Coasters that Revolutionized the Industry

I remembered someone at Solace talking about Air, I couldn't remember who it was. I think I mentioned something about me slacking on getting the new Air and Stereolab CDs, and was chastised for not having the new Air one yet.

Moon Safari is far superior, btw, if you're trying to choose between the two, get that one.

^Make sure to get "Premiers Symptomes" as well, a compilation of their first singles. Even better than "Moon Safari".

Oh, here we are talking coaster revolutions and end up comparing retro-seventies-porn-soundtrack-rip-off-music. The irony. See signature.

Tom servo -

I don't actually dislike '10,000hz Legend' as such, but as you say, after 'Moon Safari' it was a let down and took a lot of listening to to appreciate. I just feel that 'Talkie Walkie' is a natural progression to 'Moon Safari.' Then again, if it had immediately followed that album then Air would probably have been accused of playing it safe.

I had the same experience when goldfrapp released 'Black Cherry' as I was totally blown away by 'Felt Mountain' from the first time I heard it. Took a while but now I love that whole "bump n grind" vibe that 'Black Cherry' has to it (and the coaster-like video for 'Twist' is an added bonus)!

And now back to our regular topic...;)

-Jim (bleah to time differences - I need a DeLorean :))

Tom Servo - I didn't have the new Air CD at Solace, so you must have been talknig about the band with someone else. Unless, of course, it was AirTIME we were discussing...?

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Mamoosh said:
Alpenflug, which I thought Schwarzkopf has some involvement with, came before it. However upon further research I've come across at least one other suspended coaster that came long before Alpenflug.

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Check this out for the history of the suspended coaster. The first suspended coaster was the Spiral Airship which appeared in the 1800's.

Invy - That's it...I have to go pick it up. Today.

Moosh - Just because logic dictates that it couldn't have been you since you didn't have the CD doesn't mean that I'd be smart enough to figure that out. Jerk! ;)

Sorta on topic, I remember reading that Schwarzkopf came up with some design that made it far, far simpler to assemble a coaster than previously. Something along the lines of having each support be hollow on one end, and cone-shaped on the other, so that easy support sorta inserts into the other, making them line-up naturally and therefore easier to bolt together. I could be high though...

^That´s actually what Schwarzkopf did from the mid-seventies on. When they built the Shuttles and most notably the transportable looping coasters for the fairs.
Moving a coaster of the magnitude of Thriller/Zonga would be impossible without the "conus-click-system" (my translation:))

It works actually quite like you described. Track-parts could be angled on the crane so that they just clicked with the cone-shaped support end. A bolt would secure the two connecting pieces, and viola!

The Racer at PKI, brought the coaster into the second golden age

Eh....yeah, it ushered in a new era of building coasters, but it was nothing new.

Nope.

Nitro was revolutionary because it was the first time B&M used yellow track with fuscia rails with blue supports. Now you can't go to a park without seeing that color scheme.

I personally think the most revolutionary coasters ever were built for the toy cars in my bedroom when I was 10. However, the world decided to be completely ignorant about them,
bad world!

I look at it this way: The coasters that Revolutionized were coasters that made a difference:

The first thing to be called a "Roller Coaster"

The first True (wooden) Roller Coaster

The first coasters with a successful inversion

The first Steel Coasters

The first Launched Coaster

The first inverted(and inverting) coaster

These are the coaster types you still see going strong and still popping up. There are some coasters out now that could end up being revolutionary(to me, most notably is the 4D, if it takes off).

But I personally think that true coaster revolution comes, not in a particular coaster, but in the small things(types of wheels, restraints, etc.) that cause a revolution.