#M8Q2

As time went on, music like all other things changed, adapted and evolved. One of these evolutions was called Heavy Metal. The text book uses Led Zeppelin as a way to introduce Heavy Metal and I agree with this choice. One of the reasons I agree with this is that many consider Led Zeppelin to be the “Grandfathers” of heavy metal (Led Zeppelin). Now Heavy metal its self has been influenced by  blues rock, psychedelic rock, and acid rock. If one was to make a generic Heavy Metal song, they would have highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness, Which Led Zeppelin has had in their songs along with their own creative choices.  

The song “Rock and Roll” which is from their album called Mothership is what I consider to have more of the typical rock elements. Starting with the introduction which starts of with drums followed by the guitar. The combination of the two make for an amped up and high energy start to the song which also sets the tone for the rest of the song. The guitar solo half way through the song is also typical for Heavy metal and along with the riffs played in this solo, it really gets you in to the song, almost to the point where you would dust off your air guitar and play along.

The song “whole Lotta love” is a bit different from the first song I have chosen as an example. One of the differences is that many people believe that this song was able to revolutionized the sound of rock vocals and the electric guitar (Marc Myers). the song starts of with a more blues like riff which plays throughout most of the song. This beginning gives us a nice look at how the blues had some influence on the band and how they took the blues sound and made it their own. The next interesting part of the song comes when the guitar fades away and were left with the drums and sound of the cymbals being played. This occurs in the middle of the song and leaves the listener feeling like they are in a distant and far off land away from earth. Coming from a moment were you felt surrounded by fun energetic sound to a sudden shift of very minimal sound, it leaves the listener wanting to hear more. To add to the eeriness, the sound of a heavily distorted guitar comes in to the mix followed by equally shocking vocals that match the distorted guitar riffs perfectly.

The last song I have chosen is called “Nobody’s Fault but Mine”. This starts off with a very heavy Distorted guitar riff. This riff sounds like it is not of this world, but that’s only the beginning of the song. Next comes the bass guitar along with the drums and boy does it ever. The entrance of these two instruments comes in with such force and gusto that it does not ask for the listeners attention but demands it. Heavy metal is usually associated with aggression or masculine power and with the way those two instruments entered, it totally fits that category (Michael Campbell). During the beginnings of heavy metal, they were also associated with rebellious actions and edgy tone (Robert Walser). It got so bad for bands who played heavy metal and their fans that they started getting blamed for crime and violence (Robert Walser). Now the lyrics them selves aren’t really that edgy but making a song about a man who lived a life that led to damnation would make it easy for the haters to attack the band and the song.

As for the text book I believe that Led Zeppelin is a good example of heavy metal to have. Sure they have songs that don’t have the stereotypical metal sound which is most likely why their is even a debate in the first place. But it is those less stereotypical metal songs that show the roots from which heavy metal and their inspiration comes from. This is why I believe Led Zeppelin should be included in the text book as an example for heavy metal. That and their amazing distortions and amped up sounds that fill you with energy.

Source

Campbell, Michael. Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes on. Boston, MA: Cengage, 2019

“Led Zeppelin.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. . Encyclopedia.com. (August 8, 2018). http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/led-zeppelin

Myers, Marc. “How One of Led Zeppelin’s Greatest Hits Was Made.” Business Insider. December 02, 2016. Accessed August 10, 2018. https://www.businessinsider.com/led-zeppelin-whole-lotta-love-oral-history-how-it-was-made-2016-12.

Walser, Robert. “Heavy Metal.” Encyclopædia Britannica. July 11, 2018. Accessed August 10, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/art/heavy-metal-music

#M3Q2

Over the course of human history mankind has come up with many interesting ways to entertain the community. Some receive it in the form of music, others through plays or movies and many more through reading. The article Shuffle Along’ and the Lost History of Black Performance in America by John Jeremiah Sullivan is a very interesting article on the making of the 2016, Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed.

