Rocker Todd Rundgren Created Smart Phone Sounds In 1993. Watch Him At Work

Back in 1993, I was on the management team of an incredible silicon valley startup called General Magic that was inventing the first smart phone. Among the execs were Bill Atkinson and Andy Herzfeld, the two guys who built the Mac. They had left Apple to lead this new company to success. Based in Mountain View, California, the company developed precursors to "USB, software modems, small touchscreens, touchscreen controller ICs, ASICs, multimedia email, networked games, streaming TV, and early e-commerce notions."

One of my jobs was to record stories of what was happening as we all felt that our company would become the Google or Apple of the mid 1990s.

As I walked the halls, I saw singer-songwriter Todd Rundgren working with magicians (as they call the engineers) to create the first cell phone sound effects, which is what he is doing in this scene. You can search many videos on my YouTube channel regarding General Magic. Although the company failed (another story) some of the sounds Todd Rundgren created are still in use today.

If you find this video of Todd worth watching, I would appreciate your clicking the Super Thanks button below the video screen to the right. Your support gives me the freedom to keep on presenting clips from my archive.

Todd Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia. He is known for his sophisticated and often unorthodox music, his occasionally lavish stage shows, and his later experiments with interactive entertainment. He also produced music videos and was an early adopter and promoter of various computer technologies, such as using the Internet as a means of music distribution in the late 1990s.

A native of Philadelphia, Rundgren began his professional career in the mid 1960s, forming the psychedelic band Nazz in 1967. After departing Nazz, the 21-year-old Rundgren briefly considered working as a computer programmer, and then decided that his calling was as a producer. Two years later, he also pursued a solo career and immediately scored his first US top 40 hit with "We Gotta Get You a Woman" (1970). His best-known songs include "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light" from Something/Anything? (1972), which get frequent air time on classic rock radio stations, and the 1983 single "Bang the Drum All Day", which is featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers. Although lesser known, "Couldn't I Just Tell You" (1972) was influential to many artists in the power pop genre. His 1973 album A Wizard, a True Star remains an influence on later generations of bedroom musicians.

Rundgren is considered a pioneer in the fields of electronic music, progressive rock, music videos, computer software, and Internet music delivery.[4] He organized the first interactive television concert in 1978, designed the first color graphics tablet in 1980, and created the first interactive album, No World Order, in 1994. Additionally, he was one of the first acts to be prominent as both an artist and producer.[3] His notable production credits include Badfinger's Straight Up (1971), Grand Funk Railroad's We're an American Band (1973), the New York Dolls' New York Dolls (1973), Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell (1977), and XTC's Skylarking (1986). He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, though he declined to attend the ceremony.

Space Force, Todd Rundgren’s latest album, is yet another example of creative contrariness: a cross-genre, cross-generational collaborative record that sees him tackling abandoned tracks from the careers of such artists as the Roots and the Lemon Twigs as well as new collaborations with the likes of Sparks.

Todd Rundgren recently said: “For a musician, things haven’t changed too much: Make music on your laptop and distribute it on the net, and build up and audience that will show up live or pay for a stream. It’s hard to monetize the recordings themselves, unless you land a commercial, which is why you have to design your own shoes or smell.”