According to our learning materials, heavy metal is a hard rock style developed in the early 1970s. It differentiates itself as its own subsect of music with six factors:

-Ear-splitting volume,

-heavy use of distortion,

-simplified chord progressions/melodies,

-lyrics that reflect (male) adolescent preoccupations, and

-elaborate stage shows.

Campbell’s textbook uses Led Zeppelin as an icon of heavy metal to introduce the genre. While some of their songs don’t meet all 6 heavy metal “requirements,” their biggest hits hit the nail on the head. Their general style and intention is a great depiction of what heavy metal is and where it comes from, figuratively.

Take this live performance of “In the Evening”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSEClIembvU

The song begins with a string of heavily distorted echoes; although not from a guitar, the heavy metal sound is brought in right away. No matter what volume you are listening to this song with, you can feel the loudness in the wail of the guitar, the boom-snap of the drumset, the rugged passion of Robert Plant’s vocals. It isn’t a complicated song, but each member takes the basic chord progression, melody, or whichever part they contribute to, and inject their own virtuosity into it to zap it to life. Plenty of male teens, I’m sure, can relate to the very first verse:

In the evening
When the day is done
I’m looking for a woman
But the girl don’t come
So don’t let her
Play you for a fool
She don’t show no pity, baby
She don’t make no rules

Ah, the teenage years, the height of hormones and ripening of romance. The desire for love, or really lust (cough… sex) is so strong among teens that it is a huge cause for frustration and indirectly, acting out. Guys (girls too, but in this context we’ll just say guys) at that age often have no desire for relationships or ooey-gooey love — just a bang buddy to get their release. These lyrics perfectly express that sentiment, whether it’s politically correct or not. And, of course, we have the harsh dark/light, cool/warm contrast onstage to create the chiaroscuro chaotic visuals to match the sound.

 

Next on the list, we have “Achilles’ Last Stand” from 1979: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWOuzYvksRw

Of course, the volume depends on the level of which you have it set on whatever device you’re using to listen to it, but you can hear in the way his voice “scrapes” the air, especially how he seems to be losing it towards the end, and in the crackles of the electric guitar’s solo, also due to the heavy distortion, which checks the second box. The chord progression isn’t particularly complex or difficult — basic enough that the guitarist has free roam to spiff it up with freestyled riffs and bits as the song progresses, also allowing him to intensify or ‘soften’ (by heavy metal’s standards) sections as necessary. They hold their presence on the stage throughout the entire performance, and while it isn’t elaborate in that they are doing complex choreography or the like, the stage is lit with a range of colours and their setup is laid out in an appealing and easily viewable way for the audience; every aspect is deliberate and well-thought-out. The lyrics, of course, often reference Achilles from Greek myth, but hold deeper meaning than just the retelling of an old story. It deals with thoughts that perplex people of all ages, but particularly find their apex in the teen years: existentialism, potential, desire, frustration. This fragment gives a sense of all those feelings:

To seek the man whose pointing hand
The giant step unfolds
With guidance from the curving path
That churns up into stone

But really what this song is talking about is not about Achilles at all — it is in fact about Robert Plant, lead singer of Led Zeppelin. In 1975, Plant had travelled to Greece with his family where he was left in a wheelchair after a car accident, with a broken ankle (Achilles’ heel, anyone?) and elbow. He feared he would never walk again, and spent two years recovering. (1) This injury was crippling not only to him, but to Led Zeppelin as a band, and they had to cancel their tour and postpone the release of their album Presence until the next year. (2) However, due to the song being inspired by a real-life experience (and a traumatizing one at that), it has an emotional depth to it that teens in particular heavily relate to, as those are the years we tend to first discover those emotions and begin exploring them in an attempt to understand ourselves and the world around us. This, in itself, is the very core of heavy metal’s ambition.

