This will be my last blog post of the semester. I have found these blogs to be very helpful in my learning experience of the history popular culture music. They have given me something to look back on and study for multiple exams. It is also nice and helpful to read other students blog posts, it is great to be able to see other peoples insight on varieties of different songs and genres. For my last post, I think it is appropriate to change direction and head toward my musical roots and interest. Todays final post will be covering Rap & Hip-Hop. There are a several different artists to choose from in this genre that I am familiar with and that have been presented in class for the final presentation’s but, I am going to cover Eminem. I choose to cover Eminem for a number of different reasons, but the main one because I personally feel that he is one of the most talented music artists of my generation.  has paved the way for a lot of current and future artists in a variety of different ways. His music is deep, and comes from a very personal part of his own experiences that almost everyone can relate to in one way or another. This genre of music was developed in my beloved country the United States by inner city African Americans in the 1970’s. The genre consists of stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. Coming from Christian’s presentation it is said that Hip-Hop in the previous decade has had a relatively narrow focus. It would consistently cover problems such as drugs, violence and living in poverty. Something that is commonly seen in the inner cities of the United States. Old School Hip-Hop was very influential in the development of this genre, and was said to be very “raw and real” The basis of the music was meant to send a message of hope for change in the discrimination of African Americans and others suffering from the struggles in inner cities. Eminem is a very talented and misunderstood rapper. He had a very rough upbringing… His fat he left him at birth and his mother suffered from a mental illness. He was forced to live in poverty and had very little positive role models or influences in his life. He turned to music as a source of relief and to get away from the harsh reality. One of the main reasons he is so well respected is because he actually came from a rough upbringing and was able to his emotions into words and song that would eventually catch attention of Dr. Dre. The rest is history he became very successful and always keeps it real with his culture and background. He inspires a lot of musicians, and one thing that is sort of unique about him was that was he is white, and not many white rappers get a lot of respect from the predominately African American audience or other rappers in this genre.

In todays next blog post I will continue to cover my classmates final presentation project on a variety of different genres of popular music. This project as given us students the opportunity to present our a genre of music that we particularly like and enjoy listening too. It makes the process of learning different genres more enjoyable. It is also nice to learn from our peers for a change rather than the typically structured lecture class. This blog post will be covering a type of music that is difficult to describe and one that I have never been exposed to before the presentation done in class today. I will be talking about Heavy Metal/Progressive Rock. To start off I will talk about the song “Octavarium” by Dream Theater. Before I begin, this song is way out there… It is something that I personally have never heard or experienced in my entire life. It is a very long and complex song. I was impressed with the presenter TJ’s ability to diagnose it and break it down for the class, but with that being said I am still not completely sure I understand the genre or song. It seems to me that this genre and song choice is one that you would have to listen to a million times to get the full and true meaning from it. It also is one type of genre that is hard to relate to unless you are musically experienced/talented, which I am not. This genre is a combination of Heavy Metal and Progressive Rock. It has a tremendously aggressive guitar driven sound. It is a sound that you can not help to appreciate the difficulty in playing it. Some bands that fall into this unique category are Animals as Leaders and Trivium. The group Dream Theater was formed in 1985 is Boston, Massachusetts at the Berkley College of Music. They originally had the name of Majestic, because one of the head members of the band overheard someone say that in line for a club. The Dream Theater’s have thirteen studio albums and eight live albums. Their logo is unique and has subliminal meaning behind it, which actually spells out Dominici which was the name of the first singer in the band. They are known for very long, and complex songs. The intro to the song “Octavarium” sounds like guitar but is actually a weird, uncommon instrument called a fingerboard. The fingerboard produces a very unique sound which brings a different style into their music that sets them apart from many other bands. Overall, I found this genre to be very interesting and intriguing. It caused me to have a different opinion on Heavy Metal and Progressive Rock. I was so interested after hearing this artist and hearing that a lot of talented musicians have an appreciation for this type of music that I decided to look up and listen to a few more songs. I cannot say that I will listen to this genre a lot going forward, but at least I will be able to recognize it and appreciate the talent that is necessary to create and perform it.

