Transcript Chapter 82: Significant Rock

POPULAR MUSIC IN
AMERICA
Dr. Love, professor
SEPTEMBER 11, 2015:
UNIT 18 — BEYOND ROCK: THE 1980S
UNIT 18 — BEYOND ROCK: THE 1980S
•
•
•
Joel Whitburn, guru of Billboard charts, heads Record Research
This firm collects and publishes chart information
His top 10 acts on the album charts of the 1970s and 1980s:
• Where is the rock?
•
Note: The 1970s list:
•
•
•
•
• Dominated by white male acts
• Carole King is the exception
• No minorities
Note: The 1980s list:
•
•
•
•
•
1970s
1980s
1
Elton John
Prince
2
Chicago
Michael Jackson
3
Paul McCartney and Wings
Bruce Springsteen
4
The Bee Gees
Whitney Houston
5
The Rolling Stones
Madonna
6
Eagles
The Rolling Stones
7
Fleetwood Mac
Billy Joel
8
Led Zeppelin
The Police
9
Carole King
U2
10
Bob Dylan
John Mellencamp
• Only one of the top five acts is white male
• Billy Joel’s music ranges far beyond conventional rock
• U2 and the Police created new sounds based on late 1970s music
• John Mellencamp was the closest to the core rock of the late 1960s and early 1970s
• Bruce Springsteen incorporated new sounds of the 1980s into his music
The Rolling Stones were the only act to make both charts
CHAPTER 77: BEYOND ROCK
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chapter 77: Beyond Rock
The music of the 1980s brought new sounds as well as new looks to rock-era music
Much of the commercially dominant music sounds as if it could not have been created before
1980, for two reasons:
• Use of sounds and rhythms that were not common, or even available, through much of
the 1970s
• Integration of style elements from what had been “outsider” styles in the 1970s
New Sounds and Rhythm
Advances in electronic synthesis opened up a broad new palette of sounds
Digital technology made both the replication or existing timbres and the creation of new
timbres easier
It also streamlined the enhancement of conventional sounds through various effects
Now, music that didn’t incorporate synthesized sounds became the exception—not the rule
Three new rhythms of the 1980s stand out:
• Energized rock beat derived from punk
• Adaptations of the afterbeat rhythms of reggae
• 16-beat rhythms first heard in funk, black pop, and disco
The timeless rock-groove of the Stones (and others) was less common in the middle-ground of
the 1980s than these new, more active rhythms
CHAPTER 77: BEYOND ROCK
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Insider/Outsider” Fusions
Punk vs. disco
• Punk was real—disco, in a club, was an escape into a timeless world
• Punk was about grit—disco was about glitter
• Punk bands hammered out a concentrated rock rhythm on conventional rock
instruments—disco featured DJs mixing recordings, most of which combined
a strong beat with active 16-beat rhythms
• Punk lyrics usually said something—disco lyrics often descended into banality
Robert Christgau, the “dean of American rock critics,” described the post-punk/post-disco
fusion as a key development of the decade
DOR, dance-oriented rock, is the umbrella term used by DJs in 1980s disco pools to identify an
array of 1980s styles (pools helped spur the sale of nonradio records, so some acts made
certain there were dance-oriented tracks on their albums)
Three reasons these fusions of inside-outside styles were innovative:
• The 1980s was the first generation of rock music (or any 20th century pop music) that
was not nurtured on the blues
• The outside styles came from within rock-era music
• Because of the blending the rock styles, the boundaries between rock, R & B, and pop
became more fluid and transparent
Another important fusion that profoundly affected the dissemination of music:
• The music video—it brought together, sound, image, and movement into a new genre
And a new medium—cable television
CHAPTER 77: BEYOND ROCK
• MTV and Music Videos
• We don’t normally think of TV as the primary medium to spread the impact of rock
and roll, but shows such as: Ed Sullivan Show, Steve Allen, American Bandstand,
Shindig, Hullabaloo,
•
The Partridge Family, The Archies, the Monkees were important to rock
• These shows were on broadcast TV, but a new type of TV signal would further
promote rock
•
• Cable TV was around since 1948 and available for rural areas that couldn’t pick up
broadcast transmissions
• Cable TV really took off in the latter 1970s, due to two key developments:
•
•
• Launching of communication satellites
• Significant deregulation of the broadcast industry—the Cable Act of 1984 effectively
deregulated the TV industry
• Cable changed the economics of the TV industry and transformed it in the process
•
• Cable TV charged subscribers a fee and passed on a percentage of that fee to the
channels
This new source of revenue made possible the fragmentation of
the TV market
•
Networks began to target specialized audiences with specific
formats
• Among the first of these new cable networks was MTV
•
CHAPTER 77: BEYOND ROCK
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Why not an all-rock station?
MTV was started on August 1, 1981 with a $20 million start-up budget, by parent Warner Amex
Satellite Entertainment Company (Warner and the AMEX corp.)
