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rival the use of the sax, eventually supplanting it. Innovators like Leo Fender would take the development of the instrument to an even greater level,

The Invention of Multitracking. Les Paul and his wife Mary Ford were the inventors and early innovators of multitracking in an age where all music was recorded in the same room live. In the late 1940s, early 1950's, Les Paul played with multiple tape machines in an effort to create a way for Mary to sing her own harmonies on the couple's records. So once again, necessity was the mother of invention. It is difficult to conceive of how this technological innovation has helped to shape the development of music in the West. Les Paul's other invention, the Les Paul guitar, rivals the Fender line of guitars for popularity.

The Invention of the "Marshall Stack". In the age where big sound was needed to be heard in bigger venues in the 1960s, Jim Marshall, a musicial equipment seller based in London, England, was a key innovator in creating amplifers that were stackable, which exponentially increased the potential for volume playing. Again, it's hard to imagine an event like the Woodstock festival, or the stadium rock of the 1970's, being possible without this technological development.

The Invention of the Synthesizer. Robert Moog was interested in electronic sound since the late 1940s, when he built his first theremin. With a background in physics and engineering, he began to create other instruments and by the 1960s, he was creating instruments in conjunction with the works of composers, and with the creation of records which were entirely electronic. The 1968 album "Switched on Bach" remains popular even today.

The Invention of the Sampler. In the mid-80s, a new type of synthesizer allowed the use of other recordings to be spliced together to create something new. The development of hip-hop grew up along side this technology, and eventually grew to heavily rely upon it as a means of making new music tied to the music of the past.

These are only a few historical precedents that marks the development of 20th century music, particularly pop music.

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