Linn Electronics Inc. LinnDrum "Ultimate Drum Machine" advertisement from page 27 in the May 1982 issue of Keyboard magazine.
I'm on a bit of a vacation. From life. And so far its going swimmingly well. But, that also means the word count is probably going to fall a little short for the next few posts while I enjoy life with a chainsaw and a beer. What...? Huh...? Put the what down...? Can't hear you...!
For some reason, when I recently saw an auction for a LinnDrum, this ad was one of the few LinnDrum ads that I could visualize without looking back through magazines. I'm sure that's partly because it ran for a relatively long period of time in Keyboard during a very influential period in my life - almost a year starting in May 1982 and ending in March 1983.
The first LinnDrum advertisement appeared a month earlier was a bit of a teaser. It was only black and white, and the photo of the instrument was small and grainy. But I was drawn to the simplicity of that original ad then, and am still drawn to it now.
If you read through that original ad, you would know it was really just a precursor to this ad. A warning shot across the bow - to readers and other companies in the drum machine game.
"Coming next month from the inventors of the digital drum machine"And true to their words... the following month... BAM!
What a difference a month makes! Readers set their eyes on this full-colour beauty with its lovely photo of a shiny new LinnDrum all up-close and personal. Wood grain sides and all. So close-up that readers could even make out the control labels on the instrument. Yum.
If you click on the link above to compare the two ads - you may have noticed Linn did a little... er... a lot of recycling of the ad-copy. Almost all of it. Even the exact same bolded ad-copy was still highlighted... but instead of bolding, they underlined the really juicy bits. Don't try clicking on them. They aren't hyperlinks. :D
But Linn did change that last little bit of wording at the end. Did you catch it?
Pre-intro ad: "Designed for non-technical musicians"
This intro ad: "Requires no technical knowledge"
That first line could have been taken two ways. Sure, "non-technical" as in easy to use by musicians that don't know anything about drum machines and other electronics/technical devices. Or, "non-technical" as in the drum machine is made for musicians that don't have the technical abilities with the instrument they currently play. Unintentional, for sure - but that line could totally be taken the wrong way! Oops! :)
Good switch-up, Linn!
It's also good to see that the suggested retail price didn't change within that one month - still $2995.
There is one other bit of new info at the end of the ad-copy. Free demo record!
I love free.
And I love demo records.
But that's enough for now. Time to get back to beer drinking and chainsawing.
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