Hey everyone!

It’s hard to believe that the class is nearing its end! Where did the summer go?! Anyway, it’s time for the final blog!

Since I have a deep love for heavy metal, I have decided to make my last blog about which band started the heavy metal genre. According to our textbook, Led Zeppelin is considered to be the band that defined the heavy metal genre (1).

In my opinion, Led Zeppelin did not start the heavy metal genre. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Led Zeppelin’s music. However, like most of the other early 60s and 70s rock bands, the blues influence is much more distinct than any other style, especially in their early years. Our textbook states that they are often regarded as a “seminal heavy metal band”, but essentially, they elude categorization (1). In other words, their music has some heavy metal elements, but they are neither the main elements, nor the only elements. Additionally, Campbell notes that “their center is clearly the blues; their version of heavy metal evolved from it” (1). To me, this means that they eventually evolved into a band that might fit in to the heavy metal genre, not that they were one from the beginning or that they started the genre. If you take a listen to their first album, Led Zeppelin (1969), I think most of you will agree that it is very much influenced by blues. The song “You Shook Me” off of their first album definitely has more of a blues vibe than a heavy metal one. Both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were huge blues fans, and it is extremely evident in their first album (2).

With that said, their music did get heavier. “Whole Lotta Love”, a track off of their second album, Led Zeppelin II (1969), is much closer to heavy metal than any track off of their first album.

I believe that Led Zeppelin, among a few other pre-heavy metal bands from the 60s and 70s, helped lay the foundation for what would eventually become the heavy metal genre we know and love today. However, Led Zeppelin is not the band that should hold the title of having created the genre.

In my opinion, the band that should introduce metal in our course because they are the band that made heavy metal what it is today is….

Black Sabbath!!

Unlike Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath was heavy metal from the beginning. Take a listen to their first song, “Black Sabbath” off of their first album, Black Sabbath (1970). (You can imagine how much thought and effort went into naming the first album and first track haha).

This song incorporates all things heavy metal. According to our text, there are a few things that create the significant difference between heavy metal and other standard forms of popular music. There is heavy distortion (1). The electric guitar in this song sounds much more “gritty” and “growly” than it would in a standard rock song. There are more instrumental sections in comparison to vocal sections (1). The song itself is 9 minutes and 36 seconds long. It starts with a collage of sounds; heavy rain, thunder, church bells (If you’re a metal head, you know these are all obvious signs of a heavy metal song; if you’re not, now you know haha) and then the guitar and drums make their entrance. The vocals aren’t introduced into the song until 1 minute and 24 seconds in. There is a guitar solo, followed by another collage of sounds at around 5 minutes and 26 seconds, lasting for nearly a minute. Furthermore, the vocals end at 8 minutes and 30 seconds, leaving over a minute for one last instrumental section. The vocal lines are definitely more of an incantation than a melody (1). If you compare Ozzy’s vocals to Robert Plant’s (lead vocalist from Led Zeppelin), the difference is undeniable. Ozzy’s voice sounds much more like an enchantment or magical spell than Plant’s, whose voice sounds a lot less sinister. All of these things play into Black Sabbath being more heavy metal than Led Zeppelin.

Following their first album Black Sabbath (1970), Black Sabbath released their second album, Paranoid (1970), in the same year. While their first album laid the foundation, their second album finished paving the way for heavy metal. The Paranoid (1970) album included songs like;

Which happened to be one of my favorite songs growing up. It also included another well-known song:

All 3 of these Black Sabbath songs incorporate all things metal. If you don’t like them, I probably don’t like you haha! They all have heavy distortion. They are all over 5 minutes long because they include more instrumental sections than vocal lines. The vocal lines in all 3 songs sound more sinister than melodic. In contrast, Led Zeppelin has some distortion, but not to the same extreme as Black Sabbath. Most of Led Zeppelin’s songs range from 2 minutes and 30 seconds to 8 minutes and 30 seconds. While some of their songs are long, nearly all of Black Sabbaths are longer. Led Zeppelin’s vocals are also a lot more melodic in comparison to Black Sabbath’s.

Even Black Sabbath’s image screams heavy metal while Led Zeppelin’s image..well, that’s another story…

Take a look at the band members of Black Sabbath:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now take a look at Led Zeppelin…

Black Sabbath look like the evil little Satan worshipers that the Baby Boomers likely associated heavy metal with and Led Zeppelin look like some stoned hippies about to go frolic in a field of daises haha.

