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Did you know about these 12 bizarre American musical moments?
Image: Peter Herrmann
Music in America has never been afraid to get weird. From homemade instruments and oddball inventions to accidental hits and cosmic jazz, our country’s history is full of unexpected sound. These 12 examples prove that when it comes to music, sometimes stranger is better.
1
Singing Tesla coils
In the early 2000s, engineers discovered that Tesla coils could emit tones by modulating the sparks themselves. When programmed, they could play songs using bursts of lightning as notes.
Audiences watched and listened as glowing bolts of electricity "sang" familiar tunes like movie themes. These displays, part science and part spectacle, were a short-lived trend, but they were interesting while they lasted.
Image: Brett Wharton
2
Franklin’s glass armonica
Benjamin Franklin invented many things. Among them, a glass armonica, using spinning glass bowls tuned by size . Players touched the rims with wet fingers to produce pure, haunting tones that seemed to shimmer in midair.
Its ghostly beauty amazed 18th-century audiences. Yet rumors spread that the vibrations could cause fainting or madness, making the momentum of the instrument short-lived.
Image: Karim MANJRA
3
Harry Partch’s microtonal instruments
Frustrated with the limits of Western scales, composer Harry Partch built a system using forty-three tones per octave . He crafted odd instruments from glass, bamboo, and metal to play them.
Performers had to relearn music from scratch, producing sounds that felt alien and ancient at once. His homemade orchestra became a true milestone in America’s experimental environment.
4
The theremin craze
Image: Ryunosuke Kikuno
Invented in the 1920s, the theremin created sound from invisible electromagnetic fields, played by moving hands through the air . It was one of the world’s first electronic instruments.
By the 1950s, its eerie wails filled American sci-fi movies and radio shows. Home versions soon appeared, letting living rooms buzz with strange, ghostlike melodies.
5
The Stroh violin
Back in the days when microphones were not so great at picking up sounds, early studios struggled to capture soft instruments. The Stroh violin solved that by replacing the wooden body with a brass horn that amplified sound directly .
Its brassy, nasal tone worked perfectly for primitive recording gear. Once technology advanced, the mechanical violin faded for good.
Image: Mick Haupt
6
Sun Ra’s cosmic jazz
Jazz mad scientist Sun Ra claimed he was born on Saturn and sent to Earth to spread peace through sound. His Arkestra mixed free jazz, chants, and futuristic costumes into wild multimedia performances .
Audiences never knew what to expect: space helmets, electronic keyboards, or cosmic sermons. His blend of myth, science, and swing launched Afrofuturism, a style of his own.
Image: Matt Artz
7
Singing saw
Rural American musicians once discovered that a regular handsaw could "sing" when bent and bowed like a violin . The flexible steel vibrated with a haunting, "human-like" voice.
The sound carried through old-time folk, gospel, and early film scores. Even today, the singing saw appears in grassroots festivals and soundtracks.
8
Prepared piano
Image: Andrew Petrischev
Avant-garde composer John Cage inserted screws, bolts, and rubber between piano strings, turning each key into a new percussive sound . The result was bizarre but original.
He called it the "prepared piano." Audiences heard rhythms that clanged, thumped, and chimed like a whole percussion ensemble.
9
Moog synthesizer
Image: Adi Goldstein
The Moog was born in the late 1960s with its maze of knobs and wires , and it caused a sensation among musicians. Those who experimented found endless possibilities in its electronic tones .
From the Monterey Pop Festival to Wendy Carlos’s soundtracks for The Shining and A Clockwork Orange , the Moog’s strange bleeps reshaped American pop.
10
The Singing Nun
In 1963, a Belgian nun named Sister Luc-Gabrielle unexpectedly topped U.S. charts with "Dominique," sung in gentle French. Her purity and optimism charmed listeners across the country.
Her hit briefly outshone even the Beatles. Though her fame faded quickly, the story of a shy nun reaching number one remains a sweet oddity, for sure.
Image: Pete F
11
The "Longplayer" experiment
Launched in 1999, "Longplayer" is a music piece designed to play continuously for one thousand years without repeating . It was created by American artists who joined the project to maintain its endless cycle.
The music changes subtly with time, echoing life’s slow rhythm. Its creators call it "a conversation between centuries".
12
Hard-drive symphonies
Image: Borja Verbena
In the 2010s, hobbyists reprogrammed old computer drives to "play" songs by spinning and clicking at different speeds . Each tone came from mechanical motion, not speakers.
Videos of clattering machines performing pop hits can still be found all over YouTube. These homemade orchestras turned computer nostalgia into an art.
