Today’s blog is a review of the album “Let it Bleed” by the Rolling Stones. The review will analyse the lyrics of the piece of work, as well as the influence the album has had on society. “Let it Bleed” was released on December 5^th, in the year 1969. At the time of release, the Vietnam War was ongoing, and had been for over fourteen years. For most people taking this course (including myself) it is difficult to fathom just how devastating the Vietnam War was, as it concluded over forty-three years ago. To put it into perspective, the war lasted over two decades, and three million lives were lost. A couple of appalling statistics for the readers. The average age of the soldiers in the war was twenty-one years old, with one in ten soldiers losing their lives.

The textbook mentions the rock revolution consisting of four dominant issues; civil rights, sexual freedom, drug use, and war. I promise the Vietnam War has something to do with the album! The Rolling Stones opening song on the album, titled “Gimme Shelter” brings light to some of the dominant issues of the era. A component of the lyrics from the song read “rape, murder! It’s just a shot away”, which is a reference to human rights violations both sides of the war were guilty of. The most notable being the My Lai massacre, a tragedy where five hundred people lost their lives in a Vietnamese village as a result of American invasion. In the disaster many innocent women and children were raped. The third verse of the song reads “the floods are threatening my very life today.” The flooding Mick Jagger referenced was a certain strategy used by the United States during the war, called Operation Popeye. The strategy was cloud seeding, which is the insertion of chemicals into clouds in order to produce rain. The United States used this tactic to destroy road networks, reducing travel of opposition forces. The opening song gives a voice to the innocent people of Vietnam that were affected by the tragedy, which was a side that many people in Europe and America may have been unaware of.

Another dominant issue of the 1960s was the use of drugs. Recreational drug use became very popular in the 1960s. I believe it is safe to say that the Rolling Stones did their fair share. If you don’t believe me, follow this link to read Keith Richards’ (guitarist) wildest escapades, the strong majority of the stories involve drug use:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/keith-richards-wildest-escapades-19-insane-tales-from-a-legendary-life-169242/keith-in-the-sky-with-diamonds-1967-67107/

Is it possible that the Rolling Stones and many other rock artists had an influencing voice that would raise curiosity about drug experimentation to masses of people? It wouldn’t be a stretch. In the song named after the album, “Let it Bleed” there is a quite obvious reference to cocaine use in the first verse, which reads “she said, my breasts they will always be open, you can rest your weary head on me, there will always be space in my parking lot, if you need a little coke and sympathy”. Let’s be honest, they’re definitely not singing about Coca-Cola. Not only is the verse a reference to drug use, but also sex as a form of comfort.

The final influence I believe this album displays is sexual freedom, mentioned by our textbook. The textbook states that oral contraceptive was introduced in the 1960s. Before the introduction of oral contraceptive, the risk of pregnancy was high. With less risk of pregnancy, sex became a more casual experience. Women were able to have sexual relations without the fear of raising a child alone. The Rolling Stones mention sex in many of their songs, and carry a “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” persona. In fact, the song labelled “Let it Bleed” is about sex and only sex. Listen to the song via the link below:

Listeners could be influenced by this type of music to live a lifestyle of casual sex, drugs, and upbeat music.

Thanks for reading.

History.com Staff. “Vietnam War.” History.com. 2009. Accessed August 8, 2018. https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history.

History.com Staff. “My Lai Massacre Takes Place in Vietnam.” History.com. Accessed August 8, 2018. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/my-lai-massacre-takes-place-in-vietnam.

Last weekend I attended a concert at Craven Country Jamboree. Although the experience was quite enjoyable, I am glad I only stayed for one night. Mostly due to the fact health and cleanliness do not rank highly on festival go-ers list. Exhibit one: the countless hand sanitizer dispensers that were either empty or completely destroyed. Anyhow, the artist that I saw live was Dean Brody.  For those of you who don’t know who Dean Brody is, he is a Canadian country singer hailing from Jaffray, British Columbia. Dean Brody grew up in a rural setting, spending much of his time doing activities such as hunting, fishing, camping, and various sports. He helps listeners relive his childhood experiences through his songs, with many of them containing elements of his younger years.  Dean is a well-established musician in Canadian country music, with sixteen Canadian Country Music Awards and two Junos.

Although he began in the country genre, his most recent album “Beautiful Freakshow” has a song also called “Beautiful Freakshow”, which features a rap verse and a faster beat than his traditional music. Dean Brody did not stop experimenting with different genres there. On the same album he released a reggae song called “Beautiful Girl”. The variety of genres that Dean Brody produces show his dynamic musical ability and also showcases his unique musical style. Many of the songs at the concert he performed not only vocals, but also played the acoustic guitar. One of the more popular and notable songs he performed was “Time”. The song addresses the never-ending struggle of time passing. He discusses how when you’re young it feels like those days will never end, and the harsh reality that those days pass by far too quickly as well as the importance of making the most of every minute. It also mentions how we should appreciate things the way they are before it is too late to. The chorus repeats “the trouble is, you think you have time”, which reiterates the message listeners are supposed to take from the song. The song has a generic rhythm section for instrumentals, it features an acoustic guitar, a snare drum, and a bass guitar. The song is made up of a simple two-beat structure, with a slow tempo, and a folk feel, giving listeners the chance to sing along.

