1970s1970s

A CHANGE IN AMERICA

How would you describe the mindset and ideas of the 1960s?

Counterculture Anti-establishment Free Love Drugs

Things changed in the 1970s…

Young adults became more materialistic and conservative

For rock fans, the end of the counterculture was symbolized by the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison, and by the breakup of the Beatles

1970S Record industries wanted to present more music choices for its

customers The styles emerged in the 70s

Soft rock Hard rock Country rock Folk rock Punk rock Glam rock Jazz rock Blues rock Latin Rock Disco! (and more!)

FM RADIO

It was still the FM radio that was the primary medium for broadcasting rock music

During the 70s, the number of FM radio stations in the US increased by almost a thousand

The popularity of the FM radio (who just played Top 40 hits) surpassed AM radio stations

Seeking to boost their advertising revenues, many FM stations moved to a formatted called AOR aimed at young white males

AOR= Album-oriented rock AOR formatted featured hard rock bands such as Led

Zeppelin

BLACK ARTISTS

Older soul and R&B artists like Aretha Franklin and James Brown, though still popular among black listeners, found it more difficult to get on the pop- and rock-dominated Top 40 charts

Atlantic Records, a pioneer in the field of R&B and soul music, increasingly turned its attention to grooming and promoting white rock acts like Led Zeppelin

Theme Albums Theme Albums in the 70sin the 70s

Glam rock= short for glamour; emphasized the elaborate, showy personal appearance and costuming of its performers

Pioneer= David Bowie

He created a rock album centered on a fictitious character- Ziggy Stardust His albums showed pictures of

him playing Ziggy, decked out in futuristic clothing and heavy facial makeup, androgynous, and cosmic looking

Bowie’s unique ability to create quasi-fictional stage personae was a precedent of the image manipulation of the 1980s stars like Prince, Michael Jackson, and Madonna

GLAM ROCK/ DAVID BOWIE

JONI MITCHELL

Created a successful rock album by an emotional, philosophical, or political theme

She didn’t create a character for herself like David Bowie

She was a singer-songwriterHer album “Blue” were songs about the

complexities of loveThis album focuses on Mitchell's voice and

acoustic guitar

PINK FLOYD

Their album “Dark Side of the Moon” is based on a theme of madness and things that drive us to it- time, work, money, war, and fear of death

If there was ever an antidote to the notion that popular music must be cheerful and upbeat in order to be successful, Dark Side of the Moon is it

It stayed on the Billboard charts for over 14 years, longer than any other record in history

Wizard of Oz….

Pink Floyd - 1973 - Dark Side Of The Moon - YouTube

MARVIN GAYE

A final example of the “theme album” is Marvin Gaye’s bestselling album “What’s Going On” which fused soul music and gospel influence with progressive rock

The basic unifying theme of this album is social justice

It’s a plea for nonviolence

Motown owner Berry Gordy didn’t want to release this album because he didn’t think it would have commercial success

The album reached #2 on the charts

Marvin Gaye proved that soul and R&B albums could provide artistic coherence that transcended the 3 minute single

What's Going On - YouTube

Other music Other music genres in the genres in the 70s70s

By the early 1970s, the British hard rock band Led Zeppelin was well on its way to becoming the most profitable and influential act in rock musicThey were the pioneers of heavy/hard rock“Stairway to Heaven”= most famous recordingIt’s been called the “anthem” of heavy metal music

HARD ROCK/ LED ZEPPELIN

Led Zeppelin-Stairway to Heaven - YouTube

We have already discussed the Willie Nelson was a popular “Outlaw” country singer during the 1970sIt was because of his unpolished, almost conversational voice that he didn’t do well in Nashville, TN (where all the “real” country stars were getting paid big!)

DON’T FORGET ABOUT WILLIE!

Willie Nelson - Always on my mind - YouTube

REGGAE

Definition= a potent mixture of Caribbean folk music and American rhythm and blues

During the 70s, a handful of Jamaican musicians achieved a measure of commercial success in the US

American and British rock musicians found inspiration in this style such as The Police, Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, and Eric Clapton

Big theme in reggae music= Rastafarianism  Rastafarianism= new religious movement that arose in a Christian culture in Jamaica in the 1930s

The guitar often plays short, choppy chords on the second and fourth beat of each measure, giving the music a bouncy, up and down feeling

Jimmy Cliff was the first Jamaican musician to gain recognition in the US, but Bob Marley surpassed him in popularityA national hero in his native Jamaica, Marley was reggae’s most effective international ambassadorHis songs of determination, rebellion, and faith, rooted in the Rastafarian belief system, found a worldwide audience

BOB MARLEY

Bob Marley - One Love - YouTube

By the early 1970s the term “funk” was being used as a label for a genre of popular music characterized by strong, danced-oriented rhythms and catchy melodies