An article published on Ultimate Classic Rock states that Black Sabbath did create heavy metal, though not by themselves. The article mentions Led Zeppelin, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, and others as having contributed to the heavy metal genre, but Black Sabbath was the band that “crystallized” it (3). I agree with this 100%. I’m not saying that Led Zeppelin didn’t contribute to heavy metal; I just don’t think they should be the band to introduce it in our text, and I don’t think they should hold the title as having made the genre what it is. Led Zeppelin is a great band, but they are not a representation of heavy metal. Black Sabbath was, and always will be, an iconic representation of heavy metal both visually and musically.

Here’s one more Black Sabbath song (added as a hyperlink in case you don’t feel like listening to it), another one of my favourites that makes me want to..dance nicely, fully clothed haha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx6IwshTL6M

Enjoy the rest of your summer everyone!

References

1) Campbell, Michael. Popular Music in America: the Beat Goes On. 4th ed., Cengage, 2013.
2) Biography of Led Zeppelin Bio, History, Career, Evolution, Music, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, ledzeppelinweb.yaia.com/biography.html.
3) Rivadavia, Eduardo. “1970: The Year Heavy Metal Was Born.” Ultimate Classic Rock, 29 Sept. 2015, ultimateclassicrock.com/heavy-metal-born-1970/.

 

 

Hey guys! So it’s time for blog number two!

I knew right away I wanted to do this blog on Elvis, but I honestly had no idea which line of influence I wanted to choose! I have absolutely loved Elvis’s music (and his face obviously) since I was in my early teens. The walls in my room were covered with records, the majority of them being Elvis, and I frequently listened to them on an old record player I had “borrowed” from my grandparents. Anyway, choosing Elvis for this blog was the easy part. The hard part came when I had to choose a line of influence. I love all music. Well except for country, I have to be in a certain mood to listen to that haha. But my main muse when it comes to music is 80’s rock, metal, hardcore, etc. I also enjoy hip-hop, though I’m not a huge fan of the direction it’s been going in the past few years (what the hell is a “lil broccoli” anyway?), but that’s a story for another blog. Now, two of my favorite bands of all time are Metallica (which I couldn’t find on the visual lines of influence, but then again staring at it too long gave me a headache) and Lamb of God. However, I chose to go with Elvis –> Misfits –> Avenged Sevenfold because the Misfits were my favorite punk band throughout high school and I have a love/hate relationship with Avenged (I genuinely hate “melodic metal” which they frequently make), but they have a few songs I absolutely love, and when I went to their show here in February and it was absolutely amazing.

So let’s see if I can get this right…

Elvis –> Misfits

Glenn Danzig was the founder and lead singer of the Misfits. Now, you might be wondering how the hell Elvis could have influenced this…

BUT, he definitely had an influence on Danzig, and Danzig created the Misfits.

According to an article published on rollingstones.com, Elvis was the initial reason Danzig even got into music. Danzig states that “When I was a kid, I was cutting school pretending I was sick and I would lie at home watching old movies, and Jailhouse Rock came on with Elvis. I was like, ‘I want to do this. This is great.’ And that’s how I veered to music”(Grow). Furthermore, in another article published on blabbermouth.net, Danzig mentions that “If you took Elvis and SABBATH out of my life, I probably wouldn’t be the Glenn Danzig you know!” It’s quite obvious that Elvis had a massive impact on Danzig as a kid and was the driving influence that got him into music in his later adolescent years. The Misfits even covered Elvis’s “Devil in Disguise”. Elvis isn’t really someone you’d envision a punk band covering, but if you take a listen you’ll see how amazingly similar Danzig’s voice is to Elvis’s, and how they are able to keep the punk feel with a heavier sound than Elvis’s original.

And here is Elvis’s original version for reference

It’s pretty clear Elvis was a musical influence for Danzig (and the Misfits). It’s evident in the amazing job they did on this cover. Danzig does a great job recreating Elvis’s voice and the Misfits do an awesome job covering his song with a punk twist.

Moving on..

I’m by no means a “fashionista”, however, I couldn’t help but notice a slight similarity between Elvis’s (sometimes) style

 

 

 

 

 

 

with bassist Jerry Only from the Misfits..

 

 

 

 

 

 

I mean, between the facial expressions, leather, and their bad@$$ attitudes, there is a striking similarity!

Anyway, according to his interview with rollingstones.com, Danzig is actually releasing a “Danzig Sings Elvis” LP right away (Grow), it might be worth listening to if you’re a fan of Elvis, Danzig (and the Misfits), or both!!