It was the most researched channel in history (at that time)
Target audience was: white suburban from age 12-34
With only 40% of the country wired for cable at this time, MTV expanded from an initial 2.5
subscribers to 17 million in 1983: fastest growing cable channel in history
It was basically a visual radio station format with a VJ (video jockey) similar to a DJ
Record companies provided the station with rock videos to promote new releases
Other TV networks got on the bandwagon as well:
• WTBS had Night Tracks—6 hours of videos on weekend nights
• USA Network launched Night Flight and 1990
• NBC had Friday Night Videos
Complaints about MTV had to do with the race of artists’ videos that were aired
Almost no blacks; that was the result of marketing
Most of the rock videos in this early stage of MTV development were of British bands
(due to paucity of radio stations in Britain and Europe, they had to use TV as
an outlet more than in the US)
Another concern was the frequent emphasis on sex and violence in the videos
A 1986 study in the Journal of Communication cited 56.6% of rock videos
contained examples of violent acts; also reported that 75.9%
included representations of sexual activities
Just goes to prove the adage, sex and violence sells
CHAPTER 77: BEYOND ROCK
• Of course, the exposure of a group’s video on MTV boosted record sales and notoriety
•
It became a “tastemaker for young people around the world”
• Early on, MTV showcased many British groups and prompted, what some called, a Second
British Invasion
•
Duran Duran, a British pop group, was one of the early MTV bands
• Michael Jackson’s Thriller album (1983) proved to be so successful, MTV had to finally show
those videos (there were 3, “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” and “Thriller”), breaking the color
barrier
•
His music was so appealing to almost every demographic segment of the population
that MTV yielded to the pressure of the marketplace and, not only ran his,
but other black artists’ videos as well
•
• Rock had been on film for a while now
•
Elvis, Beatles’ films
•
Also live performances on film, such as the Monterey pop Festival of 1967, Woodstock,
1969
•
Devo’s new wave experiments on video were also seminal
• Now with the rise of popularity of music videos, there is a change of the creation of songs
•
The song and video are an integrated whole now, not as before, where the songs were
written for the story (musical theatre, shows)
•
Also, the look of a band and the look of the video is a criterion of success
CHAPTER 78: POP IN THE 1980S
• Chapter 78: Pop in the 1980s
• Pop in the 1980s
• Race, gender, sexual preferences were non-issues to the new generation of pop stars
ushered in the early 1980s
• The stars and their music were dramatically different from the music of the previous decade
•
The leading acts were Michael Jackson, Prince, and Madonna—none of them are
heterosexual, white males
• Both Jackson and Madonna were multifaceted entertainers—after them, it was no longer
enough to be just a good singer or musician, one had to be able to move well, etc.
• Video and film became essential components of stardom:
•
•
• Michael Jackson’s videos broke the color barrier on MTV and video
• Video and film were essential in boosting Prince and Madonna to superstardom
• Their music was a melting pop connecting most directly to the black pop tradition of the
1960s and 1970s
•
It also absorbed disco, punk, reggae, funk, Latin music, dance music, and rap
•
Synthesizer played an increasingly important role, as rhythm instruments, extra
percussion, and string and horn analogues
• The new pop was also extremely popular
•
Michael Jackson’s Thriller album easily surpassed the sales of the previous best-selling
album
•
Prince and Madonna had impressive sales figures as well
CHAPTER 78: POP IN THE 1980S
• Pop in the 1980s (continued)
• The music now, because it drew from so many sources, has no single “middle ground”
style
• It can be summed up:
•
• A set of principles, rather than specific musical features, defined the music
•
• The songs typically have intelligible lyrics that tell a story
•
• They are set to a singable melody
•
• The melody, in turn, is embedded in a rich, riff-laden texture
•
• Most layers—if not all—are played on synthesizers
•
• Songs have a good beat—easy to find and danceable
•
CHAPTER 78: POP IN THE 1980S
• Michael Jackson
• Jackson (1958-2009) is the direct link between Motown and 1980s pop
• Coming from a background of the family vocal group, Jackson 5 on Motown, and
also as a solo artist on Epic Records, he had demonstrated a significant crossover
appeal
•
The Jackson 5 were Motown’s last great act
• As a solo performer in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Jackson went beyond Motown by
helping to define the new pop middle ground:
•
•
•
• He was an all-around performer
• He established the music video as a new, integrated mode of expression
• His dancing went far beyond the stylized choreography of the Motown acts
• Jackson’s career took off in 1978 when he starred in the film The Wiz
•
He met Quincy Jones, composer/arranger/producer extraordinaire
• First Epic album, Off the Wall (1979), produced by Quincy Jones, went multi-platinum and
had
•
4 Top-10 singles
• MTV had just gone on the air in 1981, and Jackson was in the right place at the right time
• Thriller (released late in 1982) was also produced by Jones
•
They transformed the music video from a song-with-video into a mini-film that used
a song as the focal point
•
The video of “Thriller” is twice the length of the album track
CHAPTER 78: POP IN THE 1980S
• • “Thriller” is characteristic of post-1980 pop
•
