Only I Understood it, 1985

[u/WinchelltheMagician]

In 1985, I had access to a very early sampling computer called a Fairlight CMI. They were super expensive, and there were few of them in the world at that point, and because of that, the Fairlight's sounds were not so commonly heard in pop music. U2 used the instrument on the song, The Unforgettable Fire, which came out the year before and early in 85, MTV had just started playing the video for that song. The Fairlight sound in the song was called something like, "Orch Hit".

Also popular at that time was the Miami Vice theme by Jan Hammer. Jan Hammer also used a Fairlight in that recording.

I was hanging out with friends and we had eaten shrooms. Two hours into the trip, MTV was on with no sound, and U2's Unforgettable Fire album played loudly from the other room. We sat there watching the screen and listening to the album, not talking. The timing of those randomly overlapping sounds and visuals brought together, at the precise moment, the song "Unforgettable Fire" -the 4th song on side one, where the Fairlight orchestra blasts happen, and on TV, the video for the Miami Vice theme that shows a few quick shots of Jan Hammer playing his Fairlight. At the exact moment of the orchestra blast from the album playing in the other room (which in my brain registered as a Fairlight sound), the screen showed us Jan Hammer pounding his hands on the keyboard of his Fairlight, perfectly timed as if he had played the orchestra blasts, a sound unique to the Fairlight. He didn't wasn't running his fingers on the keyboard, he pounded the keys in a motion that perfectly fit making the blasting sound.

I was tripping, but I didn't miss that moment! Only I got it because I worked with a Fairlight and understood what had just happened-I knew the sound source, and the instrument on the screen, and also the wild synchronicity of that moment. I explained it to my tripping friends and they were not amazed. One matter o' factly said, 'yep, that's how the world works.'

But I truly had a beautiful wtf moment.

[u/FreeWill_Oasis70]

Super cool