And that brings us to (drumroll please!)…

Misfits –> Avenged Sevenfold

Good ol’ Avenged Sevenfold!

As I previously mentioned, I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with this band. Back in grade nine, I loved their album “City of Evil”. I listened to it daily. However, they have a tendency to play a lot of “melodic metal”, which I absolutely despise. If the song sounds like it should be on a Final Fantasy soundtrack, count me out. With that said, they have quite a few newer songs I absolutely love. As a matter of fact, I’m going to go ahead and insert my favorite song here. I may or may not have taken a few people out in the mosh pit during this song when they were here in February haha

Anyway, back on track here..

You might be wondering how Avenged Sevenfold, a hard rock/progressive metal band, was influenced by a punk band. I was wondering the same thing. To be honest, there tends to be lyrical similarities between most metal, punk, and rock bands, so that’s nothing new. Vocally, there isn’t much similarity between the Misfits and Avenged Sevenfold. The Misfits vocals are generally “loud” singing, but singing nonetheless. Here’s an example from one of my favorite Misfits songs:

Whereas Avenged, especially with their first few albums, the vocals are a lot heavier. Here’s an example from their first album:

Avenged has definitely changed their vocals over the past few years, and they definitely sing more than scream now, but for a band (the Misfits) to have influenced them, it would have had to be when they first formed the group.

So how about visual influences?

When Avenged first formed, they definitely had more of an “emo” look to them (I hate that term, but you know what I mean)

 

 

 

 

 

And the Misfits, as we all know, were very “out there” with their style..

 

 

 

 

Regardless, there are visual similarities between the two. Members from both Avenged and the Misfits wore black, leather, makeup, and had either spikey hair or the long, pointed bangs.

I wasn’t able to find much online about how the Misfits influenced Avenged Sevenfold as a whole. However, I was able to find an article titled “Music Corner” that mentions how  M. Shadows (founding member and vocalist) favoured the Misfits growing up and Zacky Vengeance (backing vocals and rhythm guitarist) considers them to be a style influence (kentangbopeng.blogspot.com).

Regardless, It’s quite clear from the “lines of influence” that Elvis had a great impact on multiple different genres of music, and on numerous amazing artists and bands. I love Elvis, I love the Misfits, and I love Avenged Sevenfold (well most of their music anyway haha). I hope you guy’s enjoyed the music in this blog as much as I did!!

Works Cited

Blabbermouth. “It Wouldn’t Be GLENN DANZIG Without ELVIS PRESLEY And BLACK SABBATH In His Life.” BLABBERMOUTH.NET, 12 Oct. 2015, www.blabbermouth.net/news/danzig-skeletons-release-date-final-track-listing/.

Grow, Kory. “See Danzig Tell Elvis, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison Stories.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/danzig-talks-elvis-influence-writing-for-johnny-cash-and-roy-orbison-65888/.

“Music Corner.” Biography of Avenged Sevenfold Members, kentangbopeng.blogspot.com/2010/01/biography-of-avenged-sevenfold-members.html.

Hello everyone!

My name is Selinah. I am currently in my 3rd year of my BA in Psychology! I am 27 (well I will be in August anyway haha), engaged to an incredible man, and have two daughters aged 6 and 7!

We also have two dogs, a bearded dragon (he’s evil, I swear), and a chinchilla!

In addition to attending University full time, I also work full time for the Saskatoon Health Region! In other words, I have no life outside of my family, work, and university haha! Anyway, that is enough about me!

Minstrelsy and The Problem Of Race

I have decided to write my first blog about minstrelsy and race for the simple fact that I had never heard of the term prior to taking this course. In my entire 27 years of existence, the term “minstrelsy” has never come up in any social or academic conversations. Because I was not aware of what Minstrelsy was, I had no idea that the music we know and love today exists because of it!