• Extensive use of electronic instruments in combination with conventional
instruments, particularly the:
•
•
•
• Repeated bass riff
• Sustained harmonies behind Michael’s vocals
• Brash chords of the opening, all played in synthesizers
Basic rhythm grows out of disco:
•
•
•
•
• Strong backbeat
• Relentless bass-drum thump on each beat
• Several layers of percussion marking a 16-beat rhythm
• Other instruments add a denser and more complex texture than in a conventional disco
song
• Jackson’s voice is only one strand in the texture—in the verse it is in the forefront, but in
the chorus sections the backup vocals and instrumental riffs all but drown him out
• All songs on the album have a distinct identity with considerable contrast from song to
song
• Three were turned into videos:
•
•
•
• “Beat It”
• “Billie Jean”
• “Thriller”
CHAPTER 78: POP IN THE 1980S
• These more or less revolutionized the genre, as Jackson made each of them into epic
mini-dramas of Hollywood proportions
• Thriller was #1 for 37 weeks and generated an unprecedented 7 top-10 singles
•
Won 12 Grammy Awards—8 for Jackson, 4 for Jones
•
Had duets with Paul McCartney (“The Girl is Mine”), used Eddie Van Halen on
guitar (“Beat It”), the horror voice of Vincent Price in a closing “rap” section of “Thriller”
• By the end of 1983, three more Thriller singles made the Top-10
• The “Thriller” video, in which Jackson leads a troupe of ghoulish dancers in late night
choreography is often cited as the best music video of all time
• It is the crowning achievement of Jackson’s career; nothing before or since matched its
success
•
• Next big monster hit for Michael was Bad (1987); produced 7 hit singles, including 5 #1 hits—
the most ever from one album
• Dangerous (1991) another #1 multi-platinum album
• In 1991, he signed a one billion dollar multimedia contract with Sony
CHAPTER 78: POP IN THE 1980S
• Madonna
• From Bay City, Michigan, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, (b. 1958—same year as
Michael Jackson)
• She moved to New York to pursue a dancing career
• She recorded some music—popular among clubbers—and created enough of a buzz to
record an album, Madonna, 1983
•
Made the Top-20 and had 2 Top-10 singles
•
Was a big name in the dance music craze—a synthesized update of 1970s
disco
• 1984 saw her life as a superstar begin; Like a Virgin was released
•
Her first #1 single and album
•
“Material Girl” also from this album
•
The video of “Like a Virgin” established a formula that would set the tone for her
subsequent work:
•
Combine provocative, shocking, and controversial themes and
images with bright, accessible music
CHAPTER 78: POP IN THE 1980S
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Madonna (continued)
In 1989, the music video of “Like a Prayer” featured burning crosses and an erotic black Jesus figure,
which prompted Pepsi to cancel her lucrative endorsement deal and the Vatican to censure her
This video dramatically evidences the emergence of the music video as an entity distinct from the
song that spawned it, and from other expressive forms that merge song, image, and
movement
In the video of “Like a Prayer”, there is little sense of continuity in the narrative, visually or in the lyric
There are also long stretches where she doesn’t sing, even as we hear her voice in the song
This shows that the music video has moved well beyond simply capturing a live
performance
• The messages of “Like a Prayer”:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• Racism is wrong
• We are all brothers and sisters in Christ
• Madonna is sexy
Her music has a winning formula—combine a simple, catchy melody with trendy sounds and
rhythms—all skillfully produced
Musically, the melody of “Like a Prayer” flows in undulating phrases, with little or no syncopation
It is a very simple tune—more like a folk melody
Harmony oscillates between the chords sung by a choir and an organ and a Caribbean-flavored
background
Rhythmically, the accompaniment is dense, active, and rich in both electronic and conventional
instrument sounds
The song doesn’t break any ground musically, but is does merge disparate and seemingly
contradictory musical features into an effective song, just as the video does
CHAPTER 78: POP IN THE 1980S
• Madonna (continued)
• Madonna has endeavoured to position herself and career to that of a position of complete
control:
•
• She writes her own songs
•
• She produces here recordings
•
• Choreographs her performance
•
• Makes key decisions about every aspect of production and promotion
• She has become a role model for a new generation of women performers
• She also proves that women have achieved sexual equality within the pop music business
•
• Madonna and Jackson have been influential and innovative contributors in:
•
• The reintegration of song and expressive dance
•
• Their role in establishing the music video as a new expressive medium
•
• Their sheer star power
•
• In Madonna’s case, her business acumen
CHAPTER 78: POP IN THE 1980S
• Madonna (continued)
• Other important aspects of Madonna’s career:
• Madonna had pushed the controversy button throughout her career
•
Her 1984 single, “Borderline,” was about inter-racial love
•
In her 1986 single, “Papa Don’t Preach,” a young unwed pregnant woman
defiantly decides to keep her baby, against her father’s wishes
•
In her video to “Open Your Heart” she is shown scantily clad on display at a peepshow
before a crowd of men
•
In 1991 she produced and X-rated documentary film entitled Truth or Dare
•
In 1992 she published the coffee table book Sex, which featured nude and S & M
clothed photos of herself
•
In 1994 she engaged in a profanity-laden shouting match with the host on The Late