Unfortunately, this incident was not the end of Robert Plant’s woes. Two years after the car crash, his 5-year-old son passed away from an infection. Plant took time off from Led Zeppelin to mourn the loss with his family and even considered ending their career there. Thankfully, he did not, as with the release of the album In Through the Out Door came “All of My Love,” dedicated to his deceased son. (1) Watch them perform it live here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksrOZwK_K-I

Again, the band has covered creating a beautiful stage show with bright, vibrant lights and dramatic atmosphere. The chord progressions are especially simple in this song to leave listeners to focus on the lyrics, particularly the chorus, which is filled with emotional unrestraint as the words “all of my love” ring out. The distortion to the guitar’s sound isn’t quite as heavy as we would normally hear in their songs, but it’s definitely there, and in its subtlety can be found its intensity which fits well with the feeling of the song. The volume itself is also more pulled back than a regular Zeppelin hit; it’s not the usual in-your-face loud, but more of an emotional pain type of loud. They’re not screaming at you — a misconception of what heavy metal is — they are shouting with all those who suffer, and unlike many metal songs, it brings its message to everyone (which includes the typical male teen audience) without limitation. They proclaim their message loudly enough to be heard, and then some, within a respectful range, across the globe.

Robert Plant and son, Karac before his death.

 

Sources Cited:

1. UltClassicRock. “Pink Floyd Debuts, Robert Plant Injured in Crash – August 4 in Rock History.” YouTube, YouTube, 4 Aug. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIFgOksLGt4.
2. Anon, (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-meaning-behind-Achilles-Last-Stand-by-Led-Zeppelin [Accessed 13 Aug. 2018].

 

#M8Q2

The Great American Songbook is just that — living up to its name, it is a music book filled with popular music referred to as the “American standard” from the first half of the 20th century. Included are pieces associated with many influential musicians of popular music at the time, such as Nat King Cole, Billy Holiday, and Frank Sinatra. Americans found hope in the widely familiar tunes of the book during this time of major warfare and depression. (1)

One of the songs that stands out to me is “There’s No Business Like Show Business”. I myself am a fan of clever rhymes (another one I like is “As a specimen, yes I’m in-timidating!” from Beauty and the Beast‘s “Gaston”, sung at the end of this clip if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JG6f5_37tg), so I think the chorus in itself is enough to attract me all on its own. It was written as part of a film by Phoebe and Henry Ephron and Lamar Trotti, directed by Walter Lang.

Songs in The Great American Songbook retain the pattern of being bright and cheery, easy to remember, and relatively simple musically to allow the songs within it to gain widespread appeal, known by most everyone. “There’s No Business Like Show Business” is not an exception to this. The chorus dances with dynamics, placing emphasis on the “no” and “show” which reiterates the clever rhyme. The popular 1954 version is sung by female singer Ethel Merman with an over-exaggerated but cheery, enthusiastic vibrato, singing about the wonderful people and smiles given by these people in show business. This song is certainly to me what would now be considered an “earworm” — the well-written and easily remembered lyrics, the bright dynamics throughout, and the enthusiasm of not only the performer herself but the band backing her up.

The song takes one of the most common forms in popular music: verse-chorus form. The verses’ words vary from one to another but share their melody. The chorus shares its melody for the most part, but atypical to usual verse-chorus form songs, the chorus is not exactly the same each time, though this could easily be pinned as Merman’s own interpretation of the song as choosing to take artistic freedom and lower or heighten a note here and there to inject more personality into the piece as a piece like this should have. As for the lyrics of the chorus, she initially says, “There’s no people like show-people,” but at the apex of the song changes to, “There’s no business like show business”. Despite the change in words, the chorus’ message is retained, as well as the enthusiasm, general melody, and musicality of the piece.

Another version is an earlier one from 1950 sung by three men to a young lady who asks what show business is, exactly. They get fired up in excitement and fluidly lead into the song with hardly any discrepancy between their regular talking conversation and the beginning of the song. The first major difference between this 1950 version and the 1953 version is, of course, the number of performers. While the latter features a single, strong-voiced female, the former has three men playfully throwing the melody amongst one another, occasionally joining together in unison to emphasize certain lines and for the chorus. In the second half, the young lady takes on the chorus, the three men continuing with the verses, all four of them in unison for the final round of the chorus. This (1950) version has a faint ragtime-y feel — all one would have to do is replace the blaring brass with an old piano. However, the 1953 version sung by Merman has a more traditionally theatrical feel, and while the syncopations and happy tune fit with ragtime music, her version has more of a fanfare to it, a faster tempo, a fuller instrument range, that takes it out of that category. This (1954) version is personally more appealing to me, though there is fun in the quartet’s hot potato-like turn-taking melody, but I would say each version is widely known, the 1954 version being more attractive to women and the 1950 version being more attractive to men, though both I tend to notice are generally more well-known in each group among those of age 60 and up.

