An examination of the use of the 12 bar blues in association with the development of contemporary music.
Soul
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s. It combined elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and blues, and often jazz. Soul music was influential during the period of the civil rights movement – and across the world, directly influencing rock music and the music of Africa.
According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying". Catchy rhythms stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the soloist and the chorus, and an especially tense vocal sound.
"I Got You (I Feel Good)" - James Brown
"I Got You (I Feel Good)" is a song by James Brown. Recorded and released as a single in 1965, it was his highest charting song and is arguably his most widely known recording.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t08ejaQqWjY
The Beatles (1960-70s) were an English rock band that formed in Liverpool, in 1960. With John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they became widely regarded as the greatest and most influential act of the rock era. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later experimented with several genres, ranging from popballads to psychedelic and hard rock, often incorporating classical elements in innovative ways. In the early 1960s, their enormous popularity first emerged as "Beatlemania", but as their song writing grew in sophistication they came to be perceived as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the era's sociocultural revolutions.
"Can't Buy Me Love" - The Beatles
"Can't Buy Me Love" is a song composed by Paul McCartney[3] (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and released by the Beatles on the A-side of their sixth British single (1964),
"Can't Buy Me Love"/"You Can't Do That".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMwZsFKIXa8
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqXmBy1_qOQ
Activity
Discuss the different use of performance media between ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ and ‘Lucy in the Sky with diamonds’.U2 (1970 – Present) are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono (vocals and guitar), The Edge (guitar, keyboards, and vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums and percussion). U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music. Throughout the group's musical pursuits, they have maintained a sound built on melodic instrumentals, highlighted by The Edge's timbrally varied guitar sounds and Bono's expressive vocals. Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual imagery, focus on personal themes and socio-political concerns
"I Still Haven't Found what I'm Looking For" - U2
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is a song by the Irish rock band U2. It is the second track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree and was released as the album's second single in May 1987. The song was a hit, becoming the band's second consecutive number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 while peaking at number six on the UK Singles Chart.
I Still Haven’t found what I’m looking for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh_9a_Ff-pE
Duffy (2008 – Present) Adam Thompson wrote in The Times on 30 December 2007 that "Duffy, Estelle, Gabriella Cilmi and Adele lead the charge to be the next Winehouse. First sightings seem to indicate that they are all bright-eyed innocents with bags of talent – a familiar starting point, no?" She said at first she did not understand the comparisons to Dusty Springfield and believes the comparisons with others or putting her in a movement is "a gimmick" and noted that "nobody is replaceable".
“Mercy” – Duffy
"Mercy" is a song performed by Welsh singer Duffy, released as the second single from her debut album, Rockferry(2008). Co-written by Duffy and Steve Booker and produced by Booker, it was released worldwide in 2008 to critical acclaim and unprecedented chart success.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7ZEVA5dy-Y
Listening Task
Considering ensemble and the concepts of music compare and contrast;
"I Got You (I Feel Good)" by James Brown (1965) with “Mercy” by Duffy (2008)
Questions
1/ What are some of the similarities between the two?
2/ Though both examples use the 12 bar blues progression, what elements make them different?
3/ How does each example create variety?
Performance Task
Using piano or guitar, sing and or play along to, "I Still Haven't Found what I'm Looking For" by U2 using the link below. The lyrics for the song will come up on the video as the song progresses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_ISAntOom0
And or “Mercy by Duffy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJCrb1oNbH4
Protest Songs
A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre.
Among social movements that have an associated body of songs are the abolition movement, women's suffrage, the labour movement, the human rights movement, civil rights, the anti-war movement and 1960s counterculture, the feminist movement, the sexual revolution, the gay rights movement, animal rights movement, vegetarianism and veganism, and environmentalism.
Protest songs are frequently situational, having been associated with a social movement through context. Protest Songs they may be abstract, expressing, in more general terms, opposition to injustice and support for peace, or free thought, but audiences usually know what is being referred to.
Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", a song in support of universal brotherhood, is a song of this kind. It is a setting of a poem by Schiller celebrating the continuum of living beings (who are united in their capacity for feeling pain and pleasure and hence for empathy), to which Beethoven himself added the lines that all men are brothers.
Songs which support the status quo do not qualify as protest songs.
