Michael Lione-Listening Journal #8

 

                This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 15 in the book American Popular Music.

                The one recording I listened to was “Bodysnachers” by Radio Head. This song was first recorded in 2007. This song was one of Radio Head’s biggest hits. The song opens with a guitar riff and outlines the main melody of the song. The lyrics of the song talks about a person that is incarcerated inside of his own body. The lyrics seem to be in the first-person subject. The singer talks about not being able to connect to the people around him. The guitar is heard throughout the song and takes the lead and reverb in several instances. During my listening, this song has aspects that resemble rock music from the 1950’s and 1960’s. Although I have never heard this song before, I really enjoyed listening to this song. I will try to listen to more Radio Head music in the future!

Michael Lione-Listening Journal #7

 

                This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 13 and 14 in the book American Popular Music. The Chapters focused on Digital Technology, MTV, as well as Popular Mainstream, and Hip Hop.  During the course of my readings, I also listened to several different songs that were written around the same period. I learned about several musicians from these eras such as Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Madonna, as well as Peter Gabriel.

                One of the first recordings I listened to was “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel. This song was first recorded in 1986. This recording was one of the biggest hits of Gabriel’s long career. The song begins with a trumpet fanfare. The tempo of the song is a straightforward tempo and does not waiver. I thought that some of the lyrics were interesting in the song. Some of the words in the lyrics you hear are big dippers, steam trains, fruitcake and honeybee. The form of the song seems to be built on 12 bar and 8 bar sections. Some of the instruments that I heard on the recording were flute, snare drum, keyboard, guitar and synthesizer. Some of these instruments are heard in random four block sections. From a visual perspective, the music video to “Sledgehammer” was one of the most complicated to produce and famous music videos of all time. Even almost thirty years later, this music video still is impressive! Please check out this link to the music video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJWJE0x7T4Q

                “Thriller” was first recorded by Michael Jackson in 1982. This song is considered by many to be the greatest pop songs of all-time and contains an iconic short movie/music video as well. The lyrics of the song talk about being in the dark close to midnight and scary things lurking in the night. The tempo of this song is up-tempo throughout. The dominant instrument that we hear during the song is some kind of synthesizer. You also hear a heavy bass part as well. The syncopation of the instruments along with Jackson’s vocals give it a funk feel to me. Much like “Sledgehammer”, this song had an iconic music video that helped in the development of MTV in the early 1980’s. In comparing these two songs, they are very different musically but they were both big hits so they had an appeal to the general listening audience. Please check out this link to the music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG6oy46qKE4

                                During the course of my readings and other listening, I learned that many of the popular songs from other genres as well. I listened to the music of Nirvana. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was recorded by Nirvana in 1991 and was their most popular song during the band’s short career. This song was also the first alternative rock song to crack the top 10 in the 1990’s.  The song contains 4, 8 and 12-bar sections. The form of the song is ABC and is repeated at different times of the song. Cobain uses different vocal hooks to keep the audience engaged. This year marks the 20^th anniversary of Cobain’s suicide in 1994. I remember being in 7^th grade when I heard the news and my female friends at the time being so sad!

                  

Chapters 11  & 12 Listening Journal #6

                This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 11 and 12 in the book American Popular Music. The Chapters focused on Rock Music, Disco, as well as reggae, punk rock and rap.  During the course of my readings, I also listened to several different songs that were written around the same period. I learned about several musicians from these eras such as Elton John, Bob Denver, Bob Marley, as well as Willie Nelson.

                One of the first recordings I listened to was “Crocodile Rock” by Elton John. This song was first recorded in 1972. This recording was one of Elton John’s earliest hits of his long career. The song contained the basic sounds and feelings of American Rock N’ Roll but it also incorporated John’s own personal touch as well. The lyrics of the song talk about nostalgia. One such example is the lyric “I remember when rock was young, me and Suzy had so much fun”. Musically, the song starts with a synthesizer/organ solo and contains an upbeat feel and straight tempo. The chorus contains an organ sound from John that sounds like a kazoo. The musical form of this popular song was AABA which is the standard form for popular/pop songs.

                “Stairway to Heaven” was first recorded by Led Zeppelin in 1972. This song is considered by many to be the greatest rock song of all-time. The lyrics of the song talk about mythological beings. The lyrics give a sense to the listener of a sense of mood of mystery and enchantment. The lyrics are sung in the standard 4 and 8 bar phrases. The song starts out with a guitar solo and features many tempo and key changes throughout. This song is almost 8 minutes long which doubles the standard 3 and a half minute song played on the radio. Stairway to Heaven does not follow the usual musical form of a popular song. I remember in High School Jazz Band that “Stairway to Heaven” was one of our favorite songs to play!

