Author Archives: Valerie

Closing Thoughts about MUHI 333

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Taking a class about the history of popular music has shown me that the subject is way more complex than I expected (as far as all the ideas you can focus on) and I feel like you can take the study even further as you engage with the world. I grew up with a sort of sheltered library of music (what my parents let me listen to/what I was interested in). I feel inspired to keep learning about music I am not familiar with and have more conversations with the people I meet, find out what they like to listen to and grow a wider appreciation for what’s out there. This is important to me because I’ve been considering pursuing contemporary music performance/songwriting as a career, and to do that I need to be familiar with many styles/expressions of ideas as well as creating my own.

 

 

Evanescence – “Lithium” – and more info

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Style: Goth rock, with aspects of symphonic metal (combining heavy rock instrumental sound & pop songwriting style with orchestral strings, piano, & choruses on some songs)
-Band influences: 90’s alternative rock, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails

Band info:
-Lead singer & pianist: Amy Lee
-Many changes of band members over the years, but Amy Lee lead singing and writing songs has remained consistent
-Band timeline- 1995-2012; 2015-present
-Most recent work: the album Synthesis released in 2017, a project remixing orchestral/electronic versions of previous popular songs, with new songs as well, such as Hi-Lo, featuring Lindsey Stirling on violin. I’m curious what they will do next, will they still use the rock style from earlier albums or are they focusing more now on the symphonic/electronic sound?

Common themes I’ve noticed in Evanescence songs: expressing the emotional side of hard life experiences such as loss, abuse, brokenness in relationships, etc.
How the music style is different from neighboring hard rock genres (such as punk & metal)- In my opinion it’s Amy Lee’s singing style that sets Evanescence apart the most, her singing seems elegant compared to the more scratchy or yelly voices I’m used to hearing in punk and hard rock. Lee uses a range of dynamics from belting (when she’s singing loud) to a more soft and operatic (often at the beginning of a song/in the less intense parts of a song).

Song I chose to present: Lithium
Album: The Open Door, 2nd studio album, released in 2006
Lee told Rolling Stone the album would be “a complete spectrum of darkness and scary stuff and emotion”.
Music sound aspects of Lithium:
– tempo: slow and deliberate; probably a ballad
– dynamic changes: soft beginning with just singer & piano, then band enters with a bang
-instrumental aspects I noticed: the distortion used on the guitar (acoustic or electric?) on the picking part adds a haunting/dreamy sound

Lyrics:

(Hook) Lithium, don’t want to lock me up inside
Lithium, don’t want to forget how it feels without
Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow
Oh, but, God, I want to let it go

(Verse 1) Come to bed, don’t make me sleep alone
Couldn’t hide the emptiness; you let it show
Never wanted it to be so cold
Just didn’t drink enough to say you love me

I can’t hold on to me
Wonder what’s wrong with me
Lithium, don’t want to lock me up inside
Lithium, don’t want to forget how it feels without
Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow

(Bridge) Don’t want to let it lay me down this time
Drown my will to fly
Here in the darkness I know myself
Can’t break free until I let it go
Let me go

(Verse 2) Darling, I forgive you after all
Anything is better than to be alone
And in the end I guess I had to fall
Always find my place among the ashes

I can’t hold on to me
Wonder what’s wrong with me
Lithium, don’t want to lock me up inside
Lithium, don’t want to forget how it feels without
Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow

(Outro) Stay in love with you
I, I’m gonna let it go

Analysis:
What does “Lithium” mean, and what is the significance of it?
According to Genius.com, Lee has explained in an interview, “‘Lithium’ is definitely a metaphor. I felt like I was in love with my sorrow. I get into these moods where I write music. It’s not about so much about being depressed, it’s just the strange low that I ride. But at the same time I want to be free and break through and be happy. I think that was kind of me, getting ready to play [and saying], ‘That’s it, drop the ball and just change and move on.’” There is also an explanation somewhere about Lithium being a drug to treat Bipolar disorder, working as a numbing agent. Lee also said in an interview with MTV, “…describing happiness is lithium, it’s like saying ‘that’s numbness, I won’t be able to be an artist anymore if I’m happy,’ which is hilarious because that’s just not true, I’m happy. So it’s like this fight within the song of like ‘do I do this and get out of here and get happy or do I wallow in it like I always do?’…”
I think that tension is clear between wanting happiness but wanting to cling to the sorrow she’s so familiar with can be seen in the lyrics, “I want to stay in love with my sorrow…Oh, but God, I want to let it go.”
Lee has done a lot of explaining about this song in interviews, but I think the song meaning is ambiguous when you first listen to it. For example, when looking at the verses, is she still speaking to Lithium, or is she singing to a person- a past lover or ex? Or maybe both. It depends on how you look at it.