Jazz influenced solos and horn sections

James Brown was one of the prime inspirations for funk musicians

Other importantly artists: Kool and the Gang; Sly and the Family Stone; George Clinton

FUNK

WE WANT REBELLION

During the 1970s, the first “alternative” movements emerged within rock music

While rock had begun as a vital part of the 1960s counterculture, by 1975 it had come perilously close to occupying the center of popular taste

This made young musicians feel that rock’s rebellious, innovative potential had been squandered by pampered, pretentious rock stars and the major record companies that promoted them

PUNK ROCK

Punk Rock= a “back to basics” rebellion against the perceived artifice and pretension of corporate rock music

New wave= developed along side punk; it’s the more commercial cousin of punk music

Punk was a much a cultural style- an attitude defined by a rebellion against authority and a deliberate rejection of middle-class values- as it was a musical genre

Punk was a stripped down and often purposefully “nonmusical” version of rock music with lyrics that stressed the ironic or dark dimension of human existence- drug addiction, despair, suicide, lust, and violence

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PUNK ROCK

This kind of tradition began in the 50s when white teenagers were listening to R&B to annoy their parents. This continued on through the 60s

Punk fashion: torn blues jeans, ripped stockings, outfits patched with ragged bits of contrasting materials, and perhaps a safety pin through the cheek

Some flirted with fascist imagery, attaching Nazi swastikas to their clothing and associating with the racist “skinhead” movement

PUNK CONTINUED

HOW PUNK GOT STARTED

Punk (and it’s commercial cousin new wave) began in New York City during the mid-70s

One of the main predecessors of punk rock was an American musical institution called the garage band, typically a neighborhood operation, made up of young men who usually played for themselves or friends

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

The Velvet Underground, a New York group promoted by Andy Warhol who painted the famous banana for the cover of their album

They came along in the late 60s

Their music was rough-edged and chaotic, extremely loud and deliberately anti-commercial- the beginnings of punk music

Lead singer and guitarist= Lou Reed

The first REAL punk rock band

Formed in 1974 in New York City

Played at CBGB= a converted folk music club

Their songs that had catchy, pop-inspired melodies, were played at extremely fast tempos and generally were short

THE RAMONES

SOME OTHER PUNK ARTISTS DURING THE 70SThe Stooges

New York Dolls

Patti Smith

Television

Blondie

The Talking Heads

Sex Pistols

DISCO

The term “disco” was derived from “discotheque” a term first used in Europe during the 60s to refer to nightclubs devoted to the playing of recorded music for dancing

By the mid-70s clubs featuring an uninterrupted stream of dance music were increasingly common in the US, particularly in Black and Latino communities

The first big early disco hit is Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby”

This song reflects the 1970s strong reliance on musical technologies

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER

By the late 1970s, disco had taken over the popular mainstream, owing in large part to the success of the film Saturday Night Fever

This film launched the career of the big disco group the Bee Gees

Spreading from the urban communities, disco dancing offered millions of Americans access to glamour that hadn't been experienced widely since the days of the grand ballrooms

Brought about a new style of fashion: if you AND your clothes could pass through the velvet rope, you were allowed access into the inner sanctum

Soon people started HATING disco: it was linked to gay culture.

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1980s1980s

1.Music in Trouble2.New Technologies

3.MTV

MUSIC IS IN TROUBLE FOR A BIT…

The 1980s began on a sour note…

• Following a period of rapid expansion in the mid-1970s, 1979 saw an 11 percent drop in annual record sales nationwide

But by the mid 1980s, when the industry began to climb out of its hole, it was clear that the recovery was due more to the mega-success of a few recordings by these superstar musicians- Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, Janet Jackson, and others

WHY HAD MUSIC BEEN IN TROUBLE?

• Other forms of entertainment•Home video•Cable television•Vide games

• Decline of disco• An increase in illegal copying of

commercial recordings by consumers with cassette tape decks

NEW TECHNOLOGY

• The 1980s were EXTREMELY important for introducing new technological devices to play and create music

• Sony Walkman personal tape players

• Boom boxes

• CDs (this made the popularity of vinyl records decline)

• Drum machines, sequencers, samplers

• Computers (PCs)

MTV

• Remember what Jack Black said in the movie yesterday? MTV killed Rock and Roll…

• Well MTV changed the way the music industry worked: it became the preferred method for launching a new act or promoting the latest release of a major superstar

• It strongly influenced the direction of popular music in the early 80s

• MTV’s relentless focus on white rock artists reminded many critics of the practices of AOR radio in the 1970s• People like Michael Jackson and Rick James were who

making hit records couldn’t even break into MTV

Songs from the Songs from the 80s80s1.Sweet Dreams2.What’s Love Got to Do with It