During this time, blackface  was something that was not only common but accepted by the people and done by white and black people. Usually when people in the modern world learn that black people also did blackface, they are typically thrown for a loop because black people are already dark skinned (Sullivan 2016). During the 19th century, black people where not allowed to appear on stage to perform and when public opinion finial grew more accepting and comfortable with African-American people, they could never look like themselves on stage (Sullivan 2016). This is because the stage seems to give power to who ever happens to be on it, even if its temporary, but the white folk of that time really didn’t like the idea the idea of black men or women having power (Sullivan 2016). So when any kind of entertainment called for a “black” looking character, a white person would blackface, but because of this, black people used blackface as well and the audience was unable to tell the difference between a white person doing black face and a black person doing blackface. Now the original Shuffle Along” was an all black cast, and as if that wouldn’t cause them any trouble, they did something else to shock and scare the white audience (Sullivan 2016).

What scared the white folks at the time was romance; black romance to be specific. Generally speaking, the crowed of play watchers (mostly white people) where fine watching a black men singing a lovely  song to his love interest but were made very uncomfortable if the situation escaladed to anything further (Sullivan 2016). Shuffle Along did this by having Roger Matthews and Lottie Gee sing the song called Love Will Find a Way (John 2016). 

After watching the video where it out right says that what they are planning to do is not only never been done, but is considered the unthinkable due to the views white people had for blacks. Despite this, they showed a love song between a black man and a black woman on stage which, as one would guess, pushed the boundaries of what black people could do on stage.

Their was yet another way for black people to appear on stage besides the usual blackface. This other way came in the form of Patting Juba. Patting Juba was an Expressive, complex and very physically taxing style of dance which over the years ended up gaining some Celtic elements mixed  (Sullivan 2016). Patting Juba meant African dancing, plantation dancing and was done by “drumming your body, slapping your chest and knees and the soles of your feet” (John 2016). So, as I was able to gather, Patting Juba was a dance that turned your whole body into an instrument which you used to entertain people (Sullivan 2016). Now what makes things better is that Juba, with the help of black and Irish-­Americans, was the inspiration that lead to the creation of what we call tap dancing (Sullivan 2016). Juba, gave black folk another way to be seen in performance such as the best Juba dancer of the time who was also called Juba (Sullivan 2016).

The most popular song to come out the musical is a song called I’m Just Wild About Harry   (Sullivan 2016). Now when I had first heard this song I realized why it was so popular. the song itself is just catchy. Its fun, up beat and just great to listen to. After listening to it I couldn’t help but feel like I had heard those lyrics before so I search some more and found out why. Its because I had heard from the BugsBunny and Tweety Show.

Now I just so happen to be a great fan of the musical stylings of Daffy Duck but its understandable if folks prefer a professional singer. Based on the article, the 2016 Shuffle Along show pay a great deal of respect to the original musical. The 2016 show goes though a no holds bar representation on how difficult life was for colour people and their struggles to be equal and appear on stage (Sullivan 2016).

After reading this article, I wouldn’t say that I learned a lot of new information besides Juba. I’d say what I really got out of it was a more finely detailed look in to the difficulties coloured people faced on stage where’s as before I only had the simple general knowledge of “yes their was blackface back in the day and coloured people had a very hard and difficult time appearing on stage”. As for the Text book Popular Music In America: The Beat Goes On, I would say it does give a far fair perspective on blackface in America. Now because the text book has to cover a lot of material it does give the bare bones of the struggles coloured people had face but it also gives descriptions on how coloured people felt about it hard ship (Campbell) Not to mention it also repeatedly goes through and tells the reader across multiple chapters how hard it was for black people so if you find yourself forgetting that fact, I think you have bigger problems to deal with.

Source:

Campbell, Michael. Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes on. Boston, MA: Cengage, 2019

Sullivan, John Jeremiah. “‘Shuffle Along’ and the Lost History of Black Performance in America.” The New York Times. March 24, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/magazine/shuffle-along-and-the-painful-history-of-black-performance-in-america.html?mcubz=1.

#M2Q3

James Alan Bland was an African-American musician and composer who became known as The World’s Greatest Minstrel Man (Kentake 2015 ).  Bland was born in Flushing, New York on October 22, 1854 to educated and former slave parents and his father became one of the first U. S. Black college graduates to come out of Oberlin College in 1845(Kentake 2015).  Bland was one of eight children and began performing  professionally at age 14 with an eight dollar banjo bought by his father (Kentake 2015). He studied at the Howard University in Washington, D.C for a short time but because of the folk songs he heard performed by black people working on the campus, he became inspired and decided to drop his academic work for a professional music career (Kentake 2015).

