Musc 2150 Unit 11

Early 70s

New styles emerged that developed aspects of psychedelic music

Rise of New wave

Punk had built a reputation for being dangerous and potentially embarrassing within the music business - Solution: relabeling punk as new wave • The term "new wave" tamed the more aggressive elements of punk, making it more of an artsy aesthetic statement ! New wave's answer to frustration was to reflect on urban alienation, have a cup of coffee, ad write clever lyrics

Paul Simon

Simon's music in the late 70s highlighted his interest in jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel - "One trick Pony" is an album and movie Simon took part in

To deal with this drop in sales...

The industry continued to contract into fewer, larger labels • Huge international labels were set up to back superstars, not engage in niche marketing - Small, independent labels continued to service the margins • The number of these small labels grows over the decade as the big labels become less able to service the gaps left between the superstars • The big labels still want to sell albums, but not concept albums: they are too large and cumbersome

1980s History

The music industry was also in trouble at the beginning of the decade - Loss of sales is attributed by the industry to the burgeoning act of pirating albums with home taping - The recessions were also a factor: people who have no jobs do not have money for music - Demographic reasons: - 12-32 years old buys the most music - The boomers had mortgages and college funds for their kids to think about. - The new generation coming in behind the boomers (generation X) was a smaller group, so even if they all bought music regularly, the sales could still not equal those of the boomers - Other media, such as cable TV, VCRs and video games were also competing for consumers' entertainment dollars

Roots of MTV in Promotional Video

• Cable television opened the door for MTV • Debate over programming; Two models were proposed 1. Show nothing more then promotional videos at record companies' expense 2. Experimental videos synthesizing film and music

MTV on air 2 (Billie Jean)

• Controversy over Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" Legends say that Jackson's label, Epic, threatened to pull all of their artists off MTV if the video was not aired -In March 1983, the enormous success of "Billie Jean" greatly increased the popularity of the network • Before long record companies considered music videos to be a crucial promotional tool • Music videos privileged visual features over musical ones, and the look of an artist became paramount

MTV on air 1

• MTV faced enormous challenges with having enough videos to fill the broadcasting hours • Initially, record companies were not convinced that music videos would pay off - These conservative attitudes were based on cable TV not being widely available in American • MTV had its biggest audience wherever HBO and other premium stations enjoyed success ! Mainly the Midwest, with a target audience consisting of white teenagers • To appeal to these viewers, MTV played videos by mainstream rock artists that were also white

Mainstream

• Mainstream rock form the second half of the 70s continued many of the stylistic practises of the first half • Mainstream sock made adjustments in response to the tremendous growth of the record and radio business

Mainstream (Heart)

• Music has both a harder edge and a softer, more acoustically orientated side • Adopted the stage persona of a tough, hard!driving woman • Singing is often forceful and technically schooled, filled with bluesy melodic twists and turns

Introduction to 1980-1990

• Neither punk nor disco became important in the 80s pop music mainstream • Music Television (MTV) began to challenge the FM radio as the most important medium for popular music • Heavy metal and rap emerged at the end of the decade • The rise of MTV led to the emergence of many visually oriented acts, and dance music formed the core of early MTV programming • Continued development of mainstream rock and new wave • Punk fuelled the development of hard!core and indie rock

New wave

• New wave kept much of punk's return!to!simplicity attitude and rejection of hippie aesthetic • By early 1980s, most new wave was incorporated within the mainstream rock playlists of FM radio • The era of ambitious rock devoted to the idea of music as a trip was over

Punk Poetics

• Punk fashion attacked the status quo and punk lyrics often advocated social/political change • The sound of punk often featured difficult!to!discern vocals, sloppy distorted guitars, and loud drums • Punk music is often fairly conventional in its structure"Return to simplicity" aesthetic - The idea of eliminating the complexity and expansiveness that hippie rock had developed - The music had strong connections with earlier rock traditions and practises

Punk

• Punk reacted against what it saw as an indulgent rock music industry, challenging its pomposity with a return to rock and roll basics • Punk was commercially co!opted into a style called new wave

New Wave (Gary Numan's Cars)

• Rely almost exclusively on synthesized sounds • Sound is harsh, creating drier, more focused sound • Vocals are clipped and almost mechanical • Employs futuristic images on album sleeve • Future is cold, mechanical, and dominated by machines • Rejects the hippie dream of fantastic voyages (the trip)

Mainstream (Gary Wright's Dream weaver)