Show with David Letterman
•
Her recording, 2003’s American Life received mixed reviews; in part because
Madonna, for the first time, has rapped on record and in part for the sometimes confessional
and sometimes political nature of the songs. However, the reviews did not keep the album
from hitting #1 on the Billboard 200
CHAPTER 78: POP IN THE 1980S
• Madonna (continued)
• She acted in some films, Desperately Seeking Susan, Shanghai Surprise (with the then new
husband Sean Penn), Who’s That Girl?, Bloodhounds of Broadway, and Dick Tracy
(with boyfriend Warren Beatty)
• True Blue (1986) was her second consecutive #1 album; yielded 3 #1 singles
• Her extramusical image was always on everyone’s mind as well
•
She unabashedly projects the female-as-sex-object stereotype, modelling herself after
Marilyn Monroe
•
Her revealing costumes, sexually suggestive videos, and self-advertised lifestyle left little
to the imagination—a female sex icon of the 1980s and 1990s
•
She starred in the movie Evita, about Eva Peron
• In 1992, she signed a 7-year, $60 million deal with Time Warner guaranteeing release of all
albums, films, and books under her own production company
• Ambitious to the core and one of the most astute businesswomen in the industry, Madonna
has always managed to use controversy to generate sales—all of her albums have been
certified platinum
CHAPTER 79: POST-PUNK/POST-DISCO
FUSIONS: THE MUSIC OF PRINCE
• Chapter 79: Post-Punk/Post-Disco Fusions: The Music of Prince
• If 1983 was the year for Michael Jackson, 1984 was the year for Prince
• Prince’s music is a rock and R & B melting pot: one can hear elements of funk, punk, hard
rock, disco, black and white pop
• His touring bands have included blacks and whites, women and men
• His particular synthesis became known as “the Minneapolis sound,” the city where he was
born and where he continues to make his home base
•
• Singer, guitarist, and producer, Prince Rogers Nelson (b. 1958), was signed to Warner in 1978
and was granted a large degree of artistic autonomy, especially for a teenager
• His father, John Nelson was a jazz musician and his mother, Mattie Shaw was a singer, Prince
was a product of an interracial marriage
• Had strange ideas about using music as a vehicle concerning sexuality and religion
• Dirty Mind album (1980) had very explicit references to sex; it was refused airplay in some
areas
• “Little Red Corvette” from his 1999 album, (1982) reached #6 on the pop charts
•
Its lyrics are about the girl who drives the “Little Red Corvette,” moving too fast from
one man to another; references to cars and horses are subtle sexual metaphors
CHAPTER 79: POST-PUNK/POST-DISCO
FUSIONS: THE MUSIC OF PRINCE
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Music of Prince (continued)
Prince added a backup band he called Revolution (which was integrated racially and sexually)
for his next project, Purple Rain (1984), which included an album, film, and concert tour
It established him as a major star
5 Top-40 hit singles were released from the album and the soundtrack won 3 Grammys
Purple Rain sold 13 million units
Prince co-wrote and starred in Purple Rain, a quasi-autobiographical film
He established his own record label, Paisley Park (distributed by his former company, Warner Bros.)
Scored the music for the films Under the Cherry Moon (1986) and Batman (1989)
His new band, the New Power Generation, played with him on the 1991 album Diamonds and
Pearls as well as The Symbol Album (1992)
For a time, he dropped his name and merely used a symbol to go by “The Artist Formerly
Known as . . .”
When asked why he changed his name, he replied:
“Very simply, my spirit directed me to do it. And once I did it, a lot of things
started changing in my life . . . One thing is people can say something about
Prince, and it used to bother me. Once I changed my name, it had no effect on
me.”
He married in 1996; had a 3-disc album Emancipation (1996) which represented his freedom
from his contract with Warner Bros. and the start of his own label, NPG Records
Album was also about the anticipation of the birth of his child
He was later divorced
CHAPTER 79: POST-PUNK/POST-DISCO
FUSIONS: THE MUSIC OF PRINCE
• The Music of Prince (continued)
• He has anonymously written, produced, and accompanied other artists on their recordings
• Prince has been able to reconcile the contrasting, even contradictory, element of his musical
life into a personal style that retains its identity despite its great stylistic and emotional range
• He has mastered virtually all rock-era styles, drawing disparate elements and mixing them
together to evoke a particular mood
• When young, he mastered the rhythm instruments
• He also began writing his own material and learning production skills
• He played all the instruments on his first five albums
CHAPTER 79: POST-PUNK/POST-DISCO
FUSIONS: THE MUSIC OF PRINCE
• “Sign ‘O’ the Times” (This is a cover by Muse, no available legal videos of this song are on
YouTube)
Lyrics to "Sign O' the Times"
• This is a song that charted (one of three) from the double album of the same name, released
in 1987
• The song presents a bleak vision of contemporary life: gangs, AIDS, drugs, and natural
disasters
•
The music is correspondingly bleak
• Repetition of an intricate rhythm from a syncopated synthesizer riff and two electronically
generated percussion sounds seems to suggest a despair that knows no end—it is a
substitute for a standard rhythm section
• A strong backbeat and a synthesized bass riff are also constants
• Other figures (jazz-influenced guitar figures, then sustained synthesizer chords) add to the
dense texture
• This all builds to the crux of the song: one finds release only in death
