Nirvana "In Bloom"

Nirvana was one of the most influential alternative artists of all time. They were started in Seattle, WA in 1987, and found fame in 1991 after releasing Nevermind and their smash single from said album, Smells like Teen Spirit. There band grew more and more fame as they were brought into the musical scene as “grunge”, a new form of alternative rock characterized by distorted guitars, and angst-filled lyrics. Not being able to deal with the fame, Kurt Cobain decided to end his life in April 1994 and ended Nirvana, but their music still lives on. Four Year Strong, on the other hand, is a pop-punk band from Worcester, MA. They got their fame with the release of Rise or Die Trying and grew a stronger and bigger fan base than what they had before. On their second to latest album, they covered many huge hits such as Nine Day’s “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” and “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette. Then track 9 came in, with Nirvana’s “In Bloom”.
Nirvana’s original version is very grungy and filled with angst-filled distorted guitar and makes the listener actually seem like the music itself is something of hate. The lyrics are simplistic but subtly showed Kurt’s hatred of “wannabees” that only listened to popular music, not what they like. Even his voice seems to shout out to all these people who he, obviously, thinks aren’t worthy of his music. Not many poetic devices are used in here, and the whole song seems like a huge confusing mess, but it is Kurt’s way of making them. The music itself is very good and shows good skill (at that time) of the artists, and greatly conveyed his message.
Four Year Strong’s cover was so much different musical, but lyrical about the same. Their singer’s scratchy and yelling voice really put the meaning of the song out a lot more than Nirvana could ever do, and used another way: in the way they play. Their choice of changing the way the song is very dramatic, but very effective in the same way. Their choice to go with a heavier feel to it, defiantly dropping the tuning down and making the drums much faster, really brought this song into a whole new genre, but in a good way. Generally covers aren’t as good as the original, but I think its safe to say that this cover is as good, maybe even better.

Rock Myths

Robert Johnson started off with just the harmonica, but soon turned to guitar as an outlet to get out of poverty. He randomly learned how to play guitar like one of the best in such a small time, thus created the rumor that he sold his soul to the devil. The story goes that he went to Mississippi, to a crossroads, and traded his soul for musical talent to the devil. Robert Johnson never actually agreed with the rumors, but a lot of his songs make references to hell, the devil, and the crossroads. This is said to be part of the Hoodoo religion, which uses rituals to summon a hellish creature called Legba at the crossroads. The other, more realistic theory is said that he just practiced a lot and had help from Ike Zinnerman. Tommy Johnson, Robert Johnson’s contemporary, said in a famous quote on how he got so musically talented, "If you want to learn how to make songs yourself, you take your guitar and your go to where the road crosses that way, where a crossroads is. Get there be sure to get there just a little ' fore 12 that night so you know you'll be there. You have your guitar and be playing a piece there by yourself…A big black man will walk up there and take your guitar and he'll tune it. And then he'll play a piece and hand it back to you. That's the way I learned to play anything I want."
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/german/course_webpages/devil/grmn256/rjdeal.html
As Ozzy Osbourne was in Des Moines in a tour called Night of the Living Dead, he often threw pig intestines and calves’ livers at the crowd, so it wasn’t a big deal when people started to throw meat and even a living bat onto stage. When this bat, stunned by the lights, showed up on stage Ozzy thought it was a toy and bit the head off. He said “For a start, my mouth was instantly full of this warm, gloopy liquid, with the worst aftertaste you could ever imagine. I could feel it staining my teeth and running down my chin. Then the head in my mouth twitched.” He doesn’t denounce the rumor, but embraces that it actually happened. CBS also confirmed that he once bit the head off of a dove’s head too. Another rumor that is completely untrue from Ozzy is that he would throw dogs bodies off the stage and not start until the dead carcasses are thrown back on stage.
http://www.rollingstone.com/Mythozzy
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/6209030/Ozzy-Osbourne-describes-biting-head-off-bat.html

The Beatles were the pioneers of Pop rock and in 1969 a huge controversy hit them. It is said that Paul McCartney has been dead since 1966 when he crashed his Aston-Martin on a rainy night after a recording session. After this incident, the band stopped a tour and found an impersonator, it is said. They began slowing hinting towards his death, John Lennon saying “Here another hint for you. The walrus is Paul.” This is a big sign because of the walrus being a symbol for death in Roman mythology. The Abby Roads album really hinted towards it specifically with what they are wearing. “John, dressed in pure white symbolizes the preacher or heavenly body. Ringo, dressed in full black symbolizes the mourner. George, in scruffy denim jeans and shirt symbolizes the gravedigger and Paul, dressed in a shabby, out-dated suit and barefoot symbolizes the corpse.” This describes a funeral possession going on with the death of Paul. There also used to be a “bloodstain” in the original album art.
http://homepages.tesco.net/harbfamily/opd/albumabbey.html
http://www.rollingstone.com/Mythpaul