• Rely almost exclusively on synthesized sounds • Warm timbres, saturated with reverb and echo • Vocals show blues influence • Employs futuristic images on album sleeve • Future seems optimistic and utopian

New Wave (Blondie)

• Vocal approach was more limited, far less free rhythmically, and devoid of any blues influence • Belts out vocals, often on the verge of screaming, featuring a noticeable thick vibrato • Style is motivated by the rejection of hippie technical virtuosity • Based on an amateurish quality

The Buzzcocks

- Adopted a pop influenced approach to punk and released a series of successful albums

British bands that reworking the progressive rock style

- Alan Parsons Project - Electric light orchestra (ELO) - Queen

Bruce Springsteen

- Backed by the E-Street Band, he established himself with his 3rd album "born to run" - Wrote lyrics that were understood to be largely autobiographical and frequently confessional - The single "born to run" seemed to inspired equally by: Narrative style of bob Dylan, Phil Spectors wall of sounds, and the energetic performance style of the rolling stones

Brian Eno

- Became an important voice in experimental approaches to recording rock music

Venues

- Became larger and national and international tours became the norm - Shows moved into stadiums and sport arenas - Growth in record and concert revenue lead to private jets, injection of illegal drugs, long stays in expensive studios.

The New York dolls

- Became the most, important band on the New york underground scene after the end of velvet underground - Incorporated elements of British glam into their performances of gritty, hard-driving rock music - Used makeup, costumes, still projected an image of toughness, danger, and reckless disdain for convention. - Their two albums sold poorly and they never gained national popularity

Boston

- Blended blues rock with aspects of progressive rock to produce music that sold well and received generous radio play.

New bands that continued older approaches to rock

- Boston - Foreigner - Cheap trick - Journey - Van Halen

Knack

- Calculating in their use of musical styles and images drawn from rock's history - The group wore these same outfits in promotional videos and television performances

Cyndi Lauper

- Capitalizing on the mainstream with the girl-specific image, lauper emerged into the mainstream with the hit album She's so unusual! "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (1984) - Considered an anthem for female power in rock - The video quickly became an MTV classic, featuring Lauper rebelling against the wishes of her parents - "Time After Time" is a haunting ballad. While "She Bop" is a thinly veiled engagement with the topic of female masturbation True Colors (1986) - Another successful album that codified her worldwide fame - Produced two singles, the title track and "Change of Heart"

New Wave in American Mainstream

- Cars - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Devo - B-52s - Knack

Methods of adapting previous styles:

- Compressed compound AABA forms ( Radio friendly lengths) - Blending instrumentation techniques from multiple styles (Foreigner condensed qualities of earlier rock, blending them together and fitting them into shorter tracks) - Synthesis and homogenization interpretations: The late 70s mainstream rock is a synthesis of earlier music, refining and recombining musical elements. The late 70s mainstream rock was homogenized and simplified in order to reach the broadest possible audience

Late 70s

- Consolidation of earlier styles - Commercial rock continued to develop in the mainstream - Punk and new wave in opposition to mainstream rock

Prince

- Developed image as a sexually charged and somewhat androgynous figure - His practices of using blatant sexual images, both in his songs and live performances, goes back to the late 70s - Writing and producing a long string of hit records under his own name and for other artists - Often played all the instruments on his records - Roots in 1970s black pop and funk - His careful control of both his music and projects is modeled on the practice of George Clinton - One-man band approach is reminiscent of Stevie Wonder - Prince's blending of the funk grooves and outrageousness of Clinton with strong pop sensibility made him one of the most influential artist of the 80s

B-52s

- Devo's northern take on new wave was echoed from a southern perspective by the B- 52s - Made their first significant showing in the UK with The BQ52s, which contained "Rock Lobster" - This track became closely associated with the new wave movement - Performing at Max's in New York and on Saturday Night Live brought the band a national following - Like the Cars, the B-52's music was full of references to pre-psychedelic music - Including frequent surf-style guitar riffs, a prominent electric organ sound (popular in the mid-60s), and vocals that played with girl group stereotypes

Large selling album..

- Draw corporate interest - 500,000 records sold= gold album - 1,000,000 records sold= platinum

The Jam

- Drew their distinctive look from the mod culture and their musical influences from the mid-60s Kinks and Who - Grew to extreme popularity in the UK during the early 80s, releasing four number one singles before disbanding

Brit Pop hits MTV

- Duran Duran - Culture Club

More big Albums

- Eagle, Hotel California (1977): Hit number one in the US in 77 and became the next big album - Fleetwood Mac, Rumors (1977): British blues ban in the late 60s. Album spent 31 weeks at number 1 in 1977. (dominated pop music) - Style focused on mainstream rock and ballads.