'The Times They Are a-Changin'
From: 'The Times They Are a-Changin'' (1964)
In our No. 1 Bob Dylan protest song, 'The Times They Are a-Changin,' Dylan went all out and combined the folk protest movement of the 1960's with the civil rights movement. The shorter verses piled upon one another in a powerful way, and lyrics like, "There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’ / It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls / For the times they are a-changin'," are iconic Dylan statements that manage to transcend the times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7qQ6_RV4VQ
Protest Songs & Punks
Punk rock (or simply punk) is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream1970s rock. Punk bands created fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produced recordings and distributed them through informal channels.
The term "punk" was first used in relation to rock music by some American critics in the early 1970s, to describe garage bands and their devotees.
An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment (ranging from deliberately offensive T-shirts, leather jackets, spike bands and other studded or spiked jewellery to bondage and S&M clothes) and a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies.
Brixton Riot Footage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-5zn_GyDSk
By the beginning of the 1980s, faster, more aggressive styles such as hard-core and Oi! Had become the predominant mode of punk rock. Musicians identifying with or inspired by punk also pursued a broad range of other variations, giving rise to post-punk and the alternative rock movement. At the end of the 20th century, punk rock had been adopted by the mainstream, as bands such as Green Day, The Offspring and Blink-182 brought the genre widespread popularity.
God Save the Queen--The Sex Pistols
This legendary punk anthem, one of the more antagonist protest songs of the protest movement, was from The Sex Pistols' landmark 1977 album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols.
"God Save the Queen" is a bold indictment of the monarchy, declaring it a "fascist regime." While many protest songs present a call to action and hold out a hope for change, "God Save the Queen" represents a more nihilistic (rejecting all religious and moral principles in the belief that life is meaningless.) perspective with the repeated refrain of "no future" at the end of the song. Those nihilistic sentiments would be indicative of much of the punk rock that would follow.
God save the Queen
A fascist regime
They made you a moron
Potential H-bomb
God save the Queen
She ain't no human being
There is no future
In England's dreaming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqrAPOZxgzU
Green Day – “Wake Me Up When September Ends” (2004)
In 2004, Green Day stopped singing about bumming around, and instead tapped into the youth’s post-9/11 disillusionment with the Bush administration, while criticizing its foreign policy and those who endorse it.
“Wake Me Up When September Ends”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyP4xjjZkb8
September 11 Footage 2001
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wF74zTLjNg
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. The early Grunge movement revolved around Seattle's independent record label Sub Pop, but by the early 1990s its popularity had spread, with Grunge acts in California and other parts of the U.S. building strong followings and signing major record deals.
Inspired by hardcore punk and heavy metal, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song dynamics, "growling" vocals and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics. The grunge aesthetic is stripped-down compared with other forms of rock music, and many grunge musicians were noted for their unkempt appearances and rejection of theatrics.
The music shares with punk a raw sound and similar lyrical concerns. However, it also involves much slower tempos, dissonant harmonies, and more complex instrumentation—which is reminiscent of heavy metal.
Lyrics are typically angst-filled, often addressing themes such as social alienation, apathy, confinement, and a desire for freedom.
Discussion Question.
Though the popularity of Grunge only spaned from the mid-80s to the mid 90’s there was still a great evolution of the Grunge sound.
Examine the structure of Smells like Teen Spirit (1991) and Black Hole Sun (1994), what do you notice?
What’s simular?
What’s different?
Chord Chart For Smells Like Teen Spirit.
http://www.e-chords.com/chords/nirvana/nirvana-smells-like-teen-spirit
Chord Chart for Black Hole Sun.
http://www.e-chords.com/chords/soundgarden/black-hole-sun-(acoustic)
Aural Task
Listening to the recording of Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana,
Transcribe the bass line.
Performance Task
Using the notated bass line as a guide play along to the following link utilizing ‘Power Chords’.
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg
Listening Task
Using the concepts of music, compare and contrast, Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana, Released in 1991 and Black Hole Sun – Soundgarden, released in 1994.
How do these two examples illustrate the development of Grunge music in such a short time?
Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana (Released 1991)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg
Black Hole Sun – Soundgarden. (Released 1994)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg
Questions
1/ What are some of the similarities between the two?
2/ Though both examples use the 12 bar blues progression, what elements make them different?
3/ How does each example create variety?