During this time it was very hard for people of colour to produce music and be generally successful due to the racist view of society (African American Odyssey 1996 ). The African-American music that was produce highlighted the struggles and injustice black people faced during the time” (Zackery 2018). Blackface” which was an exaggeration of black facial features, became common place in performances (Zackery 2018). It was presented by white performers who where acting like blacks during the time of slavery (Zackery 2018). As for why black face became popular, it was because “the audience saw “blackface” as reinforcement for the justification of slavery and the inhuman treatment of blacks” (Zackery 2018).  After the Civil War when blacks were allowed to perform in minstrel shows, the “blackface” was required to “maintain the minstrel tradition” (Zackery 2018).

Bland started of by playing at clubs and hotels before he started doing minstrel entertainment (Erickson n/a). In the late 1870s Bland started off by join a group known as  the Georgia Minstrels  (Erickson n/a) . They where the first successful all-black minstrel company (Kentake 2015). They to also had to blacken their skin and do stereotypical exaggerated movements and dances. Soon they came  under new leadership in the form of Jack Haverly and after that, the Georgia Minstrels grew into a will established company and ended up changing  their name from the Georgia Minstrels to  Minstrel Carnival of Genuine Colored Minstrels (Erickson n/a). This group ended up touring in the Pacific Coast and also got go to England to perform.

Bland was able to use the minstrel show as a way to bring forth his composed work (Kentake 2015). His most popular is called  Carry Me Back to Old Virginny which was published in 1878 (Kentake 2015).

The song starts of with a nice calming flow which allows the listener to better take in the lyrics. When the lyrics come in one can already feel the emotion and home sick feeling that will be given throw out the whole song. Their is also a reference to the slave life that black people have had to Indore. This song was inspired by his classmate and future wife, Mamie Friend (Kentake 2015). This song would mark his first major success as a composer (Kentake 2015). It was about “thirty years after his death, Virginia adopted it as its official state song (Kentake 2015). In 1997 Virginia retired the song and designated it “state song emeritus” due to controversy over its racial nature”(Kentake 2015).

Oh! Dem Golden Slippers is another one of James A. Bland popular songs and was composed in 1879 . Its easy to see why that is because from the start of the song one can tell that it is a very catchy song. Its much more up beat then Carry Me Back to Old Virginny and conveys a different message. This is inherently more fun and light designed to give the listen a more jolly good time.

The song called “In The Evening By The Moonlight” really showcases Bland talent as a composer. His talent for painting imagery is very good it is best shown when the singer is talking about the shine of the moon light. Another thing that makes this song great is that the instrumental is secondary to the vocals which really amplifies what is being said the song.

When Bland came back to Washington, D.C. in 1901, he had no money and by the end of the century, minstrelsy had been completely if not mostly replaced vaudeville as the main source of entertainment (Erickson n/a). Bland is often considered the “The Worlds greatest Minstrel man” and it is unknown how many songs he composed in his life time (Kentake 2015). Most guesses fall around  fifty-three and seven hundred which is a fairly wide estimate if you ask me fifty-three and seven hundred (Kentake 2015). You would think that by now people would have found a way to narrow it down to a smaller margin.

Sources:

Kentake, Meserette. “James A. Bland: Composer of the Great Minstrel Show Tunes.” Kentake Page. April 15, 2018. Accessed July 16, 2018. http://kentakepage.com/james-a-bland-composer-of-the-great-minstrel-show-tunes/.

Prince, Wheatley, Phyllis, Benjamin, Bibb, Henry, Black, Leonard, Ruggles, David, Douglass, and Frederick. “The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship Free Blacks in the Antebellum Period.” Apple Computers: This Month in Business History (Business Reference Services, Library of Congress). February 09, 1998. Accessed July 16, 2018. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african-american-odyssey/free-blacks-in-the-antebellum-period.html.

Shannon, Erickson. “Bland, James A. (1854-1911) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed.” St. Clair, Stephanie (1886–1969) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. Accessed July 16, 2018. http://www.blackpast.org/aah/bland-james-1854-1911.

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