•
The music then comes back to the empty sound of the opening—an abrupt and
disconcerting return to reality
•
A blues-tinged guitar solo provides relief from the misery portrayed in the lyric which is
interrupted by percussion sounds that evoke the fire of a machine gun
CHAPTER 79: POST-PUNK/POST-DISCO
FUSIONS: THE MUSIC OF PRINCE
• “Sign ‘O’ the Times” has no:
•
•
•
•
•
• Rhythm guitar
• Bass line
• Routine timekeeping on a drum set
• Hook at the highpoint of the chorus
• Familiar chord progressions nor few other clues that help us navigate through the song
• These features help create a sound world that is as vivid and powerful as a black and white
photo of a gray day in the ghetto
• He mixes disparate elements into a coherent and effective whole, gaining elements:
•
•
•
• From rap—realness
• From funk—complex layered rhythms
• From blues—blues-influenced rock guitar
• His success is due to:
•
•
•
• The mix of synthesized and conventional instruments
• Open-sounding, intricately worked-out texture that is a different spin on regular timekeeping and
syncopated patterns
• Distinctive features that help set the song apart from the sources that inspired it
• Prince remains one of the most multitalented, multidimensional musicians in the history of rock
CHAPTER 80: THE MATURATION OF
BLACK POP
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chapter 80: The Maturation of Black Pop
The New Black pop
The sounds of the 1980s black pop resulted mainly from two significant changes:
• Use of synthesized sound to replace, most of the traditional instruments
• More adventurous rhythms
The sumptuous backgrounds from Motown, Philadelphia, and Barry White, etc. were part of
this updated black pop sound
The difference is that producers use electronic analogues to the strings, horns, and
even rhythm instruments
Their function is the same, but the sounds are new
New rhythms also add a more contemporary flavor
16-beat, pop-punk rock beat, and reggae-tinged rhythms were used
They were filtered through a Motown-like approach to timekeeping:
• Regular timekeeping in the background
• Dominant rhythms moved either much more slowly (for instance, sustained
chords) or faster than the beat
• Faster rhythms typically played against the beat, with irregular patterns or
syncopations
CHAPTER 80: THE MATURATION OF
BLACK POP
• Tina Turner
• (born Annie Mae Bullock, 1939) Turner had a tough life
• Married Ike Turner (see Unit 10 for more on Ike Turner) in 1962 and appeared professionally
together as the Ike and Tina Turner Revue
•
Big hit, “Proud Mary” in 1971 (a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s song)
• However, for much of their relationship, Ike abuse Tina emotionally and physically
• She broke free—in the middle of a tour— and also broke contractual obligations
• Because of the divorce settlement, she was devastated financially—only retaining her name
• It took half a decade to get her solo career on track
• Big break came in 1983, when she covered Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”
• The next year she released Private Dancer, an album that included “What’s Love Got to Do
•
with It”—which won three Grammys—and her first No. 1 hit as a solo act
•
2 other songs from the album also charted
• • “What’s Love Got to Do with It” projects an embittered view of love
•
Obviously, from two decades of personal experience, she sang from the heart
• Song has a verse/chorus form
• Synthesizer sounds are prominent: both sustained chords and obbligatos
• Rhythm shows influences of reggae: open texture, rebound pattern on the offbeat, and freeroaming bass
CHAPTER 80: THE MATURATION OF
BLACK POP
• Race and Romance
• This rebirth of Turner’s career was not only a personal triumph, but also a symbolic milestone
for mature women of all races, especially black women
• Hollywood refused to portray blacks in a romantic relationship,
• The personification of romantic song in popular music began to transcend race in the 1960s,
with the popularity of the girl groups and Motown acts
• By the time Turner recorded this song, her sex appeal was certainly not delimited by her age
or her ethnicity
•
These were non-issues in romantic music, by the end of the century, as evidenced by a
parade of contemporary pop divas
•
• As the century drew to a close, R & B in general, and black pop in particular, acquired a
harder edge, mainly through the infusion of themes and sounds from rap and electronica
CHAPTER 81: PUNK-INSPIRED POP
Chapter 81: Punk-Inspired Pop
• Rock got a “beat lift” around 1980
•
Sound was clean, vibrant, and colored with an array of synthesizer timbres and effects
• It harnessed the energy of punk, but its most direct antecedent was the music of David Bowie
•
Bowie, himself was one of punk’s seminal influences
• From these sources, it distilled a purer form of rock rhythm typically spread throughout the
texture from the bass and drum to high-pitched percussion and synthesizer parts
• Its cleanness and leanness came from an open-sounding mid-range: crisp single-note lines
and sustained chord replaced thick guitar chords and riffs
CHAPTER 81: PUNK-INSPIRED POP
• Along with Bowie’s influence, other new wave artists contributed to this new sound:
•
•
•
•
•
•
• Elvis Costello
• Blondie
• The Pretenders
• The Talking Heads
• Devo
• The B-52s
• The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat” (1981) could easily be the signature song of this new rock
sound
•
Like a typical Ramones’ song, it has a simple lyric, mostly the repeated title phrase
•
It also has punk’s saturated rock rhythm—not only in the drums but in the repeated
notes and chords from top (high piano chords) to bottom (bass and low
guitar)