3.Jump

“SWEET DREAMS (ARE MADE OF THESE)”• This number one single from the early 80s exemplifies one

of the directions dance music took in the post-disco era

• With its heavy reliance on electronically-synthesized sounds, sequenced loops, and what has been described as a cool or austere emotion tone, Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” points the way toward later technology-centered music styles such as techno

• Eurythmics lead singer is Annie Lennox

• This song’s popularity was boosted by the music video• Annie Lennox presents herself as an androgynous figure

like David Bowie

• “Sweet Dreams” is a good example of new wave music of the early 80s

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“WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT”

• Tina Turner had been in the music business for over 20 years before this song came out• Member of Ike (her husband) and Tina Turner• Left him later because of his abusive behavior

• This song stayed on the charts for 28 weeks and earned her 3 Grammy awards

• Her life story, and tough persona helps to explain her appeal as the first black woman to attain major status in the predominately white male field of arena rock music

TINA TURNER

PROUD MARY (70S)WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT (80S)

HEAVY METAL MUSIC

• Heavy metal music, pioneered in the late 60s-70s by bands like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, went into a period of decline during the late 70s due to the disco craze

• By the early 80s, most hit singles were oriented more toward post-disco music played on keyboard synthesizers than toward the electric guitar of heavy metal bands

• The music industry tended to ignore heavy metal music, regarding it and its core audience of adolescent white males as something of an embarrassment

• During the 80s, however, heavy metal came back with vengeance!

• A slew of metal albums topped the singles and album charts, ranging from pop metal sounds of bands like Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Motely Crue, and Def Leppard to the harder sound of speed metal bands like Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeath

“JUMP”

• One of the most important moments in the mainstreaming of heavy metal was the release of Van Halen's album 1984, which feature the number pop single “Jump”

• It was a remarkable departure from standard heavy metal practice• Its main instrumental melody was played on a synthesizer rather

than an electric guitar• Eddie Van Halen, lead guitarist, was widely recognized as a

primary innovator in electric guitar performances, for developing widely used techniques

• Although some hardcore metal fans criticized Van Halen for moving away from the guitar-centered model of heavy metal musicianship, the band succeeded in introducing synthesizers into the genre, and in helping to spread metal’s popularity to a larger and more diverse audience

• In 1983 only 8 percent of records sold in the US were heavy metal; a year later that total had risen to 20 percent making metal one of the most popular genres of popular music

JUMP

Van H

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Albums from the Albums from the 80s80s

1.Thriller2.Born in the USA

THRILLER- MICHAEL JACKSON

• This album demonstrated an across the board appeal that established new and still unduplicated heights of commercial success

• Michael Jackson was wise to use 2 very popular and very different white artists on this album: Paul McCartney and Eddie Van Halen

• “The Girl is Mine”= McCartney/ “Beat It”- Van Halen

• Much of Thriller consists of uptempo, synthesizer- and bass-driven, danceable music that occupies a middle ground between heavy funk and new wave music

• Seven of the nine songs on the album were hit singles on the radio

• This is also when the moonwalk dance was introduced

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BORN IN THE USA

• Bruce Springsteen’s songs reflected his working-class origins and sympathies

• His band, E Street Band, included a saxophone- this was extremely rare during this time period. It referred back to R&B and rock and roll of the earlier eras

• Problem: much of his music was about the lyrics because it was about the American Dream, but due to loud amplification, audiences could barely hear what he was saying!

• Like Michael Jackson, he created many music videos for each of his hit singles of this album

• It sold over 15 million copies

BORN IN T

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The Production The Production of the Celebrityof the Celebrity

1.Prince2.Madonna

THE CELEBRITY

• While stars such as Bing Crosby, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan had played an important role in shaping their own public image, the 80s saw the rise of a new breed of music superstar

• Madonna and Prince= superstars• Both self-conscious authors of their own celebrity• Creators of multiple artistic alter egos• Highly skilled manipulators of the mass media• Sought to blur the boundaries of race, religion, and

sexuality • Came up with new and controversial songs and images

MADONNA• She was always second to that of Michael Jackson in the 80s

• She was a controversial figure that brought about stark contrasting reactions

• 1987 Rolling Stones readers’ poll awarded her 2nd place for Best Female Singer and 1st place for Worst Female Singer. Also 3rd place for Best Dressed Female and 1st place for Worst Dressed Female

• During the 2nd half of the 80s, Madonna began to write and record songs with deeper- and more controversial-lyric content (Papa Don’t Preach)

• Throughout her career, Madonna Ciccone (talented ambitious Italian American woman from the suburbs of industrial Detroit) has released tidbits of information about her private life, attitudes, and values, that invite her fans to imagine what the woman behind the “star-making machinery” is “really” like

MADONNA

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PRINCE• Over the course of his career, Prince has sold almost 40 million

recordings, making him one of the most popular music superstars of the last two decades of the 20th century

