Cow bells are also heavily used in various forms of dance music. It was a staple of
disco songs, and pops up frequently in
freestyle music.
It was popular enough at the time to be included in the TR-808. The synthesized 808 cowbell sounds nothing like a cowbell (it has too long of a decay and sounds too springy), but it has a distinctive sound that has become quite popular on its own. Most drum machines and synthesizers today include a cowbell, sometimes even multiple variants such as "low cowbell" and "high cowbell." My personal favorite, besides the 808 cowbell, is the Alesis D4 "heifer" cowbell. It's a high cowbell that has a similar tone as the 808, but actually sounds more realistic.