To me, The Great American Songbook is a music book of its time. It shows a foundation in history for much of the music we have today, and represents a certain time in America when music was turned to to distract from the devastation occurring in the world. If anyone were to add to it after this time, it would take away from the unified tragedy that these songs specifically were brought together to fight. It would simply become an anthology of songs throughout American popular music’s history, and not the standout rebellion against dark times, the admirability in human nature in music, that it is.

I believe the songs in the book are still relevant today and will continue to be. It’s hard to continue to make music and not be aware of these roots as a musician, no matter what kind of music one makes. Every genre has certain connotations with it which demonstrate their origins, show tunes such as this one being associated with New York and America, blues taking its cues from African musicians, swing with its controversial dances and young women, and so on, without having to take a history of music course. As long as these connotations are perpetuated, music of any form will never completely lose it roots or relevancy. The best songs are continually remade in the current styles as time goes on as well, which not only reminds listeners of the originals and grants appreciation to them and the music of the time, but clearly shows that we, as humans, enjoy the familiarity of a well-worn melody enough to make it again and again and again, creating a timeline of the evolution of technology, current events, morals, and music itself.

1953 version (Ethel Merman): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVMXw_y7jyI

1950 version (Annie Get Your Gun): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lakGIwI9u0

Sources Cited:

1. “What Is the Great American Songbook?” The Center for the Performing Arts – Home of the Palladium – Carmel, Indiana, thecenterfortheperformingarts.org/Great-American-Songbook-Inititative/About-the-Great-American-Songbook.

Despite the outright parody of black culture involved in almost any performance involving blacks in the late 18th century to the early 19th century, black performers embraced it. Shuffle Along, a musical which ran between 1921 and 1922, became integral to the success of black performers. It appealed to audiences in that it balanced the stereotypes enhanced by minstrel shows with respectable use of humour and drama, entertaining people in the full round. (1)

Tiger Woods once stated, “If you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?” (2). The black performers in minstrel shows and other performances preceding and including Shuffle Along adhered to a similar ideal — they at first faced competition with whites who used blackface, but once the blacks themselves began to — rather redundantly — use blackface and perform their own minstrel shows, audiences were far more attracted to it, as they found it to be more authentic. (1) In the same way that many comedians today use embarrassing stories and perhaps overly honest anecdotes to make people laugh, blacks would use self-deprecation to relate to their audience while entertaining them, which proved to be a success.

Shuffle Along challenged what was acceptable in black performances and what was not. It explored new concepts previously considered unacceptable to whites, such as romance. It was a baby step for the world of coloured performers. Previously, romance was strictly for white performances only, but using the balance of humour and drama, the black actors were able to express themselves in a surprising, although slightly uncomfortable, way. As it had never been seen before, naturally white audiences were taken aback, unsure what to think of it. Though the response from whites was lukewarm, they were no longer cold, and today most can say that — at least in North America -people have thoroughly warmed up to it.

The music in Shuffle Along was difficult to follow — that is, to dance along with. Every beat was full of footwork, leaving only the most skilled of tap-dancers able to fit all the moves in. These rhythms were another shock to audiences as they stood out from other music at the time; they almost couldn’t believe that the music they were hearing could possibly exist, let alone anyone being able to dance along with it. (3)

Another feature of the influential musical was the use of a chorus line. The chorus line in Shuffle Along opened a door to talented coloured dancers looking for a bigger role, a true expression of themselves. Josephine Baker was among the 16 girls hired for the chorus line. She was actually initially hired on as a dresser, but upon one of the chorus girls getting sick, Josephine saw an opportunity and took her place, performing in the musical until the end of its tour in 1922. (4) Her energetic, humourous, and overall eye-catching dance moves were a display of unfiltered enjoyment and set off the beginning of her successful career. Some of her moves can be seen in the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H46uf5-Way0

“I’m Just Wild About Harry” has become rather well-known in popular music.  It is a bouncy tune that has a steady beat with a flowing, syncopated sung melody. This, of course, may depend on song interpretation by the performer, but most versions of it involve an enthusiastic singer who doesn’t feel the need to adhere strictly to the beat of the rhythm section. It is a song I have passively heard before, but never really tuned into the lyrics or really tried to appreciate it before. Knowing now its origins, I can certainly appreciate the skill of the performers and what the performance in itself means to the history of popular music.