Most of you are probably familiar with Craven Country Jamboree as it is renowned for being one of the biggest country festivals in Canada. To describe the physical attributes of the event, it has the looks of a low quality fair grounds, with campsites for thousands to bring their trailers and tents. The stage was set up in the shape of the letter “T” with the bottom of the “T” coming towards the crowd. Two large televisions were setup on both sides of the stage, and the fans packed along edges of the stage. Dean Brody’s music tends to attract people of rural backgrounds, because the activities mentioned in his songs are those done by people from these settings. Having something to relate to in his music makes it far easier for someone to enjoy the songs, as fans are able to reminisce about memories of the same activities with friends and family. Alcohol consumption is an activity mentioned in Dean Brody’s songs and honestly, it is quite difficult to find a country song without the mention of alcohol in the lyrics. The fans of the concert were intoxicated to say the least, many of whom had started consumption before lunchtime. I believe it is a fair argument that there is a connection between the alcohol references in the songs and the inebriation of the crowd as a whole.

Personally, coming from a farming background I can find a lot to relate to in Dean Brody’s words. Whether that be camping, or perhaps having a picnic with family. I spent half of my years growing up, on a farm. Before the introduction of music streaming services, there was not much of a music selection. The city radio stations did not transmit to our farm, so instead of using the FM transmitter, we were left with AM radio. Every single radio station on AM radio was either country music, news, or a bit of both. So, when spending time out on the farm, it was music of this genre that I had available to me, and ever since then it holds a special place in my heart. I feel this was a connection I shared with many in the crowd. From this course I have gained knowledge that the emergence of country music actually began through AM radio. It gave musicians a platform to transmit their songs.

REFERENCES:

Leggett, Steve. “Dean Brody | Biography & History.” AllMusic. Accessed July 16, 2018. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dean-brody-mn0001051996/biography.

Payola is essentially individuals or record labels bribing disc jockeys at radio stations to play their songs in order to gain popularity. Those with sufficient means were able to pay their way to fame, and the less fortunate individuals with less to offer in form of bribes, could not compete. These wealthy individuals and labels basically had a monopoly over the music industry. Payola first came into play in the 1930s, and really began to take off in the late 1950s, with disc jockeys accepting bribes from promoters to add songs to their music library. Payola was not realized by the general public until the likes of Alan Freed and Dick Clark admitted to receiving bribes in the 1960s. In the beginning the judicial system was only concerned with punishing the disc jockeys and weren’t too worried about who was paying them the bribes. Until 1973, when Project Sound and their attorneys decided to pursue the ones paying the bribes because they believed it was unfair for only one side of the contract to be punished. Shortly after, Congress passed laws to increase penalties for the parties involved in payola. In the late 1970s the laws in place for payola were weakened, allowing for exchanges between friends to be legal. Record labels were then able to get around the laws via the loop hole created when the laws had been weakened. Record labels turned to independent promoters as a result. Certain record labels stopped payola, but subsequently found that without the promoters paying the disc jockeys, their songs were left off the air. So, they were left with the choice to either partake in payola or have their record labels go bankrupt.

Alan Freed, Dick Clark, Hy Weiss are among the most notable names involved in the payola scandals. Alan Freed and Dick Clark committed payola. However Freed was left broke after the investigations, and Dick Clark managed to keep his wealth and reputation from before.

In today’s music industry there is still payola present. There are still independent promoters that charge large amounts of money to record labels in order get their artists featured on radio. Government regulators are always trying to adapt to payola as the industry finds new ways around the regulations put in place. These record labels are still willing to pay independent promoters, also known as “indies”, lots of money because there is still lots of money to be made by getting their artists nationwide exposure. I do believe that payola will make a transition from radio stations to platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music as radio stations become less popular. I think that because of present day payola, our youth is exposed to drugs through music and it is given a positive tone in these songs. I believe many record labels receive bribes from liquor companies, as well as pharmaceutical companies to have mention of their products in their songs. Companies in the liquor and pharmaceutical industries have a lot of money to back these kinds of campaigns. Teens want to be like their favourite musical icons and if there is references to drugs in their songs, it is a way for them to be more like their idols. The idols themselves do not necessarily indulge in such substances but referencing it in a song is enough to believe it is truthful to the younger audiences.

I think payola is a bad thing for the masses, because the rich are able to influence us subconsciously. By paying large sums of money to radio, they are able to manipulate what we hear on a day to day basis. Music is everywhere you go, at your fingertips. I find myself listening to music because it has a good beat, and once I finally pay attention to the lyrics I find I have no relation to the song whatsoever, other than the fact it has a catchy beat. I also think it is a bad thing for music itself, because it has become harder to find new sounds. I think that there is a form of payola as well in the television industry. News reports may be manipulated by the rich to make us think a certain way. Alright, well I’m going to call it quits on this blog post before I start going conspiracy crazy.

Thanks for reading.

Guadagno, Christina, “A historical study of payola: advertising and public relations or bribery” (1997). Theses and Dissertations. 2071. Accessed July 18, 2018. http://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/207

Howard, George. “How to Get Your Song on Commercial Radio.” TuneCore. September 15, 2011. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://www.tunecore.com/blog/2011/09/how-to-get-your-song-on-commercial-radio.html.

Kelly, Kim. “A Brief History of American Payola.” Noisey. February 14, 2016. Accessed July 19, 2018. https://noisey.vice.com/da/article/64y8y9/a-brief-history-of-american-payola.

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