Daft Punk is an electronic music group that originated in Paris France in 1993. In 2013 Daft punk released a 24 week top 100 ranking on the Billboard hit. The song called Get Lucky was written and produced in collaboration with famous artist and record producer Pharrell Williams. The song is a catchy, yet modern disco type of beat and became very popular in young people due to common radio stations across the globe.
Reaching top 10 in over 30 countries across the world and selling over 9 million copies as well as winning two awards at the grammy’s in January of 2014. Get lucky was easily one of the groups most successful piece (Get Lucky (Daft Punk Song).
During the next few years, there were multiple covers made of the song Get Lucky. However, the cover that seems most appropriate for this blog question was that by Daughter. Later on in 2013 Daughter used their own style to put a twist on the current disco song. For those who have never heard of the group, they are an indie folk band from England. They took the funky hit song and turned it into a slower pace, sad sounding rainy day song. Genre (Soul)
Below is the slower spacey more textured version of Get Lucky
Compared to the original, the cover of the song is lyrically more profound and allows the audience to hear the words more clearly. In the Daft Punk version of the song when it says;
We’ve come too far to give up who we are
So let’s raise the bar and our cups to the stars
She’s up all night ’til the sun
I’m up all night to get some
She’s up all night for good fun
I’m up all night to get lucky
Here it is clear that its a song about partying and having a good time as well as sexual encounters “getting lucky”.
Whereas in Daughters cover of the song the meaning is slightly changed, the lead singer Elena Tonra makes the lyrics sound as if she had just been through a heartbreak or hard times and is out looking to get lucky and forget about her past. (Daughter’s Version Of ‘Get Lucky’ Might Be Better Than Daft Punk’s). I believe the audience would slightly change for the simple reason that not everyone likes to hear the normal radio hits. Anyone who enjoys listening to soul or songwriter music would enjoy this piece. Personally, the song is not better or worse in either version, both are equally good in their own ways.
Bibliography
“Get Lucky (Daft Punk Song).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Aug. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Lucky_(Daft_Punk_song).
“Daft Punk.” Billboard, Billboard, www.billboard.com/music/daft-punk.“Daughter’s Version Of ‘Get Lucky’ Might Be Better Than Daft Punk’s.” Music Feeds, 29 Apr. 2013, musicfeeds.com.au/news/daughters-version-of-get-lucky-might-be-better-than-daft-punks/.ly
“Daughter’s Version Of ‘Get Lucky’ Might Be Better Than Daft Punk’s.” Music Feeds, 29 Apr. 2013, musicfeeds.com.au/news/daughters-version-of-get-lucky-might-be-better-than-daft-punks/.ly
In the 1950s America was introduced to the new musical concept of rock ‘n’ roll, along with this came many changes in society and introduced African Americans into a previously all-white music industry. During this time, young American teenagers rebeled their parents and grandparent’s thoughts of morality by listening and enjoying this new genre. Due to the introduction of race equality in the in industry, elder’s around the country believed rock ‘n’ roll to be “corroding society’s morals”, and the young susceptible minds of America’s youth. As a result of this, payolas became more prominent than ever. With the major record labels need to control who was being heard, it became very hard for African American musicians to get radio time.
Payola, a catchy word made up of a hyper-literal contraction of “pay and “Victrola” was however around long before the 50’s. The concept of being an accepted open-secret in American pop culture since the early 1900’s back when silent movies were all the rage. Only decades later in the 1950s became scandalous. As labels and distributors became obsessed with having their music on the Billboards and controlling who was on the hits, disk jockeys becoming all the more susceptible to lining their pockets with as much money as they possibly could. With the Jockeys susceptibility to bribes and the labels continuous need to put their artists on the Billboard, the payola concept gained a tight and strong grip on the music industry. As disk jockeys became aware of the rise in their status, most began to establish a flat rate for deals with record distributors and labels. While the jocks who were more influential were able to command large percentages of grosses, concerts, luxurious trips, free records and other swag. While the growth of influence that payolas had escalated, Billboard and Variety created long features asking for government intervention and reform and stop the corruption in their industry. Many jockeys however, did not believe in accepting bribes or playing white covers of African American songs. Some famous jockeys such as Alan Freed, Dick Clark and Lester Bangs rejected these payolas and refused to accept white cover songs from the major labels.
In 1958, the government decided to get involved in attempting to control the scandals after American most famous TV show Twenty One was also found to be fixed. Being threatened with the loss of their licenses, many radio stations began to take precautions and firing disc jockeys who could potentially put them at risk. This resulted in 335 disc jockeys admitting to receiving over 200 thousand dollars in “consulting fees” in front of the U.S House Oversight Committee in November 1959. Prior to this hearing Phil Lind (jockey) had confessed receiving 22 thousand dollars for a single record. With the help of these claims, the government was given valid grounds to forcibly remove the payolas strangling grip over the radio industry. During this time, President Eisenhower stood up and called payolas an “issue of public morality” and proposed “a new law, making involvement in Payola a criminal act”. As the government continued to investigate, they found more jocks that were willing to come forward and expose various record companies. This includes jockey Wesley Hopkins and Stan Richards who received thousands but claimed it had no effects on their choice of records. Many jockeys attempted to liken payola, but after President Eisenhower’s comment on the corruption that it has brought and the betrayal of public trust.