Here is a link to the music video- you don’t have to watch it to understand the song, but the visuals do add to the mood of the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJGpsL_XYQI

Eurythmics, Sweet Dreams

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I want to talk about the song Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) because there are so many intriguing things about it. I wasn’t familiar with Eurythmics at all before class this past week, so I looked them up and read about the songwriter duo Annie Lennox and David Stewart—they have interesting backgrounds, and genius.com does a decent job explaining the song by referencing from the duo’s biographies. To keep this from turning into a tediously long blog post, I’m not going to explain that part too much, but focus more on my reactions.

The electronic music style is probably what first got me hooked on the song because it is very catchy. I also liked the attitude in the singing style (appealing to R & B/Soul). As I listened more to the lyrics, I was catching on to a deep statement about something. The lyrics “Some of them want to use you, some of them want to be used by you” seem to imply a dark meaning, and I started to wonder what this was about.

The music video for this song was intriguing as well, so I want to talk more about the visual side of it. Here is a link to the video in case you want to see it before reading my thoughts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeMFqkcPYcg

The part of the video that was most dynamic to me was the way the duo acted. Lennox is the lead and speaks to the audience boldly through her intense eye contact with the camera and the seriousness of her demeanor as she sings. Her appearance is also quite bold with the orange hair, dark eyeliner, and black suit. Stewart is mostly shown using a computer (or the device that plays the music?) and doesn’t show much emotion because of goggles covering his eyes.

The rural scene where the duo are playing cellos is very odd. I was confused about the cows. Why are they in the video? I looked that up too, but didn’t completely understand it. I can bet that the milk bottle sounds we hear in the music are related to the presence of cows in the video.

I noticed throughout the video that there are a lot of intense close-ups on eyes—Lennox’s eyes, the cow’s eyes, the third eye, eyes peeking through masks, etc. I don’t completely understand what it means, but it certainly grabs your attention during the video. I think the eye imagery relates to what the lyrics are saying about people “looking for something”.

Overall, I thought this was a well-done video. I appreciate that there are things in it I don’t understand as well as things that make me look deeper into what the song means.

Folk music, on the surface

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I seem to like folk music a lot. This is a more recent discovery for me, and I’m questioning what it is about it that I like. I was interested in the 70’s Singer/Songwriters that were discussed in class last week, probably mostly for the reason that they stem from folk. I revisited Carol King’s album Tapestry, and so far I enjoy it, but for surface level reasons- because it has folk-sounding elements (i.e. piano-lead; acoustic guitar presence; poetic lyrics but in everyday language; storytelling or personal themes in the lyrics). It sounds homey to me for some reason.

I have a “folk” playlist on Spotify, and because I was curious about which subcategories they are actually in, I looked them up on Wikipedia to see how their genres were labelled (and to see if I was wrong). “Indie Folk” came up for the majority of my favorites: Iron and Wine, The Milk Carton Kids, Mumford & Sons, The Oh Hellos, and Radical Face. There were some different ones- The Wailin’ Jennys, a Canadian group, came up as “Bluegrass/folk”, and Sandra McCracken, a Christian singer, got “Americana/folk/gospel”. Trace Bundy is another big one on my playlist, but I’m not sure if he counts as folk because his music is just acoustic guitar instrumentals. I’d have to listen to the songs more to pick out styles. Anyway, it doesn’t surprise me to find that there are dozens of subcategories stemming from folk. This creates a lot of variety which I enjoy.

Reasons I like the music are pretty simple: I just enjoy the mellowness of the sound and the acoustic-driven style. This seems pretty surface-level though. I seem to just like the way the music sounds without much regard for what the lyrics are talking about. Not that there’s anything wrong with listening to music just for the sound of it. I just think its important to note that, when getting to know another genre, it’s easy to associate it with preconceived stereotypes. Like for me, when I hear a bluegrass song, I might see countryside imagery in my head and find that relaxing while the lyrics could be about something totally different.

Thoughts on Larry Norman’s music

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When I approached the song presentation, I was thinking about music genres that have influenced my life, and one of them is Christian rock–or rock music with Christian themes (depending on how you define it or who you’re listening to). Growing up, I was into Reliant K, Superchick, and Skillet, to name a few—and these seem to fit into a more of a punkish/early 2000’s rock genre. Of bands from more of my dad’s era, I admired Petra, a band from a handful of Christian rock bands that started around the late 70’s. I didn’t know too much about Larry Norman, who has been blamed for starting that genre in the late 60’s. Since he was an influential figure to these other bands I like, I decided to read up on him more.

