Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World on Vimeo

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1. Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World

11 months ago

Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World tells the story of the wah wah effect pedal, from its invention in 1966 to the present day. Musicians, engineers, and historians discuss the impact of the pedal on popular music and demonstrate the various ways it has been used, as well as how its evolution has improved the ability of artists to express themselves musically. The film features interviews with Brad Plunkett, the inventor of the pedal, plus many other musical luminaries such as Ben Fong-Torres, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Buddy Guy, Art Thompson, Eddie Kramer, Kirk Hammett, Dweezil Zappa, and Jim Dunlop. These professionals explain how a musical novelty transcended convention and has become timelessly woven into the fabric of modern pop-culture.

Produced by Joey Tosi
Directed by Joey Tosi & Max Baloian
Executive Producer is Jimmy Dunlop

Credits

1,774 Likes

Mauricio Herrera Cuadra
8 hours ago
brian mchugh
1 day ago
David Koster
2 days ago
YAHIA
4 days ago
Art Deco
1 week ago
Pixel Snap
1 week ago
Alan Aoki
1 week ago
Sauce
1 week ago
jazzmeblues
1 week ago
NICHOLAS
1 week ago

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Grisha 11 months ago

Very interesting
Ensi Genxyde 11 months ago

I just love a good old talk about important gear
Joey Tosi 11 months ago

Thank you for saying so. We think it is important, too.
Sam Morrill 11 months ago

This is a documentary that needed to be made.
Sam Morrill 11 months ago

I will also add that I owned a Vox pedal growing up and always wondered if it was the same as my friend's Cry Baby. Happy to finally settle that matter.
Joey Tosi 11 months ago

Thank you for taking a special interest in our documentary. We sincerely appreciate your help in boosting our profile. We made this for people just like you and are happy to know that you like it.
lina nathan 11 months ago

Awesome stuff...!
tim rockwood 11 months ago

delightful. glad you produced this. them young whippersnappers at SXSW could learn a thing or two about music and communicating by watching . . .
Joey Tosi 11 months ago

We are happy to hear from you! Thanks for letting us know you are out there.
Shawn Bann 11 months ago

great video!! (even though the teese wah destroys the cry baby)
Joey Tosi 11 months ago

Thanks for the interest. I would argue that Cry Baby's are best. It's cool, though. Some like chocolate. Some like vanilla. Either way, we appreciate your support.
Anies Hassan 11 months ago

Such an awesome documentary!! Thanks so much for making this!!
Joey Tosi 11 months ago

Thank you for saying so. We are happy that you appreciate it. We made it for you.
bluECHO 11 months ago

Heard about this on 93.3 WMMR this morning. Great documentary. Great video!
Joey Tosi 11 months ago

Thanks for letting us know. Spread the word! And thanks for your support!
Tom Moore 11 months ago

that was the best video ever! Im surprised nobody mentioned Tom Morello in this video though.
good job
George Hantzis 11 months ago

My first pedal...The least i can say is that you did justice to it if not a whole lot more.I am really touched by this documentary.
filmtriks 11 months ago

Awesome. Mine´s been sitting in the basement for too long. Time to hook it up!
pathooley 11 months ago

Awesome. This will be something I view over and over again. The lighting is perfect.
Mesut Kaya 11 months ago

I love my cry baby <3 great video =)
Kelvin Oon 11 months ago

Truly enjoyed this video. Check out Bernard Butler's wah-wah on Edwyn Collins "A Girl Like You" (Live at BBC White Room).
josh@firestorm 11 months ago

fantastic doco!
Jonathan Klingenfus 11 months ago

Nice!
Jeff Penttila 11 months ago

cool
Bruce Hildebrand 11 months ago

a joy to watch. Good lighting on the interviews. fun music.
I noticed lots of rough edits noticed in the last half of the film.
Biglith 11 months ago

This is a very entertaining video! I didn't know the wah wah has such a history!
En Plein Air 11 months ago

I love it i watch 2 times already, i want to buy it, where i can find it?
Philip Han 11 months ago

Iconic! I can't believe it hasn't even been half a decade since it was first invented! Now I feel young compared to older people who remember it's introduction... Hahaha
Single~Stereo 11 months ago

Rad. Played an encore with Paul Gilbert in Japan (sans wah-wah); spent a good deal of my guitar years with the baby. Hendrix and Page inspired, but in the field, it was all about the bends. Thanks for this.
Rod MacGregor 11 months ago

