Toy Instruments: Design, Nostalgia, Music by Eric Schneider (15-Feb-2010) Hardcover

by Eric Schneider

Toy Instruments compises an eye-popping collection of musical toys made between the 1950s and 1990s. Created to excite children about learning how to play an instrument, the toys turned out to be very fun for adults as well. Just ask David Bowie; he used the Stylophone in his song "Space Oddity."Culled from author Eric Schneider's personal collection, Toy Instruments explores this niche of the toy industry, doing so with an informative and humorous approach that demonstrates how even in today's world of Guitar Hero and Wii, these musical toys are emblematic, and enigmatic, artifacts from bygone eras. As DJ Spooky writes in his introduction, "I think of the material that Eric Schneider has compiled as a kind of 'object' time machine, reaching back to the heart of what electronic music represented when it was new."

Genres: Music, Design

Hardcover

First published February 16, 2010

Reviews

[John Paulson · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice pictures... not much info, kinda snarky, possibly offensive to japanese people. intro by dj spooky i glanced at...

[Andrew Horton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, chunky little square book about toy music instruments and noisemakers throughout the ages with a big focus on the sixties through eighties. It's handsomely and funkily designed and has a truly bizarre, hilarious, and interesting selection of primitive toy keyboards, drum machines, karaoke devices and noisemakers, speak-and-spell-esque educational weirdos, and an entire section on "musical trains." Extra cool is the inclusion of original packaging and advertisements. However, the book loses one star for the author's "too cool for school" captions in which he more often than not makes fun of the item like some sort of insecure fratboy. Really, Eric - you need to show that you're superior to the Bee Gees ryhthm machine by saying that it was made "for retards?"

[Jeff Wyonch · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book of wonderful toys. It's almost guaranteed that you'll recognize or actually have owned at least one toy in this collection, if not more.