British New wavers in America

- Elvis Costello - Police

The Bangles

- Emerged from California with Different Light (1986) - The album was propelled through the charts by "Manic Monday" and "Walk Like An Egyptian" • The legacy of women in rock music coolly projected feminine identity into rock - Blending the jingle-jangle of 60s folk rock with smooth vocal harmonies

Thinking Persons MTV:

- Eurythmics - Tears for Fears

FM radio

- FM stations were broadcasting rock music and focusing on album charts - Model establish by Tom Donahue - FM radio changes from free-form to Album oriented Rock (AOR) - FM looked to advertising to improve profit

Siouxsie and the Banshees

- Female-fronted punk group - The Scream was a dark, brooding album that contained a gothic cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter"

Patti Smith Group

- First band from the developing New York punk scene to sign a major label record deal

Cars

- First of the new wave bands to break onto the FM rock radio playlists "Best friends girl" - Well versed in early rock styles and had cover art images redolent of the 50s

Punk

- First rose to mainstream attention in the UK - Bands like the Sex pistols, the Buzzcocks, and the Clash becoming popular later in the 70s - American record labels were quick to tone down the style endorsing new wave due to the aggressive and dangerous images associated with punk - Punk was exported from the US to the UK, only to return and reintroduced as new wave.

The Go-Gos

- First successful all!female new wave band - Featured Belinda Carlisle - After the band's fleeting success, Carlisle returned to the charts as a solo artist - "Heaven is a Place on Earth" topped the US and UK charts "We Got the Beat," 1981 - The album Beauty and the Beat hit the top of the US Charts - Offered a no frill musical approach that featured a memorable sing-along chorus

ELO

- Formed out of the British psychedelic band the Move - Took the idea of the rock band with chamber string accompaniments - Eldorado (5th album, that broke into the US)

Madonna

- Former dancer, popular in New York club scene - Later tracks expanded her stylistic range to include moodier songs ("Papa Don't Preach") and sensual songs ("Justify My Love") - She did not write or produce many of her early hit - She began to take a more active role in the creative aspects of her music as her career developed - Madonna's albums and singles established her as one of the most important figures in pop music - Remains one of the most successful acts in the music business - Used her role as a sex object to question gender norms - Continually challenged aspects of what she perceives to be some of society's most troubling issues and practices - She explored the boundaries of sexual conduct, racial issues, women's roles, and spirituality - Her videos are rich in symbolism and striking juxtapositions

Rock music from psychedelia through 70s mainstream rock:

- Founded on the hippie aesthetic - The idea that rock music should take the listener on a trip and use all possibilities of technology - Should deal with important issues and reflect on man's place in the universe

Bob seger

- Fronted a hard-rocking group called the Silver Bullet Band - Broke into the rock mainstream in 1977 with the album Night Moves - Maintained a consistent style featuring folksy lyrics about everyday problems - Distinctive gravelly vocals, and memorable rock hooks

Culture Club

- Fronted by Boy George - Dressed in women's clothes and sported long dread locks - The band's most visible member "Karma Chameleon," (1983) - The ubiquitous top ten hit on the album Color by Numbers Their music was unabashedly pop-oriented in the Brill Building sense: - Catchy tunes and hooks established a generally happy tone - Boy George's fluid and laid-back singing style was influenced by black pop singers of 60s and 70s

Elvis Costello

- He became much better known for aggressive and clever attacks on the status quo - Completing a trio of albums, Costello established himself a one of rock's most heralded songwriters

Jackson Browne

- His music featured rock band accompaniment - Co-wrote the eagles "take it easy" and scored a hit single with "doctor my eyes" - Released his most memorable music during the late 70s with a series of hit albums and singles

Billy Joel

- His music incorporates his piano and vocals as the centre of attention on both ballads and up-tempo rock songs - Glass house (1980) was realized during the arrival of new wave and engaged earlier rock and pop styles - "It's still rock to me" discussed older forms and was musically modelled on late 50s rocks

Rise of Punk in the UK

- In the mid 70s, Britain was suffering a crushing economic recession -Many British teens were prone to despair, which soon turned to anger, and punk became the music that best represented this

Tears for Fears

- Influenced by primal scream therapy of Arthur Janov - Based their stylistic approach on synthesizer-pop - Songs from the Big City (1985) became an international sensation - Fueled by 2 number one American hits, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," and "Shout" - The record was also bolstered by heavy video rotation on MTV - Serious lyrics, complicated music, long tracks

