3 Things to Know About the Moog Synthesizer on Abbey Road

The Moog IIIp synthesizer was George Harrison’s personal instrument, brought to the studio in 1969. It produced the iconic sounds on “Because,” “Here Comes the Sun,” and “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.”

Abbey Road is rock’s first serious embrace of the Moog, despite earlier novelty uses. Harrison spent weeks experimenting with it, sometimes frustrating John Lennon, who called it “a load of noise.”

The very first Beatles Moog moment was on “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” recorded weeks earlier for the same album. Abbey Road still gets the credit for proving the Moog could do more than make spaceship sounds.