Im back and more determined than ever, lets get this blog a roll’ n. Today during this particular blog session I will be blogging about a few of my classmates final music genre presentations. Overall, I find this final project to be different and interesting, fun way to end the semester. I look forward to listening to the remainder of the presentations and hear students inside on specific popular music genres as well as what their music tastes consist of. Today in class we listened to a few different presentations including artists such as Drake, Andrew W.K. and Dream Theater. Im choosing to discuss Andrew W.K. “Party-Hard”. This artist creates a music from a genre I would typically never listen to, that is why I choose to write this blog post about it. It was so different from what I normally listen to that I thought it would be good to focus in and take good notes on. This genre of music is described as Party Metal. This genre is obscure, and a sub genre of metal. It is very fast pace and has a fast tempo with flamboyant energy. This was pretty apparent during the music video displayed for the presentation. Lyrically this particular song was party focused, and posted a unusual uplifting message. This is common for a lot of Andrew W.K.’s songs, which is not commonly a theme in metal genres. The genre is said to be high tempo usually. The music video begins in a dirty bathroom, with oddly lit green lighting. The musician ties his shoes frantically and seems to be eager to perform. The video contained a lot of fast cuts and different color schemes that changed quickly. They were without a doubt rocking out so to say. The majority of the band was long haired and were not afraid to swing it around. It was definitely a party song and portrayed that type of atmosphere in the video. It is no surprise seeing as the title of the song is “Party Hard” haha. The lyrics in this song were also upbeat and had a feel good attitude to them. This song seemed to have a anti-authoritarian message in the chorus. It could be related to the punk genre but without the idc attitude so much, there was was a sense of caring. The audience for this genre is young adults, white, male focused, party goers, and high energy events such as sporting events etc. Andrew W.K.’s music has been featured in a few different commercials. One being a Kit Kat commercial “give me a break! repeated a few times, and then it cut to a news reporting in a studio, were they cut back to them and it became very calm. The description of this genre or song which made it unique was the use of a keyboard which is used in most of Andrew W.K.’s music. A few instruments that are commonly used in this genre are guitar, bass, drums and powerful vocals.

Welcome back Blog fam, Im sure a lot of you have work to do this week and before finals week starts, but I hope you have the time to take a few moments and view a few of my new and upcoming blog posts! For this post I am going to be talking about my personal opinion on one of the megastars from the 1980’s. This specific prompt was appealing to me, but it is very difficult to choose which megastar from the 1980’s to cover. There a lot of megastars that came out of the 1980’s. There are also a lot artists during this time period that made a huge impact on future artists in the 1990’s to current. Being a 1990’s baby the 1980’s was as far back in pop music culture as I went previous to taking this class. I am going to give my opinion on Michael Jackson or as some people refer to him as “The King of Pop”. In my opinion, Michael Jackson is the “King of Pop” for a variety of different reasons. He came onto scene in a crazy, flashy, and unique way. He began his music career being the youngest member of the Jackson 5. The funny part about being the youngest member in the group was that he was the main focal point of their group and performances. Michael Jackson has a unique personality and voice that could never be replicated. I found it cool that Michael has been through a lot of adversity throughout his entire life and still was able to become successful and follow his dream. It shows everyone that you can overcome anything if you stay strong and put your mind to it. His father abused his as a young child, and while he was being abused he still was able to put on a happy face, go on stage and perform with a huge smile and special voice that crowds love. It was adversity like that which made Michael Jackson who was until the end of his life. One difficulty came after another during Michaels life but he wouldn’t let it get between his love for music, his fans and loved ones. He faced drug addiction over the years, which would eventually catch up with him and end his life. He faced scrutiny from fans and other people for his skin color changing, and several plastic surgeries. Quincy Jones once said ” He obviously didn’t want to be black…You see his kids?”, this is a terrible thing to say to someone. That statement had to hurt. Michael faced several other difficulties in life such as child abuse allegations, which all of which could have had detrimental effects on his musical career but MJ wouldn’t allow that to stop him from doing what he loved. That is one of the main reasons I believe he is the best megastar of his time and possibly ever. Other reasons were his tremendous ability to perform and evoke emotion out of the his fans and crowds. He was a great dancer and entertaining to watch, it is in a way funny to watch his moves now because of how performances and music videos have evolved throughout time. He is one of the main attributers to the success of music videos and MTV. Until Michael Jackson, MTV would only show white artists, but after his “Thriller” video came out MTV really had no choice but to allow African American artists to join the movement. Well, that is unless they wanted to fall behind in the times, and profits. Overall, I could talk about Michael Jackson and his life for hours, he is without a doubt one of the most successful artists of all time and paved the way for pop culture and African Americans in the music industry. There will never be another MJ.

