Instrumental Covers
tagStarted 1950Peak 1959–1975Last big hit still active
Located in 1 route
Instrumental covers replace the lyric with arrangement craft, keeping the vocal melody intact while redistributing it to strings, piano, saxophone, guitar, or full orchestra. Their success depends on instant recognition, tidy form, and enough harmonic color to feel fresh without obscuring the original song.
History
As LPs and easy-listening radio expanded, labels commissioned huge quantities of non-vocal versions of standards, movie themes, and current hits, often by house ensembles or specialist bands such as the Hollyridge Strings, Living Strings, and 101 Strings; the format later migrated into wedding quartets, relaxation playlists, and streaming instrumental brands, but its commercial DNA is still the 1950s–70s cover-market boom.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Library of Congress, "Elevator Music"
- Smithsonian Libraries, "Popular instrumental music"
- Joseph Lanza, *Elevator Music*. citeturn7search21turn7search11