As I went listening some Larry Norman songs for the first time, I felt like there was something raw and bold about the style (the themes). Some words I would use to describe his songs: storytelling, outspoken, straightforward, catchy. The music (sound) style ranges from fast rock-n-roll to slow folk ballads. From what I read and listened to, it seemed like Larry was able to make an impact with the messages in his songs while not failing to have fun with the music at the same time. The song “Why should the devil have all the good music?” is an example of a song that both expresses his zany side while also confronting a serious issue (the fundamentalists’ retort that rock music and Christian music shouldn’t be mixed).

“The Great American Novel” was the song that really got me. Maybe I just like depressing folk songs with sarcastic titles. But I like the serious tone it takes, and found it interesting to see what Norman chose to protest about (the moon landing in particular). The style of the song as well as lamenting the messed up things in our nation is similar to Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind”. What’s different about it is the Christian perspective. The lyrics are almost entirely a lament about political downfalls, but the whole point, which he gets to at the end, is that we need Jesus, as the lyrics read at the end: “Don’t ask me for the answers, I’ve only got one: that a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son.”

Another popular song by Norman was “Why Don’t You Look into Jesus?” I looked this up and read that he wrote the song about Janis Joplin. That seemed obvious when I reread the lyrics “Shooting junk till you’re half insane/Broken needle in your purple vein”. I had mixed reactions when I heard the song: Is this a bash on the hippie/partying lifestyle? Is this arrogant? Then: He’s simply saying that there’s something(one) better, and he won’t hesitate to tell you it’s Jesus. So I can see how the song can be reacted to in different ways and how my beliefs affect how I react to the song. Either way, it’s one of those songs that tries to make you reconsider what you’re doing with your life.

If you’re interested, here’s a playlist- I typed in the YouTube search ‘top songs by Larry Norman’, mostly out of curiosity to see what would come up. This playlist has a mix of the songs I mentioned as well as some other ones.

 

Song Presentation: Larry Norman – “The Great American Novel”

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1. I was born and raised an orphan in a land that once was free
In a land that poured its love out on the moon;
And I grew up in the shadows of your silos filled with grain
But you never helped to fill my empty spoon

2. And when I was ten you murdered law with courtroom politics
And you learned to make a lie sound just like truth;
But I know you better now and I don’t fall for all your tricks
And you’ve lost the one advantage of my youth

3. You kill a black man at midnight just for talking to your daughter
Then you make his wife your mistress and you leave her without water;
And the sheet you wear upon your face is the sheet your children sleep on
At every meal you say a prayer; you don’t believe but still you keep on

(Refrain) And your money says in God we trust
But it’s against the law to pray in school;
You say we beat the Russians to the moon
And I say you starved your children to do it

4. You are far across the ocean in a war that’s not your own
And while you’re winning theirs, you’re gonna lose the one at home;
Do you really think the only way to bring about the peace
Is to sacrifice your children and kill all your enemies?

5. The politicians all make speeches while the news men all take note
And they exaggerate the issues as they shove them down our throats;
Is it really up to them whether this country sinks or floats?
Well I wonder who would lead us if none of us would vote

(Instrumental/piano solo)

6. Well my phone is tapped and my lips are chapped from whispering through the fence
You know every move I make, or is that just coincidence?
Well you try to make my way of life a little less like jail
If I promise to make tapes and slides and send them through the mail

(Refrain) And your money says in God we trust
But it’s against the law to pray in school;
You say we beat the Russians to the moon
And I say you starved your children to do it
You say all men are equal, all men are brothers
Then why are the rich more equal than others?
Don’t ask me for the answer, I’ve only got one:
That a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son

Becoming Aware of Sexism in Pop Music

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Today I’ve been thinking about gender stereotypes in music. The 1960’s songs we listened to in class today are saturated with boy/girl relationship themes. We identified in class today the attitude expressed in Beach Boy’s “Fun Fun Fun” implying the 60’s view of neighborhood teenage girls, that their freedom must be “reigned in”and how that comes to the boy’s advantage in the song. Please keep in mind, my goal here is not to criticize the song itself—my problem is with the sexist issue that seems to come up in popular music a lot through history. Even today, I don’t enjoy listening to a lot of pop music if the songs are about relationships, because many of them imply themes about women begging for male attention, which I find problematic. Justine Harman talks more about this topic in a blog: https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27923/top-50-music-trends/

The topic of sexism and gender issues was not always one that I cared about. When I left my rural hometown and went to college (in another small rural town, but still) I made new friends away from my familiar bubble, and that made me look at things differently and question the culture we live in. I was in a sociology class last year and had to choose a topic for a term paper, so I decided to research gender identity in the United States. It took a focus on diverse genders and sexual identities that go outside of the mold of traditional feminine/masculine roles. Through that, I learned some disheartening facts and became hyper-aware of every gendered idea enforced by advertising/politics/history/religion/pop culture–particularly the ideas that are harmful to one’s sense of self worth and how they view others’. So through that I became sensitive to the entertainment media around me, especially music, asking myself questions like this: does the song I’m listening to hold a healthy attitude toward the self-worth of others, or does it do harm?