African-American slaves created a type of dance which is referred to as “patting juba”. It is usually done to an irregular beat, using 3/4 time signatures with complicated rhythms. Two men dance in the centre of a circle of other men, improvising their moves as they respond to the clapping beats provided by the participants in the circle. (5) Percussive sounds are a large part of juba dancing; often participants slap, clap, or smack various parts of their own bodies to quickly and energetically express their moves. This became the foundation for tap dancing. P.T. Barnum, a historic showman of the 19th century, had a juba dancer in his shows. Despite juba dancing’s heavy influence from black dancers, this Irish kid was white. However, he left Barnum’s show, leaving the showman to find a new juba dancer. This ended up being a blessing in disguise — a new dancer came along, who even came to be known as Juba due to his high level of skill for the dance. The only issue was that Juba was black, so white audiences were not as willing to accept him. Juba and the first juba dancer would complete against one another, though, and as Juba rarely lost, he gained a reputation. Barnum even attempted to paint the original juba dancer in blackface to mimic Juba’s appearance, but audiences still rejected him in favour of the more talented Juba.

Though Shuffle Along has been called one the first successful black productions, it is not necessarily the case. The gentlemen who produced the musical actually had other black productions before Shuffle Along that were just as, if not even more, successful. For example, their 1907 production Bandanna Land played at the Majestic Theatre, whereas Shuffle Along was played at the Sixty-Third Street Music Hall, a much less established production house.

The 2016 rendition of Shuffle Along, that is, Shuffle Along in no way attempts to perfectly recreate the original. Instead, it is a revival of its memory, demonstrating the significance of the original production including its black cast members and creative minds. It is a show of appreciation and a reminder of what black performers went through to open the doors to talents of all colours today.

As a white person myself, I haven’t ever really considered how black performers made their way into popular culture. I’ve been given imagery of black men from the slavery days playing some form of blues on old banjos, like you see in literature such as Huckleberry Finn, but I had never really considered how the transition from the ‘lonely, unliberated blues-black’ to the hearty black jacks-of-all trades who dominate many genres of popular music came to be. Having read this article, I am more aware of the difficult process black performers had to break through to become fully accepted in pop culture.

Reading what the Campbell textbook has to say about black performance and minstrelsy, I would say that blacks are well credited for their contributions to popular music and culture as we know it. Without them, we wouldn’t have blues, jazz, R&B, or even rock and roll as we know it — popular music itself would have taken an entirely different path, which if we were to hear it, would be totally unrecognizable.

 

Sources Cited

1. “Stage 1920s III: Black Musicals.” Cabaret History I, www.musicals101.com/1920bway3.htm.
2. “A Quote by Tiger Woods.” Goodreads, Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/quotes/56461-if-you-can-t-laugh-at-yourself-who-can-you-laugh.
3. Reside, Doug. “Musical of the Month: Shuffle Along.” The New York Public Library, The New York Public Library, 27 Oct. 2015, www.nypl.org/blog/2012/02/10/musical-month-shuffle-along.
4. League, The Broadway. “IBDB.com.” IBDB: Internet Broadway Database, www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/shuffle-along-1921-9073.
5. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Juba.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædiaa Britannica, Inc., 27 Nov. 2014, www.britannica.com/art/juba-dance.
6. Gardner, Elysa. “Broadway Gets Another Exuberant History Lesson in ‘Shuffle Along’.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 29 Apr. 2016, www.usatoday.com/story/life/theater/2016/04/28/broadway-gets-another-exuberant-history-lesson-shuffle-along/83593084/.

Hi, I’m Kim, and I am a studio arts major at the University of Saskatchewan. Music has always been a tickle in my brain, inspiring compositions on the violin, piano, and trumpet, and allowing appreciation for others’ musical compositions of the recent and distant past. This blog is where you will see my assignments for MUS111 — I hope those of you reading them might appreciate my writing style and perhaps develop more interest on the topics I discuss.