•
The spirit is happy, though—reminding one more of the 1950s rock and roll
• They were among the first of the all-girl rock groups
• “We Got the Beat’ also shows how the point of punk’s rhythmic innovation had been turned
completely on its head within five years
•
Lead singer Belinda Carlisle (b. 1958) had been a cheerleader in high school
•
The Go-Go’s rhythm was bouncy compared to the aggressiveness and
confrontational aspects of the Sex Pistols
CHAPTER 81: PUNK-INSPIRED POP
Van Halen
Two brothers formed an excellent second-generation heavy metal band:
• Drummer Alex Van Halen (b. 1953)
• Guitarist, Eddie Van Halen (b. 1955)
Along with
• Bassist Michael Anthony (b. 1954)
• Lead vocalist David Lee Roth (b. 1954)
Their 1978 debut album, Van Halen, showcased Eddie’s breathtaking guitar virtuosity
He raised the bar for guitarists with his free-form solo, “Eruption”
The album was an immediate success and one of the most spectacular debut albums in rock
history
• But they were more than a heavy metal band
•
With Roth as lead singer, they sought to move more toward the mainstream
•
In part, this was aided by the addition of synthesizers into their sound—Eddie
Van Halen is also a skilled keyboardist
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
CHAPTER 81: PUNK-INSPIRED POP
• • “Jump” is evidence of this direction
•
It is a cut from their sixth album, 1984, and was the band’s first No. 1 single
• The song exemplifies the new sound of punk-inspired and pop-oriented rock from the early
1980s
• Important features:
•
• Prominent synthesizer parts
•
• Open texture
•
• Contemporary approach to rock rhythm
• For most of the song, synths rule—replacing the lead guitar as the source of the opening
instrumental hook
• Van Halen plays guitar only in a couple spots
• There are the high and low register contrasts but what is missing—or downplayed—are the
rhythm guitar chords
•
By omitting this typically prominent part of the texture, Van Halen gives the song a
more spacious sound
• The bass line is mostly a single repeated note—at rock-beat speed
•
It helps concentrate this already distilled form of rock rhythm
•
This bass part helps support the rock rhythm on which the rest of the texture depends
• Shortly after recording this song, Roth left the group and Sammy Hagar (b. 1947) replaced
him for the better part of a decade
CHAPTER 81: PUNK-INSPIRED POP
• Other acts from the 1980s also joined in these fresh new rhythms and sounds:
•
• The Eurhythmics
•
• Cyndi Lauper
•
• The Smiths
•
• The livelier, cleaner rhythmic textures and the expanded sound palette created by the new
synth timbres make the music sound distinctly different from almost all of the music of the
1970s and before. A similar approach underpins some of the most significant rock of the
decade
CHAPTER 82: SIGNIFICANT ROCK
Chapter 82: Significant Rock
Making Rock Relevant
Upon seeing the tragic famine in Ethiopia from the mid-1980s, rock sought to help
Bob Geldorf (b. 1954,) was lead singer with the Irish new wave band, the Boomtown Rats
He founded Band Aid, a musical event to raise money for famine relief
Geldorf and Midge Ure (b. James Ure, 1953) wrote a song, “Do They Know It’s
Christmas?”
•
They recruited an all-star cast to perform it
•
They also got 24 hours of free studio time to record it
• Among the performers on the recording:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• Paul McCartney
• Bono
• Sting
• Boy George
• Phil Collins
• The song topped the charts in the UK
• Geldorf donated all the revenues from its sale to assist the Ethiopian people through the Band
Aid Trust
• Along with their British/Irish colleagues, American musicians banded together for another
famine relief effort
CHAPTER 82: SIGNIFICANT ROCK
• Chapter 82: Significant Rock
• Harry Belafonte (b. 1927), singer and actor of calypso fame, helped organize a famine relief
effort that featured pop stars:
•
•
•
• Lionel Richie
• Stevie Wonder
• Michael Jackson
• Jackson and Richie wrote the song, “We Are the World”
• They scheduled a recording session right after the American Music Awards ceremony,
•
January 28, 1985
• The all-star cast also included:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• Paul Simon
• Tina Turner
• Diana Ross
• Willie Nelson
• Bruce Springsteen
• Bob Dylan
• Ray Charles
Quincy Jones produced the session
The single came out on Good Friday, April 5, 1985
5,000 radio stations played the song simultaneously
The single and album spun off from it both went multiplatinum
The project was called USA (United Support of Artists) for Africa and raised over $50 million
CHAPTER 82: SIGNIFICANT ROCK
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Geldorf also organized Live Aid, the most massive fund-raising event in the history of the music
business
He wanted to have performances going on across the world— a “global jukebox”—at the same
time
22 hours of music between concerts in stadiums in London and Philadelphia
Performances from other venues also took place in Moscow, Sydney, the Hague, etc.,
were broadcast throughout the world via satellite
Roster of acts performing at the multiple venues reads like a Who’s Who of rock
Live Aid was performed on July 13, 1985 and drew a worldwide audience of over 1 billion viewers
It eventually raised over $260 million for famine relief in Africa
Greater attention was now called on the plight in Africa; shipments of grain surpluses from the
US and elsewhere soon alleviated the suffering in Ethiopia
Farm Aid, was another important fund-raising effort for American farmers
These events put the we back in rock, just like back in the 1960s
As opposed to the me decade of the 1970s where the self-involvement (what about me?)