Police

- Initially blending a strong reggae influence into their style - Became well known for complex drumming, literary lyrics, and atmospheric guitar - The group did not achieve much success in the singles market until late 1980

Television

- Interested in literature and even published a collection of poetry - Landed a regular Sunday evening spot at the deserted bar in lower manhattan, CBGB - CBGB became the home of the New York punk scene alongside Max's Kansas city

2 American bands that were prominent in revamping progressive rock in the late 70s

- Kansas: Got their songs down to 4 min range encouraged by the radio - Styx: Often sung about progressive topics, such as space, the future and science fiction. (Created lengthy tracks that were not nearly as complex as the progressive rock of Yes and Genesis_

Iggy Pop and the Stooges

- Made his mark in the late 60s underground as an outrageous performer - He seemed to challenge the audience at every show, sometimes walking on the audience's hands and smearing peanut butter all over his body - Raw sound, characterised by loud guitars, heavy drumming, and Pop's screaming vocals

Talking heads

- Made up of students from the Rhode island school of design - Spare instrumental accompaniment and spastic vocal delivery - The production of Brian Eeno was an important aspect of their recordings

Disparate styles began to blend together by the mid 70s...

- Mainstream rock moved towards a more unified style - Elements of early styles could be easily detected but combinations of features were less predictable - This "evening out" is sometimes attributed to the conservative attitude of the record companies decision making

Early decade vs Late (1970s)

- Many groups that were active in the early 70s became more popular later in the decade

Peter Frampton, Frampton Comes alive! 1976

- Million-selling album from the 70s - His music exemplified approachable, middle of the road rock focused on his guitar solos and melodic song writing

Blondie

- Most successful of the bands that came from CBGB - Musical style of the bands singles had little resemblance to American stereotypes of punk - Some were dance oriented and even contained rapped sections that reveal a connection to the rising hip hop scene

Journey

- New group formed by older members - "Lights" is an example of the bands power ballad style - "feeling that way" is an example of their harder rocking approach - With Perry's soaring tenor voice and the bands heavy guitar driven sound, their style drew upon the legacy of progressive rockers

Fashion (Punk)

- Often dressed in radical clothing, including ripped jeans, leather jackets, and safety pins - Experimented with outlandish hair colours, and often adopted the mohawk - Favoured DIY

New York Punk (CBGB Groups (Country, bluegrass, and blues)

- Patti Smith Group - Television - Ramones - Blondie

The Clash

- Political protesters tat were interested in a wide range of musical styles - The triple album Sandinista! Incorporated American R&B, reggae, ska, and other musical influences

Ramones

- Produced a stripped down, high energy style of rock that focused on short, simple songs played very fast - Signed with Sire records and released the Ramones in 1976 - Never had success in the US - Better in the UK

Alan Parsons Project

- Recording engineer for the beatles and pink floyd - Series of concept albums

Bands that continued from the first part of the decade:

- Rolling stones (continued recording and touring in the second half of the 70s) - Wings: Formed by Paul McCartney after beatles. (First album hit number one in the US with the ballad "my love" - Steve Miller Band: More success in 70s than 60s (The joker, first album) - Doobie Brothers: Adopted a stylistic approach that laid more emphasis on jazz influences (Minute by Minute pushed the band to new levels of success) - KISS

Canadian band that revamped progressive rock

- Rush

New wave musicians:

- Scaled back the musical complexities and shortened the tunes - Returned to topics of teenage romance and no longer paraded their musical ability • New wave haircuts, clothes, album art, music, and lyrics seem to reject hippie culture and music

Foreigner

- Showed that radio success could come from merging popular styles from the early 70s (Blues- rock guitar hooks drove the songs forward) - Prominent use of keyboards influenced by progressive rockers

Elton John

- Singer songwriter who increasingly explored a rock band backing in the late 70s - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, was one of the top albums of the year - Most popular song from the late 70s was "Don't go breaking my heart"

Queen

- Stylistically eclectic aspects of the late Beatles and late British progressive styles inspired the band - Mercurys death from AIDs in 1991 raised public awareness of the disease and forced many rockers to confront sexual stereotypes

Duran Duran

- Synthesizer and guitar-heavy new wave sound driven by infectious dance beats - Their visual dimension was marked by a concern for style and rebellious elegance - First made their mark in the US with Rio, contain "Hungry Like the Wolf" - "The Reflex," (1983) music video - Groundbreaking in its use of special effects, as it depicted a waterfall pouring over the audience

