Background
Because Klevius has a very limited understanding of music, he tries to simplify the topic by dividing music in three basic elements: Japanese/East Asian melodies/scales; European harmonies, and; African rhythms.
On a time scale and re. "popular music" Klevius recognizes the same process of inflation as in academies, namely an evolution towards mass production of technically skilled but usually dumb musicians.
As a consequence of this view, in the 1950s/60s it was easier to recognize top musicians against a background of mediocre or even lousy ones (who would be laughed out of any garage today), whereas now they are almost invisible in the mass of technically skilled but not necessarily talented players.
Reportedly there were only a few really topnotch studio musicians available at the time of the "wall of sound". And info about most of them isn't easy to find on the web.
What kind of person played the arpeggio for Sonny and Cher?
Phil Spector, the 1950s and 60s creator of the "walls of sound" through one speaker at a time when stereo and quad became popular, ended up in the halls of fame and the walls of jail. His motivation was to not allow the consumers to mess with the sound. And his recipe for a hit was to "make it dumb enough". How or if this can be connected to his "goofer" Sonny Bono is irrelevant here where the main question regards who played the arpeggio on What now my love and Then he kissed me? Please comment!
The reason for Klevius request is that no one knows what makes a hit. Yes, it needs to be "dumb enough" - yet that's not enough.
In the case of the two tunes above the first criterion is certainly fulfilled. However, apart from a simple "melody" they also share a dumb/clever rhythm floor consisting of an utterly simple but effective drum beat paired with a crazy and nice sounding arpeggio.
The Beachboys made a successful version of Then he kissed me called Then I kised her, but replaced the arpeggio with percussion (couldn't they play the arpeggio?!).