and the pursuit of success seemed to negate the sense of community created in the 1960s
This signaled the return of rock’s conscience, although not with a generational revolution as in the
1960s
By the 1980s, rock was the establishment, the dominant segment of the music industry
Other aspects of the industry, along with the musicians, were able to serve a greater good
Altruism returned to rock, as seen in the many –Aid events
The sense of purpose that these events symbolized was one sign of a renewal in rock
Bruce Springsteen and U2 would lead this renewal
CHAPTER 82: SIGNIFICANT ROCK
• Bruce Springsteen
• Springsteen (b. 1949) was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey but grew up playing in local bar
bands as well as in nearby New York, mingling with some of the early punk rockers in
Greenwich Village
• His success comes in part from his ability to integrate seemingly contradictory aspects of his
life and work
• He is a mega-star playing in sold-out arenas but also stays close to his working-class roots and
has written songs that reflect their concerns
• Springsteen became the biggest star of the next two decades (from 1974) to consciously
continue the core tradition of rock
•
He stayed close to his rock and roll roots, even as he updated and expanded the
sound
• His first big hit song, “Born to Run” (1975) featured a large band, and extended guitar hook, a
sprawling form, and a powerful, obvious beat
• Biggest career impact was with the 1984 Born in the U.S.A. album; was released about the
same time as Purple Rain
•
This album put Springsteen on top of 1985, much as Purple Rain had put Prince on top
in 1984, and Jackson’s Thriller on top in 1983
•
Tied Thriller’s record of 7 Top-10 singles
•
Album remained in the Top-40 for nearly 2 years, selling some 11 million copies
CHAPTER 82: SIGNIFICANT ROCK
• Bruce Springsteen (continued)
• • The title track mixes a strong story line, simple riffs and rhythms, and subtle details
• The song is about a Vietnam War veteran’s life from childhood to his inability to get a job and
the insensitivity of the government in supporting veterans
• The music is minimal with the song beginning with only a single octave on the piano, heavy
backbeat, and a synthesizer riff
•
The low, middle, high spacing of these elements give the intro a big sound by defining
a wide-open space waiting to be filled in
• As the song unfolds, Springsteen fills in the middle
•
Other parts of the song reinforce the bass or fill in the upper range
•
They weave in and out of the texture, but the riff and backbeat are constants
• Springsteen maintains this spacing in his music
• His significant sound was one of the several musical options he would employ in his music
from the early 1980s on
CHAPTER 82: SIGNIFICANT ROCK
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
More on Springsteen’s career:
As a model for the return to mainstream rock, he was more comfortable on stage than on videos
Caught the attention of John Hammond, Columbia Records
First album Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey (1973), slow seller
Went on tour as the opening act for Chicago
In 1974 formed his backup band, The E Street Band
Born to Run (1975) was his big break; album broke the Top-5, title song peaked at 23
Recorded about 4 dozen songs in the studio in 1980
The River (1980) was one result: his first #1 album
Took a potentially dangerous move next; recorded an all acoustic set of songs in his home on a 4track cassette recorder and released it: Nebraska (1982)
These songs are rather brooding and introspective, sold well anyway, going to #3 on the
album charts
“Born in the U.S.A.” (title track song from the Born in the U.S.A. album) was interpreted as
being a patriotic song:
As in many of his songs, there is an underlying conflict between the promise of the
American Dream, with its high ideals and comfortable affluence, and the stark
disappointment felt by many who for one reason or another, fail to realize the dream.
(Stuessy)
His final album of the 1980s was Tunnel of Love; reached #1 and had two Top-10 hits (“Brilliant
Disguise,” and “Tunnel of Love”)
In 1989, he split with his E Street Band
He remained true to his own musical principles and those of mainstream rock and roll: expressing
popular sentiments in a hard-driving, uncomplicated, but musically proficient style
CHAPTER 82: SIGNIFICANT ROCK
•
•
U2
From Ireland, was one of the decade’s most successful groups:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• Bono (b. Paul Hewson, 1960), lead vocalist
• The Edge (b. David Evans, 1961), guitar, keyboard
• Adam Clayton (b. 1960), bass
• Larry Mullen (b. 1961), drums
In 2000, Bono told USA Today that, “there is a transcendence that I want from rock . . . I’m still
drunk on the idea that rock and roll can be a force for change. We haven’t lost that idea.”
In their first two albums, they addressed personal issues
Their third album, War (1983) showed a serious rock sound for the 1980s
It took on the politically and socially aware edge that would characterize it through the
rest of the 1980s
“Sunday Bloody Sunday,” a track from War and their first No. 1 UK hit, recounts
an especially bloody incident in the strife between Catholics and Protestants in
Northern Ireland
In 1984, they began collaboration with Brian Eno (b. 1948), a founding member of Roxy Music, an
electronica pioneer, father of ambient music, and a much-in-demand producer
Eno brought a polish to U2’s music while preserving the distinctive sound world they had begun
The Unforgettable Fire (1984) was a decent success for their maturing sound with Eno
By 1985 Rolling Stone had dubbed them the band of the 1980s
In 1987, The Joshua Tree went to #1 for 9 weeks and was awarded a Grammy for Album of the
Year along with w #1 hits
“Where the Streets Have no Name” is one of those hits
They’d been together for 11 years and it was paying off
CHAPTER 82: SIGNIFICANT ROCK
• U2 had developed a sound that was significant, enhanced with the help of Brian Eno
• Their sound grew out of punk but has a distinct identity
• It has a four-strand texture, surrounding Bono’s vocals—low, middle, high:
•