Hello everyone! It has been a while since my last post, sorry for the wait! Wait no longer, in this post I am going to talk about Metal during the 80’s as well as the emergence of women pop stars. Metal in the 1980s the legacy is carried forward from the 1970’s. The Transgressive aspects are greatly emphasized during Metal in the 1980’s. The music is very virtuosic and driven by guitar. Some types of Metal are more serious, dark and committed to the “metal sound”. Bands such as Metallica are an example a more committed to metal sound and dark appeal. Hair Metal is the more pop oriented form of metal. Hair metal is more closely related to glam rock. It has a flamboyant feeling to the music and performance but without the homosexual stereotype. We watched a video in class that was new to the scene and out of the ordinary. “I Wanna Rock” by Twisted Sister hit the scene and became very popular. The music video takes place in school, where the mean teacher calls a young man out and asked him what he wants to do with his life. Of course he “wants to rock!” It represents teens being independent and rather being somewhere else other than school. The video was a little scary, the look, makeup and outfits of Twisted Sister took be my surprise. I have heard this song a lot throughout my life and had no clue that they looked like this! It did not change my mind about the song, just took me by surprise… I still think its a great song. The hair on these guys is hilarious, I found myself asking…Is that hair real or a wig? Next I will cover Madonna, who is without a doubt a women known for her sex appeal, but also for paving the way in pop culture for women. Madonna had a unique image in pop culture and she defined herself in her own image. She almost seemed to use it as a kind of political statement or something. One of her songs that really caught peoples eyes and caused a large amount of controversy was “Like a Prayer”. This video was very different and in a way weird and uncomfortable. The lyrics alone talk evoke sexual feelings and the video goes along with it. It is very unusual to mix sex, and religion. The next thing that is odd and created a lot of tension was the racial aspect. In the video Madonna is singing to a African American priest who was behind bars and seemed to be a statue that came to life. She seemed to start having sexual relations with the priest. The choir is also all black. The interesting thing about the video is that at the end of the song a curtain comes down. This was done to show people that it was just a video and not meant to be taken completely serious. There are a lot of syblinial messages and feelings that she was attempting to get across to viewers in this song/video. This is the case with a lot of her videos and songs. She still continues to be popular in todays modern pop music scene and with women all around. She has done a lot for women in the music industry and pop culture.

The British invasion started around 1964. The British blues revival was between the 50’s and 60’s, and there was an appreciation for black R&B artists after WWII. Early Rock & Roll was more pop oriented compared to what many people now days consider Rock & Roll to be. Many artists and groups modeled themselves after various past artists such as Muddy Waters. The Guitar, and especially electric guitar became a huge hit in Rock & Roll. They played their music at high volumes which was appealing to larger crowds. Later came groups such as Cream, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin etc. A lot of popular artists when to “Art Schools” where they would meet other artists, learn new skills and sometimes form groups. Two prime examples are The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones. Early Beatles 1960-1964 focused on singles rather than albums, but occasionally would make records. The Beatles in their early days covered classic R & B and let them into early rock. They were influenced by several groups and artists but some main ones include Chuck Berry, Lil Richard, Elvis, the Everly Brothers etc. Beatlemania, took the U.S. by storm by aiming at the target audience of young teenage girls. They had a personal style that was influenced by a lot of artists from the United States. They themselves didn’t think that they would be as successful in the U.S. as they were, but they began to pave the way for many other British bands. They really began to take of in 1965, they had a larger range of style. In 1966, when their album Revolver came out they began to experiment with different sounds, lyrics and ideas which began to attract more than just teenage women. One of their major influences was Bob Dylan because of his artful lyrics. The Beatles were not alone. They had competition from multiple different groups but the group I am going to compare them too is The Rolling Stones. They both have very distinctive styles. The Rolling Stones were also British invaders and had influence from a lot of the same artists. They are on the more harder edge of rock. This rock is what I consider rock today. The Beatles were more of a boy band and pop group, trying to appeal to a younger feminine audience. This does not mean that they did not have a male fan base. In fact they did, more in their later works. The Rolling Stones were not clean cut white men, they were white but they had a more rough edge to them and it showed in their music. They were more of a carefree group playing tougher sounds. If you compare two popular songs from each band it is a lot easier to see. For example, the song  “I can’t Get No Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones, is more relatable to a larger audience. It has a rougher edge compared to The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby” which is a much softer feeling song. I think that The Rolling Stones song is much more appealing. They have more of a head-banging feel to them compared to The Beatles where it is more relaxing and psychedelic feel. The Beatles in my opinion had more complexity in their music, and instruments, but the simplicity of the Stones is what really captured my attention. They have a more strait to the point, “I’m going to rock your face off” feel to their songs. Rock is beginning to mature, and become “Classical” music, which is what I prefer. I also enjoy The Beatles but more in a way that I want to sit down and chill. The Rolling Stones make me want to party.

