstone, touring keyboardist for the indie band Hippo Campus. “I was actually hearing Moogs when Stevie Wonder started to experiment with Moogs” on Talking Book, an album in which the Moog bass is played on all but one song. “And then, later, getting my hands on them, I realized why they were such incredible tools: They reframed how you think about hearing something like a string or a horn.”
Robert Moog has become one of the most well-known names in electronic music. And whether you know the instrument by name or not, you’ve undoubtedly heard the synthesizer before — its lineage is deeply ingrained in the history of popular music.
Moog synthesizers have been used on the records of everyone from The Monkees to Rammstein, from Oneohtrix Point Never’s hypnagogic film scores to Gökçen Kaynatan’s freewheeling Turkish acid jazz. It shaped the sonics of all electronic subgenres and changed the landscape of music as we know it. Without the Moog, we would not have the iconic film scores to “The Shining” and “A Clockwork Orange,” nor would we have the glittering sounds of Giorgio Moroder’s disco.
The electronic empire that developed a worldwide impact stems from one man who spent the latter half of his life in Asheville, North Carolina. The tourism-friendly music mecca nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains is home to Moog Music Inc.’s company factory, a Moogseum, Moogfest, and a foundation.
Moog’s impact, though, transcends the instruments he created. His name is now synonymous with the electronic sounds of the 1960s, ’70s, and thereafter, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest musical inventors of all time.
However, his company’s relationship to Asheville — which proclaimed May 23 to be Bob Moog Day — might be at a turning point. In June 2023, the company was acquired by inMusic, a private conglomerate that owns several audio companies including Numark, Akai Professional, and Alesis. It’s a big move for Moog, a company that up until a few weeks ago was 49 percent employee-owned.