• More importantly, Prince is one of the most talented musicians ever to achieve mass commercial success in the field of popular music

• Grew up in Minnesota listening to James Brown, to Santana, to Joni Mitchell

• During the 80s he composed, performed, and recorded more than 75 songs each year. This is an example of his amazing productivity

• His style uses a wide range of musical inspirations, from funk to rock n’ rock to urban folk music to new wave to psychedelic rock

• His personality and appearances starkly contrast each other: flower child, male chauvinist, shy and private, sex god

• Throughout his career, he has granted few press interviews• Created a film called Purple Rain. The album Purple Rain was the

bestselling album of 1984

KISS

Prince

1990s-Today1990s-Today

1.Thriller2.Born in the USA

POPULAR MUSIC

• The bestselling albums of the 1990s featured an extraordinary variety of artists ranging form “adult contemporary” divas like Celine Dion, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey t country music stars like Clint Black, Shania Twain, to R&B like Boyz II Men, to rap like Snoop Dogg , to hard rock and heavy metal bands like Aerosmith and Metallic, to punk-influenced alternative rock bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, to the confessional “alternative singer-songwriter” Alanis Morisette

TECHNO• Techno culture is focused on DJ/producers

• Main venues for techno are dance clubs and semipublic events called raves, partly modeled on the of the 1960s counterculture

• A controversial aspect of raves is the prevalent use of a psychoactive drug called Ecstasy which creates visceral sensations of warmth and euphoria

• The roots of techno are often traced to the Detroit area, home of Motown during the early 80s

• At the same time, a genre called house music was developing in Chicago

• The 1990s techno music began to diversify into dozens of subcategories (trance, trip-hop, acid jazz, ambient, etc.)

• Although techno hasn’t produced many big commercial hits throughout history, techno recordings were used as soundtracks for technologically oriented TV commercials and films

INDIE ROCK

• In the wake of punk rock’s collapse (symbolized by the breakup of the Sex Pistols), a number of distinctive streams of “indie rock” came about in a number of cities and towns in the US (Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, etc.)

• Many of these communities are home to large populations of college students and to student-programmed college radio stations, both key ingredients for a regional underground scene

• Bands like the Pixies, Sonic Youth, R.E.M, and Nirvana came to symbolize the essence of indie rock

• Indie rock= local, anti-commercial, guitar-based music blending the abrasive punk with think textures of heavy metal

• They were committed to songwriting that explored taboo issues (drug use, depression, incest, suicides and interested in social and political movements such as environmentalism, abortion, and AIDS activism

• This music was geared towards working-class male audiences

INDIE ROCK

R.E.M. SONIC YOUTH

HARDCORE MUSIC

• Speed= blending the fast tempos and rebellious attitude of hardcore with technical virtuosity of heavy metal guitar playing

•  Lyrics often expressed nihilistic views or deal with social issues using visceral, gory language

• Hardcore= extreme variation of punk• This entailed moshing at shows • Buzz cuts and combat boots• Few of these bands scored contracts with

major labels

NIRVANA

• Lead singer= Kurt Cobain• He later joined Club 27 by committing suicide in 1994 • Married Courtney Love. Both were heavily addicted to strong

drugs

• They created a style known as grunge music

• Inspired by the creativity of the Beatles

• By 1992, after touring with Sonic Youth, they beat Michael Jackson on the charts earning the number one spot

• Their most famous song “Smells like Teen Spirit” is a combination of heavy metal instrumental textures and pop songwriting techniques• This was the first alternative rock single of the 90s to enter

toe Top 10. It is a carefully crafted pop song

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WOMEN

• Ani DiFrance (folk singer-songwriter)

• K.d. Lang (country singer)

• Lauryn Hill (hip-hop)

• Alanis Morissette  (alternative singer-songwriter)

TODAY

• Rock is still around today • Styles that have emerged since 1999-today

• Emo= more subdued, emotional form of punk• Pop-punk (Good Charlotte, Sum 41, Simple Plan, Fall-Out Boy, Blink-182)

• Digital electronic rock• Indie• Alternative• Still have post-punk and heavy metal bands

1999-TODAY• Foo Fighters

• Interpol

• Marylin Manson

• Wilco

• Kings of Leon

• Arcade Fire

• The Strokes

• Yeah Yeah Yeahs

• White Stripes

• My Chemical Romance

• Paramore

• Panic at the Disco

• So many more, not enough room to list!!

IMPORTANCE OF ROCK

• Major influence on fashion• Changed opinions about African Americans• Expressed feelings about gender and sexuality• Made people aware of political and social issues • It was an outlet and brought people happiness and a way

to dance when times were hard economically or a war was going on

• Religious views were heavily expressed through this genre of music (Christianity, Satanism, Rastafarianism, etc.)

• Gave people an outlet to express themselves in a rebellious manner