In 1965, there was a music festival in Freebody Park in Newport, Rhode Island. Bob Dylan had been a huge folk artist and had never actually used an electric guitar publically, until July 25th at Newport. He came out dressed in black pants and green shirt, with a Fender Stratocaster in his hands. This idea was a complete failure because they did not practice or actually sound good in general. On the tape that recorded this, there was no booing but yelling. People said it was because of the PA mix and said that Dylan’s voice was also very distorted and disgusting. He kept coming on and offstage after this horrific incident, finally coming out alone asking for a harmonica from someone. A man that yelled ‘Judas’ had said, “I think most of all I was angry that Dylan... not that he'd played electric, but that he'd played electric with a really poor sound system. It was not like it is on the record [the official album]. It was a wall of mush. That, and it seemed like a cavalier performance, a throwaway performance compared with the intensity of the acoustic set earlier on. There were rumblings all around me and the people I was with were making noises and looking at each other. It was a build-up.”

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6085476/50_moments_that_changed_the_history_of_rock__roll_dylan_goes_electric_in_1965/2
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/bob-dylan-how-i-found-the-man-who-shouted-judas-507883.html

Before a European tour in 1973, Rolling Stone’s Keith Richards was said to undergo a treatment to replace his entire drug and alcohol saturated blood with whole new blood. This treatment would have made him pure and clean, and helped with his addiction to drugs and alcohol. He has come clean about it, though, stating that on his way to treat his heroin addiction some Switzerland boys asked him what he was doing, in which he replied “To exchange my blood.” They took this in a wrong way and ended up in a huge myth about Richards. This shows that even a simple comment by an artist can fuel a huge myth.
http://classicrock.about.com/od/history/a/rock_myths_2.htm

Sgt. Pepper Beatles Album:
Known
Karl Marx: Creator of early Communist ideas/invented Marxism.
Marilyn Monroe: Idea of beauty in 60s/70s, actor and model.
Edgar Allen Poe: Dark/depressing writer
Not Known
Oscar Wilde: A writer, and an Irish nationalist
Fred Astaire: Dancer, actor, and choreographer (40s-70s)
Stan Laurel/Oliver Hardy: Comedian Duo

http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/sgtpepper/

"Welcome Home" - Coheed & Cambria

Some of the greatest ‘hateful’ bands in the alternative rock genre can easily by named without breaking a sweat, but some bands such as Coheed and Cambria don’t automatically make you think of hatred. Their singer/lead guitarist Claudio Sanchez writes lyrics for albums according to a story that has been ongoing for 4 albums. These albums tell the story of a distant universe and the struggles within the characters, Coheed, Cambria, and Claudio. Within these albums, one song pops out as a very hateful song that made them actually need a parental advisory, which they never had before. Welcome Home, the most defiant track of Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV (Volume One: From Fears Through the Eyes of Madness), and tells the bad side of a relationship which has turned bitter because the women just like the man for his fame, shadowing Sanchez’s past relationship with another women. This song helps convey the message of ‘celebrity’ relationships and shows what the feelings are after a harsh breakup.
This song opens with an amazing riff by lead guitar/vocalist Claudio Sanchez and shows his amazing mastery of the guitar and virtuosity with it. His almost guitar solo goes on for a good minute before starting with the lyrics, but this sound already sets a tone, almost foreshadowing, for what will happen in the song. Sanchez’s distinct high pitch voice belts out the lyrics for the first verse, and immediately starts to characterize the women who was in this relationship, being in 2nd person it almost feels like you are her. “A whore in sheep’s clothing/Fucking up all I do” shows the direct characterization of her actions and makes it so the listener knows the woman isn’t a good person in general. His final lines “Please make up your mind girl, before I hope you die” pretty much sum up his feelings for her with a big middle finger.
The biggest poetic device used in the song is the idea of allusion they use for religion. “You stormed off to scar the armada/Like Jesus played martyr/I’ll drill through your hands/The stone for the curse you have blamed me” makes a direct reference to Christianity by pointing out Jesus in general, but also for the ‘drill through your hands’ remark. This continues at the end of the verse with “So with sin I condemn you/Demon play, demon out!” and keeps the idea of hell with demons. His use of this really shows the true extent of her actions, saying she tries because like Jesus but ultimately blamed him for breaking him apart. This is like a hyperbole to her actions, exemplifying them in a religious way to make the point come across.
Sanchez ends each chorus with a few objectifications such as “Here laid to rest is our love ever longed?” and “With truth on the shores of compassion”, all heightening his complete and utter hatred for her. In his closing lines he says “Please make up your mind girl, I’ll do anything for you”, which sums up the relationship at the beginning, but ironical the next line “Please make up your mind girl, before I hope you die”, showing the quick and hasty relationship that happened, and how quick it faded away. After the song is over, the title finally begins to make sense; it is a satire played to denounce her by greeting her, but in reality he wants to kill her. These lyrics are passionate and show the love gone awry in Sanchez’s life and are a great example of how much hate can form and be brought out in lyrical form.