Welcome back everyone! This time in Music History 333 we will be discussing R&B Atlantic records and the beginning of Rock ‘n’ Roll!

Atlantic Records was started in 1947. Their goal was to create a record company that focused on African American artists and attract a larger African American audience. This is a R&B independent label. Tom Dowd was the engineer of Atlantic Records and Ahmet Ertegun, Herb Abramson and later Jerry Wexlerw were all major contributors to the company. However, the company is known as “The house that Ruth Brown built”. Ruth Brown is know as miss rhythm. Her famous song “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” was a hit and later covered by white artists. Ruth Brown started in church and at one time did 71 shows in a row! Touring made money and that was the goal for record companies. She was very successful but did not become rich because of the control of white studio owners. Ray Charles 1930-2004 is one of the most inspiring and influential artists of his time. He lost his sight from age 4-7 from Glaucoma, attended the school for the blind and learned to read music in brail. He was very talented and had a career at age 14. He moved to seattle at age 18. His style was a combination of gospel and R&B. He has many hit songs but the main one we talked about in class was “I Got A Women” which some lyrics in the song are more likely known by our generation from Kanye West’s song “Gold Digger”.  I personally like Ray’s version better. It is obviously more original and has a cool beat too it.

The beginnings of Rock n Roll or “Big Beat” blues is finally beginning to become more current and touch on the meat of the class. Music History from 1945 to present day. The song by artists Jackie Brenston and producer Sam Phillips was one of the first recognized as Rock n Roll. The song came out in 1951, just shortly after WWII ended. At the time automobiles just became more popular in society due to the war being over, and Jackie Brenston’s song Rocket 88 had everybody listening. It represented freedom and mobility and was sort of a youth movement. Rock & Roll is a slang term for sex. Alan “moondog” Freed named it that. This genre included R&B, Jump Blues (Rhythm), Urban Blues (Guitar), Doo-Wop (singing) , country (strait ahead two beat, and story telling) , and Tin Pan Alley (Songwriting). Other artists that contributed to Rock n Roll are Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, The Coasters, The Shirelles (women), Buddy Holly and the Crickets, The Flamingos etc. Popular producers and song writers included Leiber & Stoller, Sam Phillips, Carole King & Jerry Goffin, Dorothy LaBostrie. Each of these artists have their own special style or twist they bring to the table. Little Richard is famously known for is energetic performances, Chuck Berry used country and R&B as an influence in his music more than most of the other artists, and is known for the duck walk. Buddy Holly was able to get past just covering stuff. He has a distinctive vocal sound and is similar to the way elvis uses his voice.

Welcome back fellow bloggers, heres my second post!

