Top Fifteen Cowbell Songs
LP Resonates on the Hits

Recently Spin magazine published a list entitled the “Fifteen Greatest Cowbell Songs of All Time”. Spin cited “Mississippi Queen”, “Honky Tonk Woman”, and “Low Rider” among songs driven to Top Forty status (and the popular conscience) by the bright, sonorous clang of the cowbell, an instrument that enlivens any track.

LP applauds Spin for honoring an unsung instrument. To the magazine’s list we would respectfully add Latin Percussion artist Carlos Santana’s “Oye Como Va” or, for that matter, “Evil Ways”. Think about it: It’s hard to imagine any cha cha or salsa groove without a cowbell front and center. And while we’re expanding the Spin list, we’d surely cite several non Latin tunes, including The Beatles’ “Baby You Can Drive My Car” and “You Can’t Do That.”

While all that glitters may not be gold, odds are that if it’s tinkling on a hit record recorded since the sixties, it’s an LP cowbell. LP leads the way in crafting bells that resonate richly while enduring the ravages of time. Many of the LP bells that spiked the venerable hits are still in service, still projecting as the day they were new. While other bells have cracked or lost their tone, LP cowbells keep driving the dancers, the musicians, and the hit records.

Granted, we can’t guarantee that every cowbell on every hit on Spin’s list was an LP. We just know that since LP hit the scene in the mid-sixties, it produced the bell everyone wanted! Today, it’s the same story. From throaty bongo bells, versatile mambo bells, to chiming agogo bells and robust rock bells, LP produces cowbells distinguished by clarity and brilliance of tone. And we haven’t even mentioned the sleek, instantly identifiable Black Beauty—a name that has become synonymous with “cowbell” in the musician’s lexicon.

For a while, it seemed that the cowbell had receded from pop music. Now, however, the trend is to acoustic, ambient sounds. Drumsets have expanded to include a mélange of percussion instruments. The lowly cowbell is back in the highlife again. Played with rods, sticks, hands, or mallets, the cowbell provides a bright, attractive timbre that leads the way, providing definition and color. And speaking of colors, there is no greater array than found in the LP catalog.

Whether you’re a producer spicing up a track, a musician rousing the audience to its feet, or a retailer wondering about what drummers are up to, an LP cowbell is a sure thing. The cowbell—the humble hitmaker—is on everybody’s list of favorites.

Speaking of lists, we’re proud of our A-list. Presenting the LP front runners in sales and popularity.

Buy a Latin Percussion Black Beauty today!