Reflections of Popular Culture in Music

Consider the subject matter, content and point of view of today's top songs and identify lines which contain poetic merit. What do these songs, as a whole, say about our modern American culture? In particular, what do these songs say about your generation as the greatest consumers of music media? How are gender roles represented in popular music? How is success measured?

In music today, and the decades before, have helped to shape and change everyone around us. Clothing, group of friends, hairstyles, etc. are all judge by what a person listens to, or what their favorite artist is like. People are shunned from a group of people if they don’t choose to like the same type of music, and even groups have formed that only listen to a certain type (I.E. “Head bangers”). This fascination with music has grown so much on people in the past decades and as the music industry has been changing, it affects the world as a whole. Specifically in the United States, the top ‘billboard’ artists don’t even have to be good at songwriting, or singing at that and just have to adhere to what people like, and how to make money off of it.
Today’s number one hit in the U.S. is “Break Your Heart” by Taio Cruz. This song centers on the singer being a ‘heartbreaker’ and saying that he pretty much doesn’t care about women and he is “hard to please”. Poetic devices are hard to find in this song, but there are a couple deficiencies. “I’m only gonna break break your break break your heart” is repeated so many times in the song that it seems to take away from the rest of it. There are only about 5 short verses included in the repeated line of this song, and this is a prime example of how it doesn’t really matter how good at songwriting or singing a person is, it’s just how catchy the song is.
Number 10 comes in with “How Low” by Ludacris. This song shows a distinct pattern in the views of women in rap. The song is all centered on girls dancing and “dropping to the ground”. These lyrics aren’t quotable for school-purposes but having the song summarized in one line shows their songwriting flaws and the song as a whole having a very poor quality.
In the rap/hip-hop dominate charts, an actually artist pops out. At 19 is “Breakeven” by The Script. This is a song about the heartbreak of a man over a girl. The songwriting is above par but it still sticks out compared to all the others in the charts. “She finally met a man that's gonna put her first/While I'm wide awake she's no trouble sleeping” shows the difference between the heartbroken man and the girl whose already found another guy. This song is a prime example of the ‘decent’ songwriting happening in today’s charts.
These songs don’t summarize even half of the billboards of today’s popular music. This just helps to understand what the standards are of the music industry today.

"Wake Up" - Rage Against the Machine

The aspect of ‘hateful’ music has been around for awhile, but with the breakout of Rage Against the Machine, it brought a whole new side of freedom of speech. Rage Against the Machine was formed in 1991 and has since been an icon of political denouncing. Their songs, all filled with hate and aggression, get influence from many earlier heavy metal bands and also from a lot of rappers such as Public Enemy. This went to such an extent as burning American flags, and even telling interviews that their president, then George W. Bush, should be shot. This theme of country ridicule is show in many songs, but the true hate of it came with “Wake Up”.
This song shows the true potential of Zach de la Rocha’s songwriting abilities. In the song it shows the government’s roles in killing ‘key leaders’, such as Malcolm X. The biggest line of the song is the allusion, “How long? Not long, 'cause what you reap is what you sow”. This is from a famous Martin Luther King Jr. speech, and when analyzed more it really says everything you do will end up coming back to you (i.e. Karma). His political parodies of J. Edgar Hoover, “Hoover, he was a body remover”, points out the FBI’s racism attempts to stop black nationalists. “Ya know they murdered X, and tried to blame it on Islam”, is a direct paradox stating that the government killing of Malcolm X was indeed blamed on a religion instead of taking the blame for it, and his imagery of “I think I heard a shot” over and over again paints the picture of the assassination.
Rocha goes on and on about the government, in such motifs as “Networks at work, keepin’ people calm”, saying that people are purposely used to keep people calm in trouble times. “He turned the power to the have-nots, and then came the shots” is a powerful motif stating that a ‘leader’ gives power to the people that don’t have it, but eventually gets ended in a unexplained murder. The hyperbole “’Cause all these punks, got bullets in their heads.” Shows that rebellious ‘punks’ all are getting shot down by the national government.
Rocha adds so much more to the song in the way he speaks, from swears that actually mean something to his stress/screaming of certain parts. Even with the other Rage Against the Machine songs, he still stresses so much about the government and almost prays for a revolution. The way he speaks out to make people aware makes him seem almost like one of the ‘leaders’ that he sings about.

Theme-Genre Declaration

I choose alternative music because this is the type of music that I listen to the most, along with all the subcategories of it. I like alternative because it can go from a mellow band such a Interpol and Coldplay, to some insane bands such as Sonic Youth or The Cure. This makes it such a wide variety of songs and artists that I can choose from, and alternative music goes back to as far as 1980. I picked the genre because a lot of the heavier type of alternative music emphasizes on their hatred for something or a person. A lot of the old alternative bands focus more on their problems than anything positive, and I think this would make for a great in-depth look at my Theme-Genre choose.