The article titled “Whitewashing Blackface Minstrelsy in American College Textbooks”, written by Joseph Byrd, provides a lot of useful information that our textbook fails to mention. In brief, Byrd’s article explores the ways in which minstrelsy incorrectly portrayed the lives of African Americans in the 1800s. According to Byrd, the message/image that was commonly portrayed in Minstrelsy performances was that African American’s were happier as slaves than they ever would be as free people, slavery offered them a good life, and that they were well cared for by their “owners” (80-81). In addition to Minstrelsy incorrectly portraying the lives of African Americans, it strongly reinforced racist stereotypes. Byrd addresses how Dan Emmett, the front man for the Virginia Minstrels, is able to “employ at least three racist stereotypes: blacks are larcenous, stupid, and ugly” (79) in just one short verse in his song “Old Dan Tucker”. Ultimately, his article truthfully explains what Minstrelsy is, thoroughly describes its history, and addresses the fact that it even though it is a huge part of the history of music, it is rarely discussed.  According to Byrd, colleges do not want “students to know about, or instructors be forced to deal with, the existence of such music” (82). In conclusion, Byrd asserts that when powerful publishers and schools try to remove Minstrelsy from American history, it must be challenged because it is an important chapter in African American history as well as music’s history.

What caught my interest in this article was the article itself. In comparison to our text, Byrd carefully analyses a topic that is typically brushed under the rug. I enjoyed his thorough analysis of minstrelsy and race because our textbook fails to really explain anything.  According to Byrd, the term Lumpenproletariat defines the “low-paid and unemployed first-generation whites and Irish immigrants trying to survive in an unskilled labor force that included first-generation free blacks,…” (78). In other words, Lumpenproletariat is a socially constructed term that describes individuals who are not white, not born in America, are of the poor working-class, and are unskilled. Considering that the intended audience for minstrelsy were lower-class individuals, and the individuals considered to be Lumpenproletariat were just that, I myself approach this genre with confusion. Why create an entertainment genre that is incredibly inaccurate and racist for an intended audience that will be offended by it? I understand why Byrd acknowledges that blackface minstrelsy was “closely related to the rise of populism,…” (78). Populism is a hard word to define (seriously, try to find one clear definition online!). However, because Byrd states minstrelsy is closely linked to it and we know who minstrelsy’s audience was, we can assume that when used in this context, it refers to a conflict between the American born white people and anyone not falling under that category.

Jim Crow Laws

Slavery (which Minstrelsy had inaccurately portrayed) ended after the Civil War. However, immediately afterwards America enacted the Jim Crow Laws. These new laws segregated African American people and white people. If you were white, you were superior. If you were black, you had no legal, economic, or political rights (Michael Campbell 95). So after years of slavery, mockery (through minstrelsy), and a war to end it all, America found a new way to once again treat African American’s poorly. Cleverly, they named the laws after a well known character from the minstrel show.

The character of Jim Crow was created in 1832 when Thomas Dartmouth Rice claimed to have observed an “African American street entertainer in Cincinnati doing a song and dance with a peculiar hop step, which he called ‘Jumping Jim Crow'” (Campbell 25). How frustrating it must have been to finally see an end to slavery and then have new discriminatory laws enacted that were named after a racist character.

Conclusion

It is important for us to understand what minstrelsy was, and is, because it is a chief example of the hatefulness of white America, and a true example of the horrible experiences African American’s were forced to endure. While minstrelsy eventually allowed African American’s a foot in entertainments door, the racist aspects of it were unnecessary. I believe that textbooks deliberately avoid this material because it is an embarrassing part of American history. However, like the Holocaust and Residential Schools, it cannot, and should not, be erased from our history. We learn from our history, good and bad. Learning about Minstrelsy has taught me a lot about African American history and music’s history. I was aware of slavery and segregation, but I was not aware of minstrelsy and all of the racism surrounding it. As Byrd’s title clearly states, it is a way of whitewashing our history. Removing this aspect of history from text books does not remove it from history itself. It simply denies students the opportunity to learn about and fully understand African American history when the whole point of a textbook and school is to educate.

Works Cited

Brimmage, Ashley. “Alexander’s ‘The New Jim Crow’ Banned in American Prisons.” The Chimes | Biola University, 31 Jan. 2018, chimes.biola.edu/story/2018/jan/31/alexanders-new-jim-crow-banned-american-prisons/.

Byrd, Joseph. “Whitewashing Blackface Minstrelsy in American College Textbooks.” Popular Music and Society, vol. 32, no. 1, 2009, pp. 77–86., doi:10.1080/03007760802207882.

Campbell, Michael. (2013). Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes On. 4th ed.* Boston: Schirmer/Cengage Learning. ISBN: 978-0-840-02976-8

“Kylie Jenner Accused of Doing ‘Blackface.’” saboteur365, 6 Apr. 2015, saboteur365.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/kylie-jenner-accused-of-doing-blackface/.

TheVisionChasers. YouTube, YouTube, 20 June 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2Iwa9LeuFM.

 

 

 

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