I have owned a wah wah pedal for a long time now (in my bag of pedals)..so I was drawn into watch this documentary..... I couldn't stop watching it. Very exciting, interesting and amazingly well done..I learnt a lot about my box that I never knew. It reminded me of the thrill I got when I met Roger Meyer ( who made pedals like the fuzz for Hendrix)..I was more impressed with the fact he worked with Hendrix rather than his pedal....Such is life :)
deadbeatriot 11 months ago

this is great. make more! do fuzz next!
Jeremy M. Borg 11 months ago

Really good choice of subject! This should be required viewing for anyone learning about rock 'n roll!
Rafa 11 months ago

This is one of the most interesting music effect doc's I've seen outside the BBC. Well done.
Tom Thomas 11 months ago

I enjoyed the documentary very much! The early history was very interesting and enlightening. Although I think it could have been a little bit longer and profiled a few more artists, it did cover a lot of ground and hit the definitive wah-wah users. Also, a pertinent mention would have been the wah-wah's brother, the envelope filter or auto-wah, used notably by Jerry Garcia. I believe Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" had a clavinet played through an auto-wah, not a wah-wah.
Eduardo S. 11 months ago

I made myself a Vimeo profile just to say 'thank you'. Congratulations on your movie! It was really a joy to watch.
David Koster 11 months ago

Lovely, gives good insight of what influence this pedal had on most guitar players that day.
Interactive Media 11 months ago

Sweet.
Bert K 11 months ago

Excellent movie, highly enjoyable! Thanks for making it.
CR78 11 months ago

So happy to see Michael Schenker mentioned. No words can describe how damn melodic he was; the space inbetween notes were/are just as important. Thanks for this.
Matt Sefton 11 months ago

Really fantastic film. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I bought my first wah (a Jen Cry Baby) when I was about 13 years old in 1979.
Mr. OldWorldVulture 11 months ago

That was so well done and interesting. Really top notch. Charles Pitts talking about recording the theme song to Shaft is amazing and says a lot about the creative process. I also really liked the audio clip choices that gave all the discussion context. Thanks a million.
Bruno Andersen 11 months ago

Fantastic idea to make a whole movie about just such a topic. Love your cutting work and great soundbites.
Dale Kirkley 11 months ago

Loved this, great to see some fantastic players talking about classic gear and how it shaped the way they play.
IAMMARTIN 11 months ago

Brilliant!! More please!! There's lots of legendary equipment to make documentaries about :-)
Murat Anlı 11 months ago

High quality! I second IAMMARTIN, please share more of your work.
lauthals 11 months ago

Cool Film Great Pedal
Nick Sagona 11 months ago

Awesome, awesome video. Great blend of the history, the technical and the passion among the everyone in the video. I too agree with IAMMARTIN - would love see more work like this on other pieces of important legendary pieces of equipment out there that have helped to shape the music that we listen to and play. (I owe and use both a CryBaby and Vox, depending on the setting - I can't imagine my rig without a wah!)
Joseph Flores 11 months ago

Loved it, man. Thanks for sharing.
Ethan Winer 11 months ago

This is great!
fronque 11 months ago

Thank you! Wonderful documentary.
Michael Dolan 11 months ago

This is absolutely fantastic and well done. It's one of those subjects you sort of take for granted, until someone takes the time to flesh out the story. Thanks for making this. #Awesome
miggon 11 months ago

As a fan of music and an avid amateur musician, I am blown away by this documentary video/film. It's absolutely fantastic. And I will gladly spread the word far and wide.

Beyond music, the video demonstrates all the best aspects of contemporary filmmaking and storytelling. It should be used in university programs to teach students about how to make brilliant moving pictures that communicate. Pacing, editing, sound ... it's all there. Absolutely brilliant.
Thomas Martinet 11 months ago

Awesome film. This is wonderful. And the cast of interviewees is mind blowing. Great job
Bernd Keul 11 months ago

Great Film !!!
Thank you

... i use a modded ( doubled) Wah here

youtube.com/watch?v=Oy91hyYcVEs
Bradford Shellhammer 11 months ago

awesome job.
CreativeDad 11 months ago

I couldn't stop watching this one either. Thanks!

I've been using a wah-wah with my violin for about a year now. Use it on only one song when we're on stage but it works really well.
birbangali 11 months ago

I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEE it...... :D <3
Rumena Zlatkova 11 months ago

Totally agree with miggon! A beautiful documentary indeed.

Being a media student and sound person myself, I was deeply moved by the film. I love the way you work with titles, lighting and editing, great interviews too.