Rock in the early 70s

- Teeming with competing stylistic approaches that are easy to distinguish

Girls

- The Go-Gos - Cyndi Lauper - The Bangles

Early influential Punk Bands

- The Velvet underground - Iggy Pop and the Stooges - The MC5

The MC5

- The album Kick Out the Jams (1969) is representative of the aggressive sound of the band - Confronted the level of aggression and language use once considered appropriate in commercial music

The Velvet underground

- The band was closely associated with pop artist Andy Warhol in the mid-60s - Reed's lyrics focused on the darker side of urban life, while Cale was eager to employ avant-garde ideas in a pop context - Their first album went largely unnoticed - Confronted sexual stereotypes, attitudes towards the use of hard drugs, and performance ability

Van Halen

- Their music provided a mainstream glimpse of the emerging California-based metal scene - Explored older forms of rock in extremely new ways - Blended hard-driving rock with blues vocals and futuristic guitar performances

Michael Jackson

- Thriller, 1983 - Contained seven top ten singles ("Billie Jean" and "Beat It" - Thriller is the best selling album in the history of the music business, with more than 100 million copies sold - Slick choreography, as in the "moonwalk" - His enormous dancing skills made his videos stand out - Ambitious, extended video for "Thriller" - 12 minute long video employed state!of!the!art special effects - Its popularity was supported by one hour long documentary - Arguably the biggest star in popular music during the 80s and earned the title, King of Pop - His music was always driven by a strong beat, showing his roots in black pop and disco - Continued Berry Gordy's practise of straddling the line between rhythm and blues and pop

Bob Dylan

- blood on the tracks was released after a successful tour, and has since become a critical favourite - famous for career shifts that confused and confounded his followers and critics

Sex Pistols

-Began playing gigs in late 1975, and by late 1976 they were signed with EMI - Band filled in last minute for Queen on a British television show and uttered a few forbidden words - EMI dropped them, but McLaren quickly got them signed with Virgin records - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols went to number one in the UK - Placed Seven singles in the UK top 40 during the late 70s - Were the catalyst for punk in the UK

Eurythmics

-Combined synthesizer pop and soul vocals "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," 1983 - The title song hit number one in the US - The song was supported by a surreal music video that featured a cow circling a boardroom table, several odd scenes in a pasture, and Stewart and Lennox - Were able to remain successful in America through the mid-80s - Continued a string of successful albums and singles in Britain

The development of MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface

-MIDI is an industry standard protocol that allows different musical devices and computers, to communicate with each other. - It is possible to have several devices running through a single keyboard or pair of keyboards. - Also possible for an artist to use a wider palette of sounds without being an electronics expert: MIDI made synthesizers more accessible - Made the process of sampling and building new tracks from these samples much easier and economical.

Rush

-Most enduring of the progressive rock-influenced bands to emerge in the second half of the 70s - The band depended on Lifeson's guitar playing rather than keyboards for its harmonic colour - Their sound avoided some of the classical pretension that generated criticism - 2112 (Made their mark)

Malcolm Mclaren

-Ran a clothing store in London called Let It Rock, that specialized in biker jackets and other 50s clothes - Members of the New York Dolls were provided matching red leather suits from his store

A) AOR stations were heavily formatted with... B) Also called...

A) - Program directors or consultants programming the music - Commercial tendencies of AM - Short more "radio friendly" songs (4-5mins) B) Corporate rock

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Adapted the 1960s folk-rock style of Dylan and the Byrds - From a contemporary perspective, the band didn't seem like a new wave act, although they were marketed as one - The group often wore the colourful suits and thin ties associated with new wave - The group also returned to the 1950s roots of rock

Cheap trick

Combined power-chord guitar with pop hooks

Janet Jackson

Control (1986) - Went to the top of the rhythm and blues charts and contained six cross-over hit singles - Projected an image of confidence and independence, and the heard-driving beats shows the influence of hip hop and funk - New jack Swing: a dance-based style of hip hop and pop Rhythm Nation (1989) - Contained 7 top five singles - Took on a more serious, socially conscious tone, with the original plan for it to project a more sexier and seductive image Janet (1993) - Launched Jackson's more adult!oriented image - Dancing was as important as singing, and the musical dimensions of her videos took a backseat

Devo

Most ironic of all new wave bands - Using costumes, space-aged keyboard and guitar sounds, and alienated vocals - The band adopted the image of futuristic beings from1950s science fiction movies - In spite of poor sale in America, the album Q: Are We Not Men? A: - We Are Devo became popular in England