Alan Freed
As this trial began, two of the most influential disc jockeys in America were brought to stand in front of the Committee. Alan Freed taking the fall for DJs everywhere in America. It is believed that Freed was being singled out for his abrasiveness and consorting with African American musicians. At the end of his trial, Freed’s friends in the industry had deserted him, and he received a penalty of fines and a suspended jail sentence of five years. While Clark was seen as a nice guy, used his persona to his advantage wisely riding himself of any incriminating connections before his trial. Receiving a small slap on the wrist from the Committee chairman and quoting years later that the most important thing he had learned from his trial was: “Protect your ass at all times”. Since then payola or “under-the-table payments” have subsequently become a misdemeanour, with the penalty being fines of up to 10 thousand dollars and one year in prison, unless of course it is disclosed.
Since then, a more sophisticated version of payolas has been created and exists to this day, everywhere you hear a song being played or “overplayed” is a radio station that has been paid in some manner or fashion through an unconventional form of payola. Today, major labels have created a “loophole” involving independent promoters that are more commonly known as “indies”. These indies are promised large sums of money in return for promoting records, songs, and artists to radio stations by offering them large “promotional payments”. Each time the radio station plays the song that the labels have requested, the indie gets paid and so does the station. Somehow, since the payment comes from the promoter (the indie) it renders the act still immoral, but now legal.
In my personal opinion payolas have and will continue to harm the music industry. Its negative effect on small labels and artists is continuous and inhibits them from being successful. In a market without payolas and loopholes, all talented musicians would be given a fair chance to show their talent, flourish and reach a broader market, ultimately gaining success.
Famous female blues singer Ma Rainey also known as “mother of the blues” for her three decades of performing and producing influential blues music during the early 1900s.
Ma Rainey was born on April 26, 1886, as Gertrude Pridget in Colombus Georgia. She began her performing career early on in her life at the age of twelve where she worked as a singer and a dancer at a local talent show labelled “A Bunch Of Barries”. In 1904 she married A man named William Rainey who was a comedy songster. The two of them nick named as ma and pa, toured the southern states with the popular Rabbit foot minstrels sharing their talents at tent shows and cabarets. By about 1916 she had become a very popular performer and after divorcing her husband started her own music group. In 1923 she signed with the record label Paramount records, and shortly after in December of that year she began producing her first eight records including “Bad luck blues”, “Boo weevil Blues”, and ” Moonshine Blues. Paramount was a huge push on her career and helped marketing her by calling her names such as “the mother of blues” and “songbird of the south”. Over the next 5 years of her contract, Rainey recorded just over 100 songs with all sorts of other musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Thomas Dorsey. She toured and recorded music for about 10 years following her signing with Paramount records as her name became more popular within the southern states especially in black communities. In 1935 Rainey retired in her hometown of Columbus and used her money to manage and run two theatres until her tragic unexpected death of a heart attack in 1939 at the age of 53
Growing up in this era Rainey was faced with many challenges both due to her skin tone and being a lesbian. Rainey was one of the first if not the first female black blues singers, just getting publicity and popularity would have been a great challenge in the early 1900s. As for her sexual orientation, being a lesbian in the 1920s and 30s was not overly excepted. Rainey was a strong-willed woman and did not let it influence her or disrupt her career.
“Prove it on me blues”
I chose this song because i believe it represented who she was and her sexual orientation. In this advertisement, it shows a bigger lady wearing a masculine outfit with a suit and tie talking to two ladies as a police officer watches them in the background. This is a social jab at the common beliefs of this day and age. In this song prove it on me blues, she sings “went out last night with a crowd of my friends, they must’ve been women ’cause i don’t like no men.” this line could be interpreted as a hint towards her sexual orientation.
“Moonshine blues”
For the second song i chose moonshine blues, this song was written in 1923 right in the middle of the prohibition in the united states. Rainey talks about spending time in jail for selling moonshine potentially is telling a story of a close friend who may have been selling moonshine illegally during those times.
“Trust no man”
For my final song i chose trust no man, this song represents her frustration and disgust with men after her divorce. It quotes “I trusted my man with my best friend but that was a bad bargain in the end.” This line showing that she had gone through some form of cheating by her husband causing their divorce in 1916.
Bibliography
“Ma Rainey”, Biography.com. April 27. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://www.biography.com/people/ma-rainey-9542413Ma Rainey.”
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Accessed July 17, 2018. https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/ma-rainey.
![Gertrude "Ma" Rainey](http://outhistory.org/files/fullsize/3f03b244d7944f9bd20b5460edc04439.jpg "Gertrude "Ma" Rainey")