We began to cover the more of the African American influence on music during the early 1900’s and multiple different genres and artists that made music what it is today. We started with the blues. The blues was an is considered African American Folk music. This began in the early 1900’s but started to be recored around the 1920’s. Blues is a major part of Jazz, the foundation for Rock ‘n’ Roll and black gospel. Lyrics included  A A B format, rhythm and strophic. Much of the song topics of early blues is about love, and misfortune. The first popular blues is “classic blues” from the 1920’s. It was recored in the north by Jazz and theater performers. It has been modified by the vernacular blues style. Many groups included female singers and Jazz bands. One example is St. Louis Blues composed by W.C. Handy, artist was Bessie Smith and playing the trumpet was Louis Armstrong. This song came out in 1925. The next genre developed was “Country Blues”. Male singers and guitar are common components to country blues. One of the best known country blues singers is Robert Johnson. His hit song was “Cross road blues” in 1936. This was recorded in the south. Some say it was rediscovered in the 60’s and was a major influence to Rock. Early “R&B” began to emerge in 1945. The term R&B stands for “Race Records” and was invented in the 1920’s-40’s by a man named Ralph Peer. 1949- today R&B stands for rhythm and blues or “race & black” the term coined by Jerry Wexler from Atlantic Records, and used by there Billboard for their chart. The next genre is “Jump Blues” and the main name you need to know is Louis Jordan. He is made a song in 1946 called Choo Choo Ch-Boogie which became a huge hit. This was post war, recession time in America and many people needed a more positive outlook or sound. Urban blues was covered as well and artists such as T-Bone Walker and Muddy Waters immediately come to mind. This genre is a continuation of country blues, it is guitar based and the electric guitar began to emerge into popularity in large, noisy clubs. T- Bone Walker originated the electric blues sound. Gospel music or “the good news”. This genre is African American religious music. A lot of people began to sing during church services. This genre emerged in the 1920’s-30’s and was a combination of the blues but with spiritual/gospel hymns. Georgia Tom or Thomas Dorsey bounces between blues and church music and became a popular name. In the 40’s gospel took a turn and we began to see gospel quartets, by the 50’s there were gospel soloists. Mahalia Jackson is a famous gospel singer and yes she is a women! She is famous for her “Move On Up a Little Higher” in 1948. Mainstream blues is another type of blues, which relates to classic blues in a way. Popular artist Charles Brown and his hit song Driftin’ Blues 1950 had a smoother sound and fewer country illusions.

Welcome to my Blog for Music History: 333 The first week and a half we began to graze the surface of the early history behind popular music.

When I saw this class as a liberal studies elective, I became intrigued and wanted to know more of what we would be learning. After I became aware that it would covering topics about popular music from 1945- present day, I thought it would be the right class for me to learn something completely new for a change. It is good to get out of your comfort zone every once and I saw this as an opportunity to switch it up a little bit. I have little to zero experience with music. I mean zero! The most musical experience I have is from elementary music classes, chorus, and middle school music classes. I have never learned to play an instrument. I guess some of has to do with the social environment I grew up in, neither my mother, father, sister or close friends played instruments, and if they did while they were inside at they’re piano lesson, I was outside riding my bike or playing sports.   I love listening to the radio, cd’s and going to concerts. It is not that I do not enjoy the music, I actually love and admire it. There is a lot of time, discipline, passion and dedication that goes into creating/selling music.

Walking into the first class it was an understatement to say that I was nervous. I had no idea what to expect, and did not recognize a single face in the class. Dr. Baumer, our professor did an excellent job going over the basics elements of music such as the beat, tempo, meter, rhythm, accents, melody, harmony, form, verse, chorus, style and pitch. These all pretty basic terms, but for me it was completely foreign. We began to talk about Pre-popular music and the influence of african americans made on the music industry. Most of these topics are pre 1945 but necessary to cover in order to fully understand the origin of most popular music we here today and throughout history. Dance music: folk dances, waltz, polka, quadrille and 2 step (March). These are all examples of pre history dance music. Music Theater: Opera, vaudeville, music theater, minstrelsy all forms of musical theater. Next we started talking about minstrelsy. This is a popular stage entertainment featuring songs, dances and comic dialogue in highly conventional patterns. At this time, African Americans were played by white people with black face paint, commonly known as “blackface”. By the early to mid 19th century this was commonly seen as a form of entertainment for whites. One famous minstrelsy actors covered in class was Thomas Dartmouth Rice. He was most famously popular for his character Jim Crow. Most people today have heard of Jim Crow, he has to deal with segregation in the U.S. he is a made up character that is considered offensive.

Overall, up to this point I enjoy the class. There is a lot of information to take in, but it is all interesting.

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