• Two low-range sounds: repeated rock notes at rock-beat speed in the bass and beat
keeping on the bass drum
•
• Mid-range percussion sound: rock-rhythm layer on the sock cymbal
•
• Medium-high range sound: angular guitar line, also moving at rock-beat speed
• But differs from punk in the openness of the different registers and the angular guitar lines
• This contrast is distinctive between:
•
• High and low
•
• Fast and slow
• As the music evolved during the 1980s, the contrast deepened:
•
• Active rhythms doubled in speed, from rock rhythm to a 16-beat rhythm
•
• Chord rhythms often moved at even slower speeds
• Eno helped enrich the “sonic landscape” by:
•
• Deepening the contrast between slow and fast with sustained synthesizer sounds
•
• Introducing stronger textural contrasts
CHAPTER 82: SIGNIFICANT ROCK
• • “Where the Streets Have No Name” from Joshua Tree
• Lyrics describe a universal longing for the harmony that can be created when divisions by class,
race, and wealth disappear
•
Some saw this song relate to the relief efforts in Ethiopia, or Los Angeles (where the
video was filmed) or Dublin, where class distinctions can be determined by
where one lives
• The melody is a folk-like tune, with short phrases that rise and fall gently within a narrow range
• The instrumental introduction is almost 2 minutes in length
• The rhythm moves imperceptibly into a 16-beat rhythm that is sustained through the rest of the
song
• Other instruments move in and out of these rhythms supporting Bono’s vocals
• This sound world of “Where the Streets Have No Name” was the bands’ musical signature
during the 1980s
•
It was heard in many of their hits
•
This style elevated the simple melody that lies at its center, investing it with power and
impact that it could not have had in a simpler setting
• The music of U2, in this sense, is the ultimate folk rock, one in which the power of the words is
matched by the power of the music
CHAPTER 82: SIGNIFICANT ROCK
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Significant –Sounding Rock
Both Springsteen and U2 confronted difficult problems in which they had deep involvement:
• Vietnam War
• Conflict in Northern Ireland
• Suffering in Africa
They weren’t afraid to sound out on these issues
From their two musical examples, the power of their music comes from two principles:
• Simplifying and highlighting basic rhythms
• Creating a full, yet open sounds
They convey simplicity and seriousness by emphasizing regular timekeeping over syncopation,
and maintain the same basic texture with only subtle variation through long stretches of
time
The interplay between regular rhythms and rhythms that conflict, which has been noticed in
previous rock grooves, is minimized or all but eliminated with these two songs:
• “Born in the U.S.A.” is almost all about the dominant riff and backbeat
• “Where the Streets Have No Name” it occurs only in the Edge’s active
accompaniment—not in the rhythm itself
In post-punk rock, a serious message virtually demands music with minimal syncopation
CHAPTER 83: RENEWING ROCK AND ROLL
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chapter 83: Renewing Rock and Roll
The Traveling Wilburys were a 1988 super-group made up of:
• George Harrison
• Bob Dylan
• Tom Petty (b. 1950)
• Jeff Lynne (b. 1947)
• Roy Orbison
They recorded only one album with this lineup
From a chance meeting in Los Angeles where Harrison and Lynne called Bob Dylan to ask
whether they could use his home studio to record a song
Orbison had met up with old friend from the 1960s, George Harrison who was going to
pick up a guitar at Tom Petty’s
They gathered that night and started jamming—deciding to put this on record
These good times led to an album assembled over a 10-day period
The path from Anglo-American folk to rock forked with the birth of country music in the 1920s
and endured further division in the 1930s,
But in the 1960s these folk sounds intersected with rock in the early 1960s—largely because of
the music of Dylan and Orbison
By the late 1980s, the schism was ancient history and the formation of the Wilburys
celebrated that fact
CHAPTER 83: RENEWING ROCK AND ROLL
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Neo-Traditional Trends of the Eighties
At this time, there was other music from an older scene or tradition:
• The Rolling Stones
• ZZ Top and other boogie bands
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
• Dire Straits
Going back even further, the Stray Cats revived the sounds of the jump band
So did the Brain Setzer Orchestra
Blues revivals began in the mid-1980s as well with:
• Stevie Ray Vaughan
• Robert Cray
A new generation of socially aware female singer-songwriters were on the scene:
• Tracy Chapman
• Suzanne Vega
Perhaps the most down-to-earth of the newer rock acts:
• John Mellencamp
CHAPTER 83: RENEWING ROCK AND ROLL
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
John Mellencamp
(b. 1951) from Indiana (originally had the name John Cougar Mellencamp; “Cougar” was a
manager’s invention that Mellencamp didn’t want and later changed back to just John
Mellencamp)
Was active in Farm Aid benefit concerts
His breakthrough album was American Fool (1982), which included No. 1 single, “Jack and
Diane”
It was one of five Mellencamp albums released in the 1980s to reach the Top Ten on the
album charts and go platinum
• “Paper in Fire” is fro4m the album, The Lonesome Jubilee (1987)
It shows his connection with, and expansion of, the American rock and roll tradition
The song is a cautionary tale about the fate of those who get but don’t give
The verse is subdued with static accompaniment, but then explodes with siren-like syncopated
chords at the chorus
He deepens the country/blues fusion that typified the “American” sound of ca. 1970, drawing on
both worlds
Backup instruments include:
• Banjo (from bluegrass)
• Slide guitar (from deep blues)
• Fiddle (from country)
• Accordion (from zydeco)
The tambourine is a staple from the minstrel show as well as the rock bands of the 1960s
Mellencamp, like Dylan, uses the musical setting to amplify the sense of the text: the music
behind the words and melody are integral to the impact of the song