And the band tends toward midtempo songs built from loud guitars, simple chord progressions and whirring keyboard lines.
The old guys in New Orleans sent him out on the bayou to hear roots music played on acoustic guitars, simple three-chord songs in blues and folk styles.
Elsewhere, Taha's blend of anger and angst has been distilled into a set of songs that match crunching guitar chords, simple riffs and angry lyrics (in French and Arabic) with subtle, wailing flourishes of north African embellishment.
With Mr. Byrd's restrained licks (he played both trumpet and fluegelhorn) layered over an irresistible funk groove seasoned with wah-wah guitar and simple, repeated lyrics ("Get in the groove, just can't lose"), "Black Byrd" reached the Billboard Top 100, where it peaked at No. 88.
And while his aesthetic was deliberately rough — he favored corrosive blasts of guitar and simple smacks on the drums, usually recorded by Mr. Lindsey alone with the most minimal equipment — his facility with sweet melodies and his concise, economical songwriting style earned him wide respect among critics and fans.
The guitar is simple and rough, a bit garage-rock, bouncing over characteristically buried drums that seem an afterthought".
Drums stomped and guitars blasted simple riffs, but the sound that once went with macho bluster was now carrying chirpy, upbeat admonitions from the 16-year-old Ms. Duff.
Really punchy guitars, fast, simple and formulaic nursery rhyme love songs," he said in 2012.
This delivered a hit with Paper Plane, a track exhibiting the classic Quo trademarks of churning guitars, super-simple lyrics and a 12-bar structure (doubled to 24 bars in this case).
His guitar accompaniment was simple, fast and in perfect time.
