During class today we talked about the impact that Motown had due to the hard work from producers and organizers, such as Berry Gordy. We mentioned several bands but the one that stuck out to me was the Temptations. The Temptations were probably the first Motown Band I heard as a child with their song My Girl. After listening to the song in class today I noticed parts that I had never payed attention to before. For instance, the angelic sounds that lead to the build up of the first time Smokey Robinson says “My Girl”, then the ushering in of the string instruments as well as the horns, make an accompanying sound that I have never heard before. Although, Motown doesn’t exactly blow my mind, but I am a fan of the Funk. Hearing some Classic James Brown tunes like “say it loud” remind me of rhythmically sound bass lines and solo stealing vocal lines. Earlier in the semester, when we studied Chuck Berry and Little Richard we saw a dominating form of stage presence, we saw how these men were pioneers to the stage presence that a “frontman” is suppose to bring to the table in a band. Now, as we watch James Brown do splits and exaggerate the music by being donned with a cape, only to return to the mic to shout even louder than before, we can see how the stage and showmanship of the 1950s have carried over and even evolved with the introduction of new artists and styles. The second half of class today we talked about The Beatles, oh boy. The Beatles are in my opinion both the Cat’s pajamas and his meow. In the early years of the Beatles, they became a huge sensation all around the world. Later in their career, after all the fan girls calmed down a bit, they released one of my favorite albums as well as one of the most influential albums of all time, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. This electric concept album created a surge of artists recreating and making the ideas that John, Paul, George, and Ringo started. The sheer polar diversity of the Beatles discography from the beginning of their careers to the end, marks them as a band that was able to adapt with times as well as never fail to reach an audience of captive awaiting fans to hear fantastic music. Even though the Beatles are sometimes referred to as one of the biggest “sellout” bands, you have to admit that because they changed their style from a bar band with leather jackets playing in Germany, to the suit wearing mop tops that became commercial successes, it was totally worth it. If the Beatles had never changed their appearance or how they carried themselves, we may have never heard about them or the huge impact that they left on not only rock and roll but the music industry as a whole. I can’t wait to see what we talk about in class on Thursday.

I am having trouble finding where to start with this post. We have shuffled out of the early era of Rock n’ Roll with musicians like Elvis Presley and into the hey-day of Rock n’ Roll. Thinking to the time when all of this came about, the 1960’s, provides some serious background information for this musical revolution. The beginning of the Civil Rights movement and its’ coming to fruition in 1964. The vast amount of young Americans not in support of the Vietnam war, and the explosion of the hippie counter-culture movement. This time period was not going a great period of growth and diversity in American history, but also for music. One idea that I found interesting from this weeks reading was the thought of a band as being a collective. Some examples like the Who, the Beatles, and the Beach Boys show the changing of band names, instead of having one noted musician (i.e. Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five) they began having what was thought of as a group. The ironic part being the goal not to single out any one band member, but still having most of the focus on the lead singer and guitarist. In the reading they mention such albums as the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the Who’s Tommy as landmark albums creating a new sound for Rock n’ Roll. Having a concept album was definitely a new way to perform your music. Tommy, from the Who, featured that type of link between songs that helped audiences identify and remember those loud beats better. In an example from my youth, I can think of Green Day’s American Idiot album. It too was a concept album that told a story through every song, this album has been a favorite of mine for years, and seeing how green day took ques from earlier musicians is probably why it left such an impact on me as a kid. In the chapter detailing the exploits of Bob Dylan’s records, it mentions that one side of his LP is acoustic and one side is electric. This is an interesting idea that I have seen practiced in modern day rock. Jack White’s 2014 solo album, Lazaretto, has something similar to Dylan’s album. One of the songs on Lazaretto has either and acoustic or an electric introduction, depending on where the needle is placed when the record starts. Reading the section involving Bob Dylan is interesting, if you are interested in Bob Dylan. I know a lot of friends that worship his music, but in my own opinion, I don’t like the sound of his voice and I find all of his songs to be very boring. I am not the biggest fan of folk music in general, so perhaps that’s why I am not interested in Dylan’s work. The following chapter chronicling the Beatles rise to fame as well as the British invasion was much more interesting to me. The Beatles leaving such an impact even though the last show they played live was in 1966, due to the insanity that overcame fans when any of the Beatles got even close to them.