Exploring English Folk Rock

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As I was growing up, my family exposed me to many 70’s-90’s rock bands. One of them was Steeleye Span, an English folk rock band from the 70s. I hardly knew anything about them, only that their album “All Around My Hat” is ingrained in my childhood memories because it was a frequent roadtrip CD choice with my family as I was growing up. I had always liked the bounciness of the song “The Hard Times of Old England” and would ask for them to replay “Gamble Gold (Robin Hood)” because I liked the medieval-ish sound of the instruments. Recently I wondered, how did they get this CD? (because it was different from the rest of my family’s music library) It was probably an influence by my grandparents, who are lovers of 60s/70s rock, the Steeleye album being a favorite in their vinyl collection.

When learning about European ballads a few weeks ago and hearing “Barbary Allen” for the first time, I was reminded of Steeleye’s song “Black Jack Davey,” a ballad based on an old English tale about a rich girl running away with a gypsie man. After googling this song, I learned that Bob Dylan and many other folk singers have also made song versions using this story.
In my google search to learn more background info about Steeleye Span, I read that they formed in 1969 and are considered part of the music of the British Folk Revival. Their album All Around My Hat is their 8th album, and apparently their most successful, with the song “All Around My Hat” charting number 7 on UK Albums Chart and number 143 in the U.S. in 1975. Their popularity went down after the 70s, probably because of changes in audiences’ interests.

I still love the album to this day; mostly for nostalgic reasons because of those roadtrip memories; but I’ve always found something enjoyable about the music style. I don’t know exactly what- maybe because the lyrics/themes of the song had a medieval-era feel, while the folk rock sound made the songs flavorful and catchy—and, I always enjoyed the blend of the vocalists’ harmonies.

Here is a link to “All Around My Hat”. I had never watched a video of the band before, so this was fun to see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRZ_Va4niUs

Is self-publishing a better option for musicians today?

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So I was thinking about the music industry and how I should know more about it.
What I found myself wondering about was changes in the music industry. Changes caused by culture, trends, and advances in technology; actually, what I’m specifically interested in is changes in the way musicians are working now, as I am hearing about more artists (musicians, vloggers, YouTubers, webcomic writers, authors, etc.) now working independently from big companies. Or in other words, self-publishing.

One of my favorite hard rock groups, Red, just recently announced changes to their career plans–they have dropped their record label that had sold their music for the past 12 years (which was a Sony group I think), and now they are producing on their own. They re-made their website, as well as created a page on GoFundMe.com so that fans can support them. So one thing that will change is how often they will release songs, because they will be able to release songs whenever they want (probably one to two songs every month they said), instead of waiting every  2-3 years to release an album.  Although it seems like a risky move because it’s a change, I’m excited to see how it goes and hear what they do.

So now I have some questions. Who are some other artists (musicians specifically) who self-publish? Are there a lot of instances recently of bands switching from a record label to self-publishing? How big (popular) does one have to be to do this successfully? Can newer musicians start out this way now?

Should pop musicians go to college?

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Do musicians need higher education in order to be successful in a pop music genre? This question–or something like it–was brought up in class, and it is also a question I have asked myself. I doubt that having a degree changes your chances in getting a record label, but it seems like the question really depends on the individual and where their talents and experiences lie.

Here is my experience. Over the years, I have found myself growing more passionate about singing and playing guitar, and about halfway through college (I was double majoring in art and music) I realized that I would much rather pursue a career in rock/alternative music than what I am currently studying. That’s when I wondered that question, and I pondered dropping out or looking for a different college with a music program with more of this focus. But I decided not to part with IUP and stuck with studying art. Still, I think about my interest and wonder what I should do next.

But I will say this. My background in music–which was mostly playing clarinet in band and singing in choirs from elementary school to the beginning of college–has been so beneficial. I am thankful for my 12 years of playing clarinet, for marching band, for the choirs I sang in, for the teachers I learned from, and even for music theory classes, for challenging me and showing me what it takes to make beautiful, complex music. Now it’s just a matter of deciding what I want to do with music.

So those are my thoughts. Now I want to Google all my favorite artists and bands to find out what their music backgrounds are and how they got to where they are now.