Do you have a version with the background music a bit quieter? It sometimes makes it hard to hear the main interviewee.
babee 11 months ago

Awesome
alejandro machado 11 months ago

I've send the video to my corean friend who plays in a girls punk rock band and it has enriched her creativity.
Thank you !!!
I love the detailed information.
dave bois 11 months ago

fantastic! enjoyable and informative. thoughtful blend of interviews, music, gear-chat, and contemporary musicology. must-watch for anyone who purports to care about late 20th century music (and for the record, i don't even play guitar -- i'm a saxophone player). recommended highly; i'm sharing this link with all my musician friends.
Evil Paul 11 months ago

Fantastic doc. Really nice work on the retro titles and interstitials.
Billy Waters 11 months ago

How can you make an entire documentary about the Wah pedal and leave Prince out?
Adolfo Iglesias 11 months ago

I'm new here and this is my first comment: greaaaat! Thanks
Simanjuntak 11 months ago

Great doc!
Drew Falkman 11 months ago

Well done, man.
Shameem Sulaiman 11 months ago

Thank you so much for this great documentary. As a huge fan of the wah pedal, this is truly a great tribute to the legendary foot pedal.
Vito Gogola 11 months ago

Did not have in mind watching a long clip, because I felt a bit tired. I turned on this documentary and 57 fast and entertaining minutes later, I'm amazed. Good work.
the uniques 11 months ago

man I really start to miss my first Jimi Hendrix Cry Baby. Anyway such a cool way to make a doc about this stuff with this lovely camera and graphics. Cheers!
Alex Osborn 11 months ago

Absolutely fascinating and gripping.
standard 11 months ago

I was a little lukewarm on the recurring "fake film" effects, but overall this had a nice graphic look/layout. I liked the grids.
KILL SAPO!! 11 months ago

Would be' nice having a mobile version of this to watch on my iPod while commuting… a thankful wah freak ;)
Joshua Sieg 11 months ago

I would love to see this on Blu-Ray!
Alexey Vasiliev 11 months ago

this is just awesome!)
Jack Packard 11 months ago

Well done. A perfect doc. Thanks do much for sharing this.
Lucas Fackler 11 months ago

Love it, great job! Fuzz doc next?
Dw Dunphy 11 months ago

This is great, Joey. I am a writer for Popdose.com. Would it be okay with you if we embedded the film in a post, and can I ask you some questions regarding making the movie?
Emanuel Rivera 11 months ago

Awesome work and documentary. Thanks for sharing!
Mark Altekruse 11 months ago

Great documentary! Thanks for posting!
Tanel Teemusk 11 months ago

inspirational documentary. Just awesome. I'm going to buy a wah-wah now to get my mid-tone more interesting now. Thanks.
Paulo Arellano 11 months ago

It wouldn't surprise me if cry baby pedals sales went up, awesome doc!
Daryl King 11 months ago

I love this
Christian Dieckhoff 10 months ago

a very good documentation
thomastuerling 10 months ago

Del Casher and Brad Plunkett were the inventors of the original VOX wah @ the Thomas Organ Co.
Fred ⚡ Plan9 Entertainment 10 months ago

Awesome video !
Thanks

i wish i could download it !!
Matthew Valladao 10 months ago

Hands down one of the best rock-docs I have seen this year and I'd put it up there with "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" and "Tom Dowd and the Language of Music" Loved it.
Siegi Müller 10 months ago

So good, makes me cry baby!
DrCamembert 10 months ago

I'm thirsty. I need wahwah

Relevant: youtube.com/watch?v=RkwBPFRFmXo
Nadim Murr 10 months ago

I'm gonna go out and buy me one now :)
Jose Diaz Ortiz 9 months ago

Amazing!! Really enjoyed it!
Chris 9 months ago

love it
Tasos Constantinou 8 months ago

This documentary is so well made, never-gets-you-bored and interesting, that the only thing I'm going to say is: Thank you.
aarsbog 8 months ago

Awesome. Totally loved this documentary.
BDub 7 months ago

Great Doc. My cheeks still hurt from smiling during the Dimebag bit! \m/
diegocarvacho 3 months ago

Gotta love this kind of stories. Thanks
ROLANDO_SPERANZA 2 months ago

This is the perfect movie for a drummer... I play drums, but I love your products, and wah wah pedal is the best sound for a electric guitar and any genre.

Please, excuse my english, I´m from Colombia, South America.

Rock ON!!! greetings from Colombia.
diego se n 2 months ago

just awesome!!!
Russ Ellington 2 months ago

I wish I still had my first Cry Baby pedal. I wore it out and the pot was toast, but I really wish I still had it.

Great job. Wonderful documentary.