This is the most exhilarating chapter we have covered in class yet. Not to talk down to the country music I addressed last week, but seeing the correlation between Rhythm and Blues with the combination of Gospel and Soul music created several genres that appealed to a wide audience, one of those audiences being my parents. When I was younger my father was a big fan of Ray Charles. I heard so much of his music that I assumed anytime I heard someone with that swing kind of Rhythm I though it was always Ray Charles. The most interesting part of last week class for me was that Ray Charles took a gospel tune, then rewrote the lyrics, keeping the melody, then BAM! a crazy hit that has stood the test of time. Later in the 1960s, Johnny Cash and June Carter did a cover of Ray Charles’ “I Got a Woman” live at Folsom Prison. I think it is amazing that this song started as a gospel tune, then went to a Rhythm and Blues/Soul song, then was covered into a pretty fantastic country sounding jam. The accessibility and changing of one song over and over allows for artists to make a great impact using a song that everyone is already familir with.Also within the reading the song “Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner with Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats was used in a popular video game several years ago, Fallout 3, I heard the opening beginning and realized I have heard this song hundreds of times before without realizing it was from this time. Also, after hearing “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” By Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five, I remembered a music class I took in middle school were we had to sing that song with our classmates. Granted, the version I heard in school was not the same one we listened to in class, but to say I like Louis Jordan’s version better. We also discussed Muddy Waters and his song “Hoochie Coochie Man”. Hearing this song shows the template for other Urban Blues artists to have a similar beat and style. George Thorogood and the Destroyer’s song “Bad to the Bone” has the same idea and beat that illustrates how far the blues has come since the days of Muddy Waters. Looking forward at the blues artists to come, for instance, one of my favorites, Stevie Ray Vaughn, it’s easy to see the influence of artists like Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and T-Bone Walker. These artists set the stepping stones for modern blues artists to take the pentatonic blues scale and run wild with it. Watching early Chuck Berry play, then fast-forwarding 20 years to see how much guitar chops have increased makes me think that if someone like Stevie Ray Vaughn playing his style in the mid 1940s, the crowds minds would be blown. Kind of similar to in the movie “Back to the Future” when Marty plays Johnny B. Goode in front of the audience of 1950s teenagers.

Reading about how the emergence of new music during the early 1900s has opened my eyes to seeing early jazz and country music in a new light. Reading about all the changes that took place in country music, for example the differences of Hillbilly style country music of Leon McAuliffe and Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys “Steel Guitar Rag” versus the style of Guy Massey and Vernon Dalhart’s “The Prisoner’s song”, showed some great examples of the interesting ways musicians experimented with different genres before so many others arrived. Hearing the styles of a Hillbilly Country song , then listening to the looming opera vocals of Dalhart, make an interesting contrast that I didn’t know existed. Even more amazing is that the hub for country music around this time  (Nashville, Tennessee) was the central location for both these different kinds of country music. Before reading the text about country music I assumed most music at that time made in Nashville would sound like that Hillbilly style. I am more than excited to be wrong. After listening to these two examples in the book I thought I was listening to the wrong song! The drastic differences between these two songs exemplify how different sub-genres of music were created around the inception of Country music thrusting itself into the public light. I myself am not a fan of modern country music by any means, but I am a fan of the works of Johnny Cash and June Carter. I was surprised and elated to see “Wildwood Flower” by The Carter Family was one of the recommended songs to listen to in the book. This was not the version I was use to, but it gave me a glimpse in to the origins of how June Carter became a musicians and how her families reputation assisted her in finding her place in country music in the 1960s. Hearing the steel guitar during the song “Steel Guitar Rag” left me slightly confused. I did not think that at the time guitars had the ability to resonate the way it does on the song. Also, seeing some of the photography in the main textbook showed the “big band” style of music was all the rage back in the day. I knew that Jazz bands at the time had a “big band” style, requiring several different horns, piano player, and various substitutes for changing instruments. The photo of Bob Willis and His Texas Playboys on stage shows 13 musicians ranging from brass instruments to guitar and drums. Thinking of songs like “Home on the Range” and others mentioned in the chapters about country music would never make me think that any type of country music, let alone its’ humble beginnings, featuring any type of brass instruments like trumpet or trombone. In conclusion, this weeks reading about country music and the emergence of new technologies in music has left me with a different and more well informed impression of the beginnings of country and Jazz music in the early 20th century.