                                During the course of my readings and other listening, I learned that many of the popular songs from other genres as well. I listened to the music of Trombonist Willie Colon. “Pedro Navaja” was recorded by Colon in 1977. The song begins with an instrumental introduction which gives us a sense of some kind of place and time. The instruments seem to enter into the song one after another. Some instruments that I heard on the recording were Trombone, Congas, Bass and Piano.

               

Chapters 9 & 10-Listening Journal #5

 

                This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 9 and 10 in the book American Popular Music. The Chapters focused on American Pop, the British Invasion, the music of Motown as well as Urban and Folk music of the 1960’s. This week marked the 50^th anniversary of the Beatles coming to the United States and the start of the British Invasion so it was fun to read and listen to these songs. During the course of my readings, I also listened to several different songs that were written around the same period. I learned about several musicians from these eras such as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Supremes, as well as Bob Dylan.

                One of the first recordings I listened to was “Please, Please Me” by The Beatles. This song was first recorded in 1962. This recording was one of the first Beatles songs to be played on radio stations in the United States. The song starts off with an instrumental intro before The Beatles begin to sing the lyrics. It sounds like John Lennon takes the lead vocals. This song is up tempo and features an ABAB structure. There are no temp changes in the song as well. The other members of the group back up Lennon on the lyrics “Common, Common”. This song is only about two minutes long. Towards the end of the song, you hear a conclusive cadence.

                “Good Vibrations” was first recorded by the Beach Boys in 1966. The Beach Boys were America’s answer to the British Invasion of bands as the time. The lyrics of the song talk about how the singer loves her hair, clothes, perfume etc. The form of the song is ABAB. Some parts of the song seem to be recorded in a minor key. Some of the instruments in the recording that I heard were an Organ, Flute, Cello as well as percussion. In comparing this song to “Please, Please Me”, they are quite different. First, the instruments that Brian Wilson used are not common in many Pop Songs. This kind of instrumentation really helped create the Beach Boys unique sound. “Good Vibrations” has a few tempo changes while “Please, Please Me” is a straight forward tempo from beginning to end.  Despite these songs being different, I enjoyed listening to both of them and could see how they appealed to audiences back then as well as almost 50 years later!

                                During the course of my readings and other listening, I learned that many of the popular songs of Soul. I listened to the music of several Soul Artists such as James Brown and Aretha Franklin. One of the first Franklin recordings I remember was “Free Way” in 1985. The Song climbed to Number 1 in R&B and Number 3 in Pop the same year. It was a straight-forward up beat song. I really like the timbre of Franklin’s voice as she sang freely with a lot of energy in her voice!  I can remember as a child seeing the music video with a big pink Cadillac in it back when MTV actually played music videos!

Chapters 7 & 8-Listening Journal #4

 

                This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 7 and 8 in the book American Popular Music. The Chapters focused on the emergence of the big solo singers after World War 2 to the beginning of Rock N’ Roll from 1946-1959. During the course of my readings, I also listened to several different songs that were written around the same period. I learned about several musicians from these eras such as Frank Sinatra, The Weavers, Nat King Cole as well as Ricky Nelson, Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley from the Rock N’ Roll era.

                One of the first recordings I listened to was “Nature Boy” by Nat King Cole. This song was first recorded in 1948. This recording was the first to feature Cole with a full orchestra accompaniment. This was the era of the big solo singers such as Frank Sinatra and Cole. This song has a free flowing tempo from start to finish. The song starts off with an instrumental intro before Cole starts to sing.. This song is short and feature an ABAB structure. Cole begins each verse for a small falsetto at the beginning of each phrase and seems not to take a breath at all. His voice seems to have a lot of timbre and versatility in pitch as well. Some instruments that you hear in the recording are a Flute, an Oboe and a French Horn.

                “Hound Dog” was a cover song first recorded by Elvis Presley in 1956. This song was on the opposite side of the same record as “Don’t be Cruel” which topped the charts for eleven weeks in a row during the summer and fall of 1956. However, “Hound Dog” proved just to be as popular as “Don’t Be Cruel”. The tempo of the song is straight forward. The drum set helps keep the steady tempo and does a 16^th note triplet fill at the end of each verse when Elvis says “Ain’t No Friend of Mine”. There is also a guitar solo during the course of the song as well as vocal back-up singing during the guitar solo.

                                During the course of my readings and other listening, I learned that many of the popular songs of early country music as well as the mambo craze of the 1950’s. “Mambo” was a popular Latin dance in the United States just before the rise of Rock N’ Roll. This dance was a branch of some Cuban tradition. Two popular Mambo dances I listened to were “Mambo Number 5” and “Mambo Italiano”. Mambo songs have straight-forward syncopated rhythm sections. Many mambo songs